Beware pushy Car Hire firms

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Donald.1969
Donald.1969 Posts: 1 Newbie
in Flights, currency & car hire
I am recently returned from Spain. Prior to travelling I had arranged car hire through a broker with Solmar. Following advice we read on this site we bought an excess insurance waiver policy prior to travel as we have been stung for hidden charges in the past. We flew into Girona airport around midnight on Sunday 6th August and headed to the Solmar desk. When we got there we handed over the paperwork for our hire. We knew we had some excess payments to make such as out of hours arrival and travelling from Spain into France. The agent told us that as we were leaving mainland Spain it was mandatory that we took an excess waiver policy. I handed over my pre-booked excess waiver documents which was a pan European policy. The agent then told us that they would not accept it as it did not name Solmar. As it was after midnight, we had been travelling for several hours and still had a 2 hour journey to our destination we had no choice but to pay and take the issue up with our broker when we returned to the UK. Unfortunately, the broker did not uphold my complaint. When travelling please beware these companies!!!

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  • tece
    tece Posts: 137 Forumite
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    I think the broker should also be named and shamed as I bet they rarely pay out on any complaint or claim.
    I have only tried to claim once but this was denied as buried in the small print it said you could not claim if you damaged the car in a car park, which we had.
    Fortunately this is the only time I have tried to claim in the many holiday car I have hired.
    In an ideal world we would all hire with the majors but their prices are so prohibitive, that I'm sure the majority of us go with a broker and cross our fingers there are no mishaps.
  • richardw
    richardw Posts: 19,458 Forumite
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    tece wrote: »
    ....we would all hire with the majors but their prices are so prohibitive....

    I had a four day hire with Avis for £59, I had my own excess insurance and got great service, no deli counter queuing nor badly lit car park. The majors can be competitive.
    Posts are not advice and must not be relied upon.
  • leylandsunaddict
    leylandsunaddict Posts: 1,923 Forumite
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    tece wrote: »
    I think the broker should also be named and shamed as I bet they rarely pay out on any complaint or claim.
    I have only tried to claim once but this was denied as buried in the small print it said you could not claim if you damaged the car in a car park, which we had.
    Fortunately this is the only time I have tried to claim in the many holiday car I have hired.
    In an ideal world we would all hire with the majors but their prices are so prohibitive, that I'm sure the majority of us go with a broker and cross our fingers there are no mishaps.

    I prefer the local companies to any global company. I prefer to support the local economy and not the pockets of some global company. I'd never book through a broker, only direct. Why put another company and another layer of T&Cs between you and your booking?
  • PeacefulWaters
    PeacefulWaters Posts: 8,495 Forumite
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    leylandsunaddict wrote: »
    . Why put another company and another layer of T&Cs between you and your booking?
    There was me thinking you were a travel agent!
  • Shimrod
    Shimrod Posts: 1,069 Forumite
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    leylandsunaddict wrote: »
    I prefer the local companies to any global company. I prefer to support the local economy and not the pockets of some global company. I'd never book through a broker, only direct. Why put another company and another layer of T&Cs between you and your booking?

    I prefer a hire company with a desk at the airport, so normally book one of the major companies. However, it doesn't follow that the money is just going to a global company - Hertz in Iceland for example is a franchise, so more of the cash would stay in the local economy.

    I've only used a broker once - Expedia was £250 cheaper for booking the same car in Newfoundland than booking direct with Avis -30% discount is worth the extra T&C.
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