Hire Car cautionary tale

ANGSTDATA

Just came back from long weekend in Guernsey - hired car on the net for the 3 days to get around -paid with Tuxedo card as not allowed credit or debit card now

- gets there - fills out forms , she wants card that was used to book online as a security to cover excesses (£350)

opps! i say ,sorry luv ive left it at home , but you have the card details on the form infront of you that you have allready taken the £53 out from ,surely you can use that if there was any damage ?

NO

what ? ???? , well i will take £350 out in cash and leave it as a deposit for you then

NO


what ?????


must have your card sir with which you booked

and by the way you wont get your money back either as its not our fault you havnt got your card ,so cant go thru with the transaction and there is a 3 day minimum non refundable charge if the transaction isnt complted for ANY reason

so Ihave a hire car ,sitting out there on the forecourt which I have paid for ,but you wont allow me to drive it away and wont refund me any money ????

thats right sir ............have a nice day !


GGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

hollydays

Which online company was it?

uktyler

Its standard practice to produce the card at the point of hire, everytime I've booked a hire car it is stated on the booking confirmation.

ANGSTDATA

the company was travel jigsaw carhire 3000 europcar

the small print on insurance states that

"you will be required to leave a deposit on collection of vehicle upto the value of insurance excess - this deposit USUALLY takes the form of a credit card although cash isan optin at some locations ,so please contact us beforehand to see if this ispossible"

ok I can see that it does say about contact beforehand - but it was just the sheer intransigence of the situation - I had left my wallet at home with the card in it - so had to pay for a car that i was not allowed to use

I shall be contacting the company and letting them know how dissapointed I was with their handling of the matter

KILL_BILL

they do that for security reasons to prevent fraud etc

Becles

ANGSTDATA wrote: »

ok I can see that it does say about contact beforehand - but it was just the sheer intransigence of the situation - I had left my wallet at home with the card in it - so had to pay for a car that i was not allowed to use

To be fair, the car was waiting for you and had been reserved for 3 days use. I wouldn't expect them to write off their loss of income on the vehicle because the fault was mine through leaving a wallet at home.

omen666

KILL_BILL wrote: »

they do that for security reasons to prevent fraud etc

But surely the card name and the production of the licence would suffice to show who you are?

ANGSTDATA

and passport too, as i had just stepped off the plane

Wig

And a phone call to the card provider for them to authorise identification is also very possible, the retailer phones the card co. gives the information then hands the phone to the customer, question and answer session, hand the phone back to retailer and they confirm identity.

It's completely crazy not to take a cash deposit to cover the excess, there can be no other possible costs that need to be covered by the car hire co. So if the costs are covered by cash what the hell is the problem?


More threads like this and more people refusing to hire from inflexible companies (or book travel through companies that partner themselves with such hire companies is what is needed

Easyjet/europcar is another such inflexible duo of companies who work together to rip you off.

pinkshoes

ANGSTDATA wrote: »

the small print on insurance states that

"you will be required to leave a deposit on collection of vehicle upto the value of insurance excess - this deposit USUALLY takes the form of a credit card although cash isan optin at some locations ,so please contact us beforehand to see if this ispossible"

Note that the small print says "a" credit card, and not "the card you used to make the payment with". It only says contact them if you're thinking of paying with cash instead of "a" credit card.

On this basis, they were completely in the wrong, and should not only give you your money back, but also pay the difference if you had to hire another car that was more expensive.

Wig

pinkshoes wrote: »

Note that the small print says "a" credit card, and not "the card you used to make the payment with". It only says contact them if you're thinking of paying with cash instead of "a" credit card.

On this basis, they were completely in the wrong, and should not only give you your money back, but also pay the difference if you had to hire another car that was more expensive.

Good call, and if the Europcar T&Cs are the same as the easyjet/Europcar T&Cs Then as long as OP tried to pay with another credit card and was refused then they should be ok. But the way I read the OP the OP does not have any credit cards so they could not have offered an alternative. The OP offered the alternative of cash.

I would look at the avenue that the contract is unfair, the offer of a cash deposit in lieu of a CC deposit would seem to me to be entirely reasonable. "Contractual exclusion clauses in relation to services are not illegal but they are not enforceable if they are unreasonable".


Europcar T&C
Financial qualification
The payment of the estimated rental charges and of the possible charges resulting from damage to or loss of the rented vehicle must be warranted at time of rental.

• Europcar charge cards and Full Credit vouchers are accepted throughout the network; on their own, they permit the rental of most vehicle categories.
• Credit cards are accepted in the limits authorised by the credit card company; please note that certain cards are not represented in every country. Please Check "Country Rental conditions" section.
• Europcar prepaid vouchers (with a specified value or the mention Group Days Apply) are accepted as means of payment of the rental charges, but they must be accompanied by a credit card for the charges which have not been prepaid (extras, refuelling charge, excess due in case of damage to or loss of the rented vehicle).
• Cash/cheques: only the lowest vehicle categories may be rented against cash or cheque payment; an additional reference is required and a deposit covering the estimated rental charges and the accident/ theft excess has to be paid in advance.