Courtesy Car admin fee?

robbieswife2b

Hi

Can someone help please???

I recently had a courtesy car (through my insurance company) for a number of months and received a parking ticket in December 2008. The company sent me a bill for £25 admin fee.

I advised them that neither my husband or myself had received a ticket so I had contacted the police for more information (this was in Jan 09 but I have heard nothing). I advised the courtesy car company of this.

They have sent a letter to me saying that even though I am disputing this I still owe them £28.75 and they will start legal proceedings if this is not paid.

What services have I received for this £28.75 and surely I shouldn't have to pay this until I have received clarification on the offence. I can't see how £25 covers a letter and a stamp (maybe I am in the wrong job!). Can anyone advise how to proceed with this?

Many many thanks

makeup

Hello

I really sympathise with you!

My ex had a van on hire from a company and got several parking tickets and the company took the admin fee direct from his account!!!! And most of the tickets were for after he had given back the van!!! :mad: :eek:

I did look into it for him and read through his terms & conditions. On there was a clause that said they would charge 'reasonable' costs for the admin of the tickets.

This reminded me of the bank charges reclaims. I think the basis of this wasn't that charges were made but that the amounts weren't reasonable and in proportion to the costs incurred by the company.

I think that this is a similar situation for the car hire company. I mean printing off a standard letter and posting it hardly costs £25 - more like a couple of quid.

Firstly I would check your T&C's that you signed and see if this is the clause in there.

Secondly see what info you do have about the ticket. For example is it an error by the car hire company (does it actually relate to the car you hired or have they made an error and sent you a ticket for another vehicle??) or is it an error by the Police (eg. you weren't in that area on the day in question?)

I would then write to the company and dispute their disgraceful charges and ask them to break down the admin costs for sending the letter.

I would like to say that I don't really have any experience in this and this is just my initial thoughts on what would be a good course of action in this case.

Hopefully someone with more consumer law knowledge will be along to help you out.

I totally agree though - you should definitely fight this one!