Charged for pre-existing damage

In late Sept 2025 I rented from the SIXT location at Denver, CO airport for one-way to Albuquerque, NM. At the desk there was heavy pressure to upgrade from a standard SUV to luxury SUV. Eventually the deal was good enough for me to agree to a 2025 BMW SUV rental. Upon seeing the vehicle, we identified at least 10 to 12 areas that were damaged with scratches, dents, etc. I immediately went inside the SIXT rental office and asked an employee to come and look at these damages with us. The employee stuck her head out of the door and said we did not need to worry, all of the damages on that car were already registered in their system. There was no indication that we should compare to what was listed as existing damage on the rental agreement (which they did not give us). We believed her, so we did not take photos, which was a big mistake. Upon return to the SIXT location in Albuquerque in early Oct, the attendant there identified damage on the front bumper (one of the 10 to 12 damaged areas) that was already there when we got the car, but said that it was not registered in their system. A couple weeks later I received an email requesting $2185 for this damage that was not registered. Based on posts I have seen from others, it may not have mattered if I took pictures anyway, based on the way SIXT has ignored these in some cases. My perception of their whole operation in our case is that they do not repair damage to vehicles in a timely manner because that causes confusion with customers and opportunity for them to get away with what they did with us. Also, I believe their rental agreement documentation is purposefully difficult to access so customers can't identify what is already damaged prior to leaving the lot (in our case we did not actually get a copy of the rental agreement until 2 hours after we departed, via email). Specific to the Denver location (and maybe other locations too), either the employee who told us all damage was already recorded was either instructed to respond this way to customer concerns, or at the very least was grossly negligent (with the only ramification being to the customer). I went through multiple calls with their claims department, sent complaints to BBB and Attorney General offices in Colorado, Florida (SIXT US HQ state) and Pennsylvania (my home state), and also sent emails multiple times to their COO office in Florida. None of this helped, and their claim against me has been sent to collection. To add insult to injury, their damage repair 'quote' is from the same company they use in all of their claims, there is a $200 'administration' fee, and almost $400 fee for impact to the value of the vehicle. This company is a joke.