Principles

[chirpychippy]

I've recently returned a contract hire vehicle, I looked after the van for 3 years whilst it was in my possession, two weeks ago a body shop took all of scratches out of it.

I took pictures of the van just prior to the inspection. I now have a significant charge for a damaged alloy rim which wasn't highlighted in the inspection nor was it actually there.

I am rather peeved and feel like plastering this company all over social media, I have emailed them for their advices/explanation...

Even the tire is different

 

[mattylad]

Send them your photo's taken just before returning with your description that the tyre is wrong and suggest that they must have mixed up their photo's and made a mistake and can they cancel this incorrect bill.

That will then enable them to back out of the bill as you have evidence.

 

[chirpychippy]

Send them your photo's taken just before returning with your description that the tyre is wrong and suggest that they must have mixed up their photo's and made a mistake and can they cancel this incorrect bill.

That will then enable them to back out of the bill as you have evidence.

It's the Moral aspect that rattles my cage. It's falsifying evidence for financial gain it does p*ss me off, they can shove their charges all of them

 

[algas]

That's fraud isn't it ?

 

[Mottie]

It’s common practice abroad when you hire a car for a tenner a day and don’t take out their fully comp insurance for £25 a day.

 

[AdrianUK]

An here in the UK... for a certain Car & van Hire Company that threatens to charge a fixed £2K excess fee for ANY damage if you dont take out their waiver.

 

[motorbiking]

So is the tyre a different profile ?

It’s not fraud unless you can prove deliberate deception. They can just argue it was a mistake.

Flat fees for damage have to be carefully worded otherwise you can put them to strict proof.

Dear x,

Please find enclosed photos of the vehicle returned. You will see there is no damage and in fact the wheel and tyre in your photo is from a different vehicle. Please confirm you have updated your records and cancelled your charges/invoice.

If a follow up in needed.

Dear x

As per my correspondence on date x. I have provided you with evidence that you are mistaken. Your claim is disputed. Your persistence is bordering on attempted fraud.

Should you wish to persist with this claim I will put you to strict proof and seek costs for any legal fees incurred.

(Note you can’t usually claim costs for defending such a claim but they might be unaware. )

 

[Mottie]

I had that happen to me. Hired a black car on holiday, two weeks after we got home I get pictures of scrapes on a blue car and nearly £700 charged to my card. Tried to argue it out but then they just started replying in Spanish. Credit card company didn’t want to know. Luckily I had taken out a hire car excess insurance policy in the U.K. before going away (@£40 for the year) and they refunded me even though I provided them with the evidence of fraud on behalf of the hire company. Maybe they argued it out with them? I wouldn’t hire a car abroad these days without having a similar policy in place.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Luckily I had taken out a hire car excess insurance policy in the U.K. before going away (@£40 for the year) and they refunded me even though I provided them with the evidence of fraud on behalf of the hire company.

Good idea. Never heard of that type of insurance. Will definitely be taking it out before hiring car again.

 

[Mottie]

Good idea. Never heard of that type of insurance. Will definitely be taking it out before hiring car again.

Make sure you keep the car hire contract that you get when you collect the car. (Most people chuck them when the holiday is over). All I had to do was send my insurance company the contract, a copy of my credit card statement showing what I had been charged and copies of any correspondence and the money was in my account within days. This is who I used so I’d recommend them: https://www.coverforyou.com/car_hir...1NtUMujXi25yqWvBct3NWS4_zSG_EcQMaAk8kEALw_wcB

 

[motorbiking]

It’s common practice abroad when you hire a car for a tenner a day and don’t take out their fully comp insurance for £25 a day.

I hired a car in the canaries once while doing a sailing course as it was cheaper than the cost of a taxi. £20 for the week. Told the guy I needed to do a video for my excess insurance and he basically said no problem and wrote on the form. No problem when I returned it.

I had that happen to me. Hired a black car on holiday, two weeks after we got home I get pictures of scrapes on a blue car and nearly £700 charged to my card. Tried to argue it out but then they just started replying in Spanish. Credit card company didn’t want to know. Luckily I had taken out a hire car excess insurance policy in the U.K. before going away (@£40 for the year) and they refunded me even though I provided them with the evidence of fraud on behalf of the hire company. Maybe they argued it out with them? I wouldn’t hire a car abroad these days without having a similar policy in place.

They do go after them usually.

 

[Diver Fred]

I hired a car in the canaries once while doing a sailing course as it was cheaper than the cost of a taxi. £20 for the week. Told the guy I needed to do a video for my excess insurance and he basically said no problem and wrote on the form. No problem when I returned it.


They do go after them usually.

I had a similar experience when I went to Maderia. The car hire attendant even told me what to do about time and date stamping the imagies.

 

[securespark]

I have been ripped off down the years re vehicle hires. Funnily enough, I didn't seem to have any issues hiring vans or lorries, but the car hire companies seemed to take the ****.

One time I returned a car, and chose the nearest petrol station, which was less than half a mile away. I filled it so that I could see petrol in the filler neck, then drove the 0.4 mile to the place. This was Sunday night.

Monday morning, I get a call informing me that the car was not topped up and they were charging a tenner to my card. I told them how I had topped up to the filler neck and how I thought it was odd that they managed to get exactly 10 quid in. I had paid for the hire with my debit card and chargeback wasn't a thing in 1988, so I had to swallow that.

Looking back, I should have chased it, but at the time I was really busy at work and it was only a tenner. I guess the company thought the same thing, but if they ripped every hirer off for a tenner, that's a nice extra bit of income.

Another time, I dropped a car off and the next day, they rang to say they were going to have to debit £2500+ from my card because the car was returned damaged.

I went down to the depot, where they showed me a mashed in front wing and corner of the front bumper.

They claimed I had done this parking it up. I asked them to make it official by sending me a letter outlining their claim against me, which they did. I then passed it on to my solicitor, along with photos I had taken on a 35mm camera which had a time/date stamp.

These showed the car parked in a completely different spot to the one they claimed I left it in, with no damage to the wing and bumper.

The solicitor wrote them a letter, enclosing copies of the photos and asked them if they would like to persist with their claim, in which case the solicitor would bring a case to court alleging attempted fraud.

The outcome was that I got a grovelling letter from the car hire firm, stating that the damage was actually caused by an employee moving the vehicle who had then lied to his boss and claimed I had caused the damage. The letter ended by saying that I was not liable for any charges.

I hired a car in Tenerife in January 1999. I took photos of it on the forecourt. When we brought it back, the geezer didn't want to inspect it, so being wary, I took photos again in case, but nothing came of it.

We hired two cars in NZ, one on the North island and one on the South. We had all-in cover which, in the words of the hire rep meant that we could return the car on the back of a low loader all smashed up and we wouldn't owe a cent.

When we dropped our RAV4 off at Christchurch airport, a rep checked that the car was complete. He told me that more and more hires were being returned without spare wheels and even with odd wheels, where the hirer had nicked a wheel and put an old one in its place. One they got back had the complete interior stripped, with an upturned bucket in place of the drivers' seat...