Protecting ourselves - car hire - would this work?

Tygermoth

[FONT=&quot]Dear all,[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]We are off to SA in Nov and have been advised by the people we are staying with to hire a car.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]So in true MSE fashion we have be researching the best deal. What has come to light is loads of people complaining about charges placed on the card after the hand back (in some cases months later) for petrol (well in excess of the tank size and local prices), alleged damage or products and services not purchased. On reviewing all firms large and small they all seem to have the same issues. When complaining the reviewer seems to get no response as the lease is over and the hire company/car in question is in a different country. From all the reviews none seemed to get their money back.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Some of these un-agreed charges amount to hundreds of pounds which we could not afford![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]After listening to me fret about this a friend suggested:[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Using a credit card with no balance (which we have); use to secure the hire. Take photos of car. Pay for the hire. Take photos. Hand the car back. Pay anything and everything that is due. On walking out of the office call the CC card company and adv the card has just been lost and tell them that you have just paid a bill that is valid and anything chargeable after this is not valid.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Just to reiterate, we will happily pay any bills due just not any un-agreed charges after.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Would this work?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]:D
[/FONT]

boliston

Reporting your card lost could give you protection against getting an unexpected charge "months" later, but it's a good idea to check if they have put a "hold" on any funds, as I doubt reporting a card lost would release any funds that have already been put "on hold". A way of checking for "held" funds it to see if the "available balance" has been reduced.

Tygermoth

Thank you very much for your reply.

To clarify hire companies 'hold' the excess don’t they...but that money is not physically removed from the account?

So if it’s reserved is that chargeable on the card for interest? If not I’m not so bothered as they can hold the balance until hell freezes over but they won’t be able to remove it as the card would be marked as lost stolen.

The stories on here of monies being removed without consent then the long hard battle to get a response is putting the fear into me about hiring a car, but its needed so I just want to protect me and their unlimited access to my credit card as much as possible.

dzug1

Your problem is that your authority to charge the card was given before the card is reported stolen, so the card being reported stolen makes not the slightest difference to whether they can charge or not.

I wonder how frequent incidents such as you fear actually are? In recent years I've hired cars in excess of 20 times, and it's never happened to me. I suspect it's not very common in reality.

Tygermoth

Thank you for your response.

Though I understand your advice that the likelihood of the car hire company misappropriating my funds is low, it makes good sense to be prepared. I cannot afford to lose in excess of £600 on a maybe.

In the last few days alone there are a number of threads on here with cases similar to ones I mention in my post. Which is echoed firmly in reviews of all the major car companies I have looked at.

It costs nothing to be prepared, and could cost £600+ should I trust that a company will operate in my best interests and not theirs..........and be proved wrong.

boliston

dzug1 wrote: »

Your problem is that your authority to charge the card was given before the card is reported stolen, so the card being reported stolen makes not the slightest difference to whether they can charge or not.

I wonder how frequent incidents such as you fear actually are? In recent years I've hired cars in excess of 20 times, and it's never happened to me. I suspect it's not very common in reality.

This is why the hire company put a "hold" on the funds at the time of hiring. I'm pretty sure that the "hold" only lasts for a set time, typically a few days.

Once the "hold" has expired they would not be able to gain access to any further funds once the card has been reported stolen as the account is effectively frozen.

This means that while reporting the card stolen will not protect you from extra charges at the time of handing the car back, it can protect you against any nasty surprises months later.