Rental cars in San Francisco

I chose this company based on the type of autos that were available. I was looking for something unique, yet fuel efficient as I knew we would be traveling a lot over our 4 days of exploring northern California. Their app is very user friendly, and I was able to select my vehicle and check-in 2 hours before our scheduled pickup time by uploading my drivers license. *Important - on this receipt was a QR code that I didn't see upon checkout that I believe allows you to see existing damage to the car prior to your rental. I didn't see this until later, and wish the attendant would have pointed this out to me. Not doing this, did lead to headaches upon check-out, that probably could have been avoided.* Read the reviews and take extra steps of documenting the vehicle condition before leaving the garage. I did take pictures of all of the damage that I found on my own, which ultimately helped arbitrate some false claims that came when returning the car. We had a very early flight, so we checked in around 3:30am and there was no employees around to walk around the car during the inspection, so I was at his/her mercy about what was on this post rental report. There was severe damage reported on the inside edge of the passenger front door that I was certain did not happen during our time (I didn't even see this damage during our 4 days, but the location of this damage would make it very hard to see unless you are looking for it.) I didn't just "roll over" and accept this claim, I fought back with documentation of the condition of the car that I had and included my photos of the damage that I noticed before renting, I received an email that they would look into previous condition reports to confirm that this damage wasn't already on the car and be back in touch, which later was followed with an email that I would not be charged for this damage. (Maybe they should look at this report before reaching out to me and creating unnecessary stress? Or, is this a strategy to prey on unsuspecting customers?) The next added stress came with an extremely high fueling fee because the car wasn't "full" of gas. I fueled up as close to the airport as possible and ended up paying $6.99/gal which was $1.70/gal more than I could have paid further away from the airport, but I was intentionally trying to avoid the fuel fee that is disclosed if you don't bring the car back full. I drove less than 6 miles after fueling, and the report showed it was 7/8 of a tank of gas, and the fee for this was $93.52. I paid over $90 for 13 gallons of gas to fill the car up close to the airport, so I wasn't about to "roll over" on this charge either. Again, I reached out to customer service. I provided my refueling story, and documentation I had supporting a full tank of gas upon return. I later received an email that these charges would also be reversed. I can only assume that Sixt pays commissions to their employees in charge of post rental inspection claims to ensure that the employees don't get complacent and their cars retain as much resale value as possible. If my assumption is accurate, then their employees are essentially writing their own "paychecks" at the expense of innocent customers that are not prepared to defend themselves. If you rent a car, DOCUMENT EVERYTHING! I would suggest pulling the car out of it's parking spot and slowly walking around with your video camera and open each door and the trunk to document everything that a still image may miss. Keep your fuel receipts, and take a picture of the "miles until empty" when you drop off the car. Every car model has expected fuel range data listed on multiple websites that a quick Google search can find to support your claim. Overall, I enjoyed the car, the little interaction I had with very sharp dressed staff and my 4 days cruising in California in a Sixt BMW 440i! I would have given this 5 Stars if I didn't have to defend myself against false claims from a staff member handling my return trip inspection that happened when I was not around.