Car Hire - Rhino/Thrifty Bad Eperience

Hanoverian

A few weeks ago I was looking to book a hire vehicle for a month, I trawled the net and the best deal I found was from a third party website called Rhinocarhire, who got me a very good deal from Thrifty carhire at Heathrow airport, a LR Freelander for £750. I paid via Visa debit and received confirmation.

I turned up to collect it, but was unable to present my UK licence, despite being able to verify my licence details with the DVLA hotline in my presence (as Avis, Hertz, Europcar, Alamo etc do), I was told that they had to take a photocopy of it so they could attach it to the copy of the agreement and file it. I had a scan of my licence on my laptop which I printed for them, and requested that they verify with the DVLA that the details where correct…but not good enough for them.

The net result was being stranded at Heathrow at 5PM on a Saturday, having to go to Avis to hire another vehicle…but obviously paying a premium for it.

OK fair enough…..I was annoyed after I’d cooled down I contacted Sue Penzer (customer services) at Thrifty who was very apologetic, but wouldn’t budge, when I asked for a refund, she directed me to Rhino as Rhino hadn’t paid them for the transaction, because it had been cancelled.

I contacted Rhino who told me that because the hire had been cancelled due to me not being able to produce the correct documentation no refund was possible. I could understand them charging an admin fee or what would have been their commission on the transaction, but keeping the whole £750, far more then they would normally have earned on the transaction, for doing absolutely nothing strikes me as excessive.

Does anyone have any suggestions or advice??

Hintza

Remember your licence next time.

Sorry not very helpful I know but you will need to trawl thheir T&C's but my gut feel is your onto plums!

Enfieldian

The first (and last) thing I make sure that I have with me when hiring a car is my original driving licence.

Just basic common sense.

Why could you not produce yours at the time?

smcaul

What is it with people on here at the moment wanting to judge people al the time!!!

In response to the OP, I believe they have to mitigate their losses and as such would have to prove their costs on this transaction. Let them know you are serious and aware that they have incurred zero costs from Thrifty and as such would expect a refund minus reasonable admin costs.

No doubt others will now mention the hire companies T&C's, but even if they do cover themselves it could quite possibly be argued that it was an unfair term.

Worth a try anyway.

Hintza

smcaul wrote: »

What is it with people on here at the moment wanting to judge people al the time!!!

I don't think either of us tried to judge, we are certainly guilty of stating the bleeding obvious.

Now where do you get this mitigate their losses stuff from? How do you know they have incurred zero costs?

Equaliser123

Mitigation of loss is a basic contract law concept.

smcaul

Hintza wrote: »

I don't think either of us tried to judge, we are certainly guilty of stating the bleeding obvious.

Now where do you get this mitigate their losses stuff from? How do you know they have incurred zero costs?

See above for answer to Mitigate their Losses.

As for zero costs, in the opening post the OP mentions that the hire car company have stated that the agent would not be charged, also, having somewhat of an insiders knowledge of the car rental industry I know full well that it is highly unlikely that Thrifty would be able to charge the agent.

OlliesDad

Their only loss presumably would be the commision from the sale and any admin fees which would be minimal (unless Thrifty have levied charges). So while i wouldn't expect you to get the whole amount back, i would expect a fair chunk.

Hanoverian

Can anyone suggest a best next course of action??

KeithP

Hanoverian wrote: »

Can anyone suggest a best next course of action??

Post #4 offered a suggestion.

Renya

Try writing to their Head Office, they may not give you a full refund but it's worth a try.