I beg to differ. I've owned numerous hatchbacks over the years, and slamming is a good way to guarantee the latch will come out of adjustment. Then you'll have to slam it to get the latch to engage, plus you'll probably get the dreaded hatch rattle.

Just close it smoothly, it doesn't take much effort for it to close properly. I'd recommend not using the grab handle on the bottom of the door for closing it as it's mainly just for pulling the hatch down far enough for you to be able to push it shut. Just don't push the bow tie like others have said.

 

I push the bowtie and use the handle and haven't had one problem.

 

Knock one out can happen but I could win the lottey too. Adjusting one is not very hard at all if need be that it happens. Also in the HHR there is no window assembly to add a great amount of weight to the door like in many other vehicles. The HHR gate is very light and that is one reason it is hard to close.

 

It's not up to the customer of a rental car to have the intuition to look at the bottom of a liftgate for a somewhat hidden handle, especially without any labeling or direction.

It is instinctively intuitive as well as ergonomically responsible to close the hatch by the beauty bar. Any uninitiated but responsible person who cares would think that this is the strongest place to apply pressure to close the hatch.

This point should be argued with the rental company. I wish I knew which one it was so that I could avoid them for my business travel.

 

they should have done a walk around before and after you rented it, with you right there.

they could have detailed the car and the detailer could have dented it.

you do not know what happened after you dropped it off, that is why the walk around is important.

I would fight it

 

I just rented a 2010 and when I turned it in the person checking the car in closed the hatch just after I removed my luggage. She closed the hatch using the bowtie bar. I told her she should use the license plate because of the problem with dents and she said that's the first she had heard of that.

 

It's a pretty easy dent to fix for the paintless dent repair guys. Most dealerships have one of these guys that come around once a week, or have one on staff. It's usually less than $150 repair.

 

I do understand your point by being frustraded over this. However why would expect the car company to not try and recoup money for damages done. Alot of money made is on the resale of the car so leaving damages on the car and lossing money just is not good business practice and who wants to rent a beat up piece of crap, not me. Always do a walk around even if an agent does do it with you and report any thing you want noted or they dont tell you about or yes they can come after you for the repair cost if you didnt note it before you left. Im talking out of experience since I currently work and have work at a rental company for 5 years now. Yes it sucks but you cant expect the company to foot the bill for damages done, once that car leaves the lot it becomes your responsibilty. Of course bring up the problem with the beauty bar dents and im sure you can work every thing out with out to much hassle, companies want to keep customers special now with the way things are.

 

To report something like the beauty bar dents as damage in the pre rental walkaround is hard because so many have them it's hard to tell if it didn't come from the factory that way. When I rented one a couple weeks ago I looked because I knew what the rear was supposed to look like, but when I bought my HHR used I didn't know that they weren't supposed to be there.

 

I didn't even notice them until now!

The left is worse than the right...