At pickup, before you leave the lot
- Walk around the car in one direction: front, each corner, each side, the rear. Keep each whole panel in the frame.
- Get close on every scratch, dent, scuff and chip you can find, and mark each one so it is circled on the record.
- Each wheel and rim on its own. Scraped rims are a common charge.
- The windshield and every window, including small chips and cracks.
- The bumpers down low, and the roof if you can see it.
- The dashboard with the car on: mileage, fuel level and any warning lights.
- Inside: the seats, carpets, headliner and the trunk.
- The rental agreement or damage slip, if you were given one.
Get it signed if you can
If an agent walks the car with you, ask them to sign on your phone. Their signature is tied to the exact photos they reviewed. If nobody is there, the dated, sealed photos still stand on their own.
At return
Shoot the same angles again in the return lane, before you hand over the keys. In After mode the app lays your pickup photo over the live camera as a ghost, so each return shot lines up with the one you took at pickup.
If they say you did it
- Ask for their photos of the damage and the date they found it.
- Send your record: the pickup photos with the damage already marked, and the return photos from the same angles.
- Point to the independent timestamp. It shows the record existed no later than the stamped time, so it could not have been made after the car came back.
- Anyone can check the evidence package in a browser at getclaritycam.com/verify. Nothing is uploaded.
What the record can't show
A record shows what the car looked like when you photographed it. It cannot show what happened between pickup and return, or damage you did not photograph, such as underneath the car.
Questions
Isn't the rental company's own inspection enough?
It is their record. Yours is dated and sealed on your phone, and the other side can check it without having to trust you.
Do I need the rental company to sign?
No. A signature helps, but the dated, sealed photos stand on their own.
Can it prove I didn't cause the damage?
Not on its own. It shows the damage was in your pickup photos, so it was there before you drove off. It cannot show what happened during the rental.
What if I return the car after hours?
Shoot the return photos in the drop-off spot before you leave the keys. The record keeps the time and place of each photo.
What if there's no signal in the garage?
Photos are taken and sealed without signal. The independent timestamp is added when the phone is back online, so its time will be a little later than the photos.