I have been very surprised to find in my mail last week a Claim from your department, to the amount of $857.50. I rented a car from the Palo Alto Avis branch from March 2nd to March 5th and chose to waive the damage insurance as I am a cautious and experienced driver, and as a student I need to spend my money sparingly. When I brought the car back to the branch on March 5th, Mr. Mario S brought to my attention the fact that there were two scratches on the right-side of the front bumper. I was really surprised by these scratches as I had not noticed them. As I told Mr. S then, I had only parked in a public parking lot for 2 or 3 hours the day before, and I guess the incident had occurred in that period of time. At this point I would like to remark that prior to my rental, the cars condition was not pristine with respect to scratches and small body paint damage (the whole body of the car, including the bumpers, is white which may lead to easier damage). You can verify on the pre-rental car condition assessment, signed by myself on March 2nd that the bumpers already showed some small damage. Thus, I asked Mr. S if I was going to have to pay anything for this damage. I remember that he told me I wouldnt have to pay anything, but nevertheless I had to fill in a claim. As a foreigner not yet used to the business rules in the U.S.A., I thought Mr. S implied the claim was purely formal and would not lead to any financial claim or dispute. I just really hope (and thats what Ill assume) that he didnt knowingly tried to abuse my poor understanding of spoken English to have me sign a claim without my fully understanding its content. Subsequently I walked out of the branch and forgot about the incident, having imagined the unfortunate case was closed. However, on April 3rd I received the aforementioned damage claim. I was stroked to find out that the Vehicle Damage Claims department had issued a claim of $857.50 for this incident.