Topics
on car hire rental:
An
early experience of hiring a car...
By
Philip Suter
After
having trouble free car rental experiences for several years, in late 2000, I
was fined by the car rental for damage I never caused and many other renters had
similar problems in Nice
France.
I
had rented cars on many occasions for family holidays from the early 1980s. These
were normally arranged via a recommendation of the self catering villa company
or through a local contact and I would normally hire a small car like a Fiat /Seat
Panda or Ford Fiesta. I experienced hiring a car in Corsica, Majorca, Portugal,
Spain, Turkey and the USA. In fact anywhere that was easier to fly to.
With
all these rentals, I never experienced any problems. There were concerns a couple
of times, like in the Algarve,
Portugal with the Mini that did not have
an awful lot of tread left on the tyres and the door key mechanism would come
out when you locked the car.
It
was a different story back in October 2000 I rented a very reasonably priced Mercedes
A class car in Nice France. To cut down on costs the rental company operated from
a section of a multi storey car park a short distance from the airport and there
was a check in zone, with a couple of computers where you could also make on line
reservations if you had not booked in advance.
The
company's pricing policy meant that normally if you booked in advance, the hire
car would be cheaper.The car was great for the week's holiday and was stopped
in a car park in Villefranche
Sur Mer by a German who wanted to know where to get one of your cars
as the Mercedes he was renting was about three times as expensive per day.
When
I got my next credit card bill there was a £150 charge from the online car rental
company. I was able to find out that the charge was for alleged damage under the
car.
I
requested a copy of the inspection report and the two previous renter's inspection
reports, but had no reply. They did reply that I had signed their rental agreement
and as I had not had it thoroughly examined after I returned it, there would be
no refund. So in other words, "too bad". I was not prepared to have to pay for
something that I knew I was not responsible for.
I
was not alone with "being charged for damage" and the company was subject to a
long feature on BBC television's Weekend Watchdog in late November. I taped the
programme and posted it off to Nice Matin newspaper. There had been hundred of
complaints to the programme over the issue; some people even had to get their
MP to intervene.
I
also contacted the Trading Standards department in the part of London this company
was based at and I took up the issue with Simon
Calder, The Independent's travel writer early in January 2001.
I
used the same rental company again in December and this time spent ages filming
the car when I collected it and making sure it was thoroughly checked when I returned
it and it was signed off as being in order.
As
there had been so many complaints about the deduction for alleged damage, excess
mileage etc from different rental locations and the media had been investigating
I, probably like many others received a refund of the £150 charge.
I
still continued to use the company and have the vehicle thoroughly checked on
collection and return for another couple of years, but was always nervous that
I could get penalized; however since the media attention in December 2000, their
policy certainly had changed a lot.
As Holiday
Autos was offering an excellent selection of different priced car hire
vehicles by then, I started to use them and the original company I had my dealings
with using the Mercedes A class has now being transformed into another very successful
global car hire broker.
In
October 2004 my wife discovered an article about buying car hire excess insurance
and I immediately went on line and purchased one of these policies. Basically
they are easy to purchase going to a web site like www.insurance4carrental.com
and choosing a provider who has advertised there.
The
car rental agreement normally includes cover for Collision Damage Waiver (CDW)
and Theft, however the renter is still liable for the Excess on CDW and Theft.
When a rental car is damaged or stolen, the driver is asked to pay the first portion
of the repair or replacement costs. This is known as the Car Hire Excess. If the
car is damaged or stolen, the car rental company will charge the renter's credit
card for the Excess amount and the renter then claim for reimbursement on the
car hire excess insurance policy. If only this had been about in 2000.
I
certainly will continue to take out a car
hire excess insurance and as I rent several times a year, find it much
more convenient to take out an annual policy.
(November
2009 ©jmlpropertyservices - Philip Suter)
N.B.
This information should not be relied on for accuracy and is presented here without
the responsibility of jml Property Service and the website it is being displayed
at. jml property Services 11-09
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