Make sure you check the fuel guage on the car that you hire

Just hired a car in Nice France from Citer - Enterprise and as usual the staff were very helpful. First of all we were offered a larger car as an upgrade free of charge and this had happened before, then suddenly it was not available. That was no problem as a small car in that area is much easier to park.

So we were taken to the car hire car park and introduced to a small 4 door Peugot 105, we checked the car over with the representative for scratches and left the car park. The paperwork said it came with a full tank of fuel.

As I was driving along I looked at what I presumed was the fuel guage and as I had never driven one of these cars before thought that surely the black bars in the image on the left should be near the top not the bottom. I took this photo showing the guage  21 kms (12 miles) after collecting the car.

It did not seem right so when I got the opportunity early in the evening I telephoned Enterprise - Citer and reported it for the record and said I will put more fuel in the next day and bring it back in the same state of fuel in the tank.

The next day after the car had travelled a total of 45 km since we had collected, I put in 28.46 litres costing €46.22 into the car and sure enough as the picture shows on the left the car was full and how it should have been at the collection in Nice Airport.  

Apart from taking photos of the petrol guage and printing them off for when I returned the vehicle, I also kept the petrol receipt and took a photo of the quantity and price on the petrol pump.

When I returned the car I explained what had happened and the paperwork was changed. The downside of this was that had I not used all the fuel in my stay I would have been out of pocket.

I also explained to the Enterprise Citer check in car hire representative that there was no warning triangle or reflective jacket in the car. By law you are meant to have a reflective jacket in the main body of the car (not the boot) in France and you can be fined if you don't have them.

I trust they equip the car properly for the next renter and next time before leaving the depot in France will check the fuel there and then and see if there is a warning triangle and reflective jacket / apron as well. This has been the first time in many years of hiring a car in France that these items were missing as you tend to thake these for granted. Obviously someone had taken them out.

I did not go down the route of mentioning a lack of a Breathalyser Kit in there and I have no idea what the current situation is regarding these. Does anyone know?