Streetcar car club (message to people who have or are thinking of using)

BargainGalore

If thats the case just take them when you take the car then if you have an accident and able to get back just say it was fine when I returned it and I got photos to prove it

richardw wrote: »

So at the end of your hire you need to take pictures of the car to say that it was OK when you finished.

Piela20

I have now had the same issue myself. A week after using the service...for only a 3 mile round trip i received this email:

This e-mail follows your booking in Streetcar . We are writing to inform you that the member to use the vehicle after you called us at the beginning of their booking on xx month to report some damage, which was described as a scuff on the front driver’s side bumper. Our fleet technician has since visited the car and following his assessment it has been confirmed as new damage that was previously unreported. Responsibility has therefore been attributed to your account at this stage, as you were the last member to use the car The total cost to repair the damaged area of the vehicle in question is £xxx. Please find a photograph of the damage and a detailed estimate of the repair attached.
If you are held responsible for this damage, you will be required to pay for the full cost of the repair. We have decided not to repair the damage immediately to avoid removing the vehicle from the fleet and accumulating downtime charges for you, and instead will be repairing the damage at the time of selling the vehicle. An additional administration fee of £19.50 will be charged to cover the cost of Streetcar investigating the damage.
Should we not hear from you within 5 days, the total charge of £xxxx will be put through on the card details we hold for you. Should you wish to dispute this charge, please do so before xxx month.
---

I honestly see this as a major flaw in the service. The point of a car club is for short and quick journeys, i used my hire car for less than an hour. In that period i know i had no damage done to it
a. because i was driving it for a very short period
b. when it was parked no cars had been near it to cause such damage

whilst i always inspect the vehicals for obvious cosmetic damage its unrealistic to expect each customer to fully inspect a car for a short hour journey. What happens if you hire out of daylight hours too?

Any advice would be appreciated as i do not want to be held liable for small scrapes that were not my fault.

Regards
P

CashHound

I agree that this is a big flaw in the Streetcar business. I'm nervous each time I return a car, and hope that the next rental follows quite soon after so if anything did happen to the car while parked on the street it is no longer I that is liable.

I'm not sure what the best solution would be for them. I've taken out insurance to reduce my excess to zero (though not with Streetcar) in the event a claim was filed against me.

maninthestreet

CashHound wrote: »

I agree that this is a big flaw in the Streetcar business. I'm nervous each time I return a car, and hope that the next rental follows quite soon after so if anything did happen to the car while parked on the street it is no longer I that is liable.

I'm not sure what the best solution would be for them. I've taken out insurance to reduce my excess to zero (though not with Streetcar) in the event a claim was filed against me.

How about taking some photos of the car when you have finished your journey and have parked it????

donquine

I have to admit, I always thought Streetcar was a great idea, but this thread has really put me off!:(

How many people have parked their car before, gone away, come back and found a bad driver has managed to scratch the side of the car? Or worse, that someone has bumped into the car, made a big dent and gone off?

I think if Streetcar want to charge damages to the last person who took their car out, they need to prove that person caused the damage, rather than just assume. The OP didn't have to pay in the end, but I can imagine how stressful the experience was. If Streetcar are not prepared to pay for an employee to physically inspect cars as they are returned and/or fit their parking bays with CCTV, I think they need to absorb the damage costs themselves. It's terrible customer service otherwise.

CashHound

maninthestreet wrote: »

How about taking some photos of the car when you have finished your journey and have parked it????

But I could abuse that system by always taking photos before renting the car then, if damage were to arise during the rental, just show them the photos I took before starting and say "look it was undamaged when I returned it". This is why Streetcar would never go for the photographic evidence.

Justicia

CashHound wrote: »

But I could abuse that system by always taking photos before renting the car then, if damage were to arise during the rental, just show them the photos I took before starting and say "look it was undamaged when I returned it". This is why Streetcar would never go for the photographic evidence.

I think that jamesbrownontheroad offered the best solution thus far with an option to upload pics immediately when taking/returning the car, though still could be abused by the minority unfortunately... Hmmm, it's a difficult one...

jamesbrownontheroad wrote: »

What I would appreciate is some kind of web-based service to which I could email or upload camera-phone pics before and after my rental, so that they are independently time-stamped. That way if there is a dispute there could be a third-party to prove your images of the car are exactly as you left it.

EdMB

I am not surprised to hear accounts of StreetCar unfairly blaming people for damage. It seems to be part of their business model to recoup costs.
Street car is a great idea, but in my experienced the model is flawed. They seem very keen to make it appear simpler than owning a car and relatively risk free. It is neither. I had a certain measure of success using their service and loved it, but inevitably driving in London you WILL always experience an accident eventually. In my case I was hit by a foreign coach which extraordinarily tried to pass me on the inside whilst I was in a stationary single line of traffic. I immediately reported the incident to StreetCar and followed all their instuctions. As I was clearly not at fault I felt absolutely shocked when a terse email appeared a few days later telling me that under their t&c's I would be charged for the damage whilst they did their best to recover the costs from the coach company. It was clearly implied that this was not an assured outcome in which case I would not be reimbursed. They are simply exploiting the trust of their members for their own liabilities that they cannot recover, simply because they hold your card details. Be warned.