NATIONAL Car Rental is claiming a rental industry first with the introduction of a new corporate-specific scheme that waives the bill for damage costing under £250 to repair.

Called the Limited Damage Option (LDO), it is designed specifically for corporate customers in order to try to alleviate the administrative burden for the business and its customers in handling minor damage claims to its rental fleet.

Any minor damage such as scratches to paintwork and small dents to the bodywork which would cost under £250 to repair will be waived when the car is returned at the end of a rental. A £1.50 per day charge automatically covers the driver for any minor damages incurred to a vehicle up to that figure.

Kim Brown, marketing director for National, believes the time has come to focus on larger issues and time spent chasing and administering small repair bills outweighs actual cost of repair.

Brown said: 'As a large rental organisation, the volume of minor damage claims we have to deal with on an annual basis is huge. These claims create a heavy administrative burden and, by their nature, have a very low recovery.

'To help ease this and to increase customer satisfaction we have introduced the Limited Damage Option for our corporate customers. We believe it will improve efficiency in the claims process by reducing the number of claims we handle and in turn improve customer relationships.'

LDO is targeted at existing National corporate customers which are covered by their own company insurance.

Brown added: 'We are always looking at new ways to streamline the business to provide a higher standard of service to our corporate customers. This new development will help us reduce the time spent on minor claims allowing us to focus on the more positive aspects of the rental experience.'