Vandals scratch rented cars

Vandals are believed to be using car keys to scratch ugly marks on rented cars that are left unattended in the car park at the airport and next to jetties in and round Port Vila.

World Car Rentals and Europcar have expressed their concerns to the Daily Post after ugly scratch marks were left on their cars at the Iririki Jetty and at the Airport.

A senior representative of the company says whoever it is knows exactly what he is doing and he is a driver as he is using his own car key to scratch the rented vehicles.

Avis, Budget Rent a Car and Hertz have also complained of finding similar scratch marks on their vehicles at the same car parks.

“It is someone or individual drivers who work in the same industry. The problem is that it is our customers who are made to pay for the scratch marks while they were not responsible for the scratches,” they complained.

Asked how much it costs to fix a scratch mark, one car rental company senior employee said it depends on how serious one scratch is but that repair companies can charge a minimum of at least Vt30,000 so it is an expensive vandalism.

Asked if the companies have any suspects, they all say they have and that the culprits know exactly what they are doing.

So far none of the companies has launched an official complaint to the police but World Car Rental for example; say they have asked security officers at the airport to look out for their vehicles especially at night time.