Terrapin Tables

if it's sizable, as you say, then they'll probably notice it. i know nothing about dent removal, so i don't know if a plunger or one "as seen on tv" things actually work. what you could do is go spin your tires in the mud so that it sprays the car, covering up the spot. for a reference, see the current state of my car.

i have a similar experience with a rental vehicle though it was my fault and it was more than a little dent in the side of the car. i think you shouldn't find it surprising that i say return the car and pay the fees. it's really bad luck but that's going around a lot these days.

I think you are doing luck a disservice here. An anvil did not fall from the sky onto the Mini. Perhaps it is karma for police giving us rides to the hotel instead of the clink. Tell them that the hubcap the car is missing flew off and hit it.
Otherwise I would determine if insurance covered it. Then again, once upon a time there was a rental van with a giant dent on the roof . . .

Since we got away with that whole van thing, I'll just turn it in and hope no one notices. It's not any particular fees I'm worried about, it's the claim Enterprise would make to my insurance company... and I hear they're not too fond of me lately. Lousy windy days blowing my car around.... :)

I once returned a rental van with about an inch of standing vomit in it. Goddamn that was a great bachelor party.

Regarding the dent...a plunger only creates suction in toilets and bathtubs, unless you are a Loony Toon. You are not animated. The Wal-Mart dealies are laughably bad, in the sense that after it does nothing and you throw it, causing another dent in said car, we will all laugh at you.

If you are enterprising, gentle, and inclined to go all the way (nudge nudge) the only way to get this right is to remove the door panel and pop the dent back out with a broad, flat thing like a hardback book...you need to use something bigger than the dent, so it (might) find it's natural shape again instead of jut denting out the wrong way.

But if you tell them you were bumped in a parking lot, they probably won't care...I've returned some stuff seriously worse for wear (there are pieces of 24' trucks scattered around DC, thanks to me) and haven't been hassled once. Of course, the Budget chick is hot for me. Says I look like Leonardo DiCaprio. Seriously. Whatever, I don't pay for farked cars.

If it is a big dent, get a suction cup from Pep Boys and try and pull it out. Those suction cups really only work on big dents- so you'd actually be worse off if the dent was small. Once you pull it out, follow Roy's advice, get it all muddy, and then hope that they don't notice.

I say dent the other side, for the sake of symmetry.