When I turned in a rental car at Heathrow airport in Aug, the clerk drew my attention to a bubble-like bump on the rear driver tire, approx 2-1/2" across, and said they’d have to charge me for that.
There was no abraision, no mark, no other tire damage. My feeling is that the bump was the result of a fault in the tire, but charge me they did ($245 on my American Express)
Did I cause this? Does the reason for the bump have anything to do with the Brits weird spelling of tyre?
The car, BTW, was a red Vauxhall. I drove it all over the UK on a teaching trip - I teach knitting around the world for a living.
You could have caused it by hitting a curb or pothole, but more likely it was a defect in the tire which you should not have been charged for. They should have given you some kind of reimbursement for the danger they put you in driving on unsafe tires.
I think this could go either way. Sometimes it is simply the tire and other times a driver(maybe not you) who hit something inadvertently. Joys of rentals. $245 is steep for a tire especially the likely lilliputian car with tiny tires you got. You can appeal the charge with rental company or your credit card.
Place a claim with American Express if you paid for the whole car rental with that card. They may reimburse you. I think all AMEX cards have a form of rental car insurance if you use it to pay for the rental fees.
I also rented a Vauxhall car in August from Enterprise Rent a Car in Reading, England. I bumped the tires into all sorts of rocky shoulders in Wales and no bumps on the “tyres”! I firmly believe you had a defective tire and should not be charged for that. My credit card has a collision and other deductible waiver so I would not be paying for it had I been charged.
Please check with your AMEX card because many of those have this feature as well.