Sixt Car Hire Problem - Stansted

Tilt

Good news. I suspect it was a result in it being picked up on here by Gary from Sixt.

marlot

I had good service from SixT on holiday last year; good to see them taking the initiative here.

Savingswatcher

As a Senior management member at Sixt in UK. I would like to add that we are always concerned our 'customers' might think we are 'trying it on'. Unfortunately, cars are very often damaged during rental and not reported - sometimes after being in accidents which has all kinds of consequences.

The major car rental brands such as Sixt always try to act responsibly - but we make mistakes. We never intentionally try to charge for damage that the customer is not responsible for.

On Stansted - sixt is about to open a new desk in the terminal bulding with car rental return facilities just outside - so cars will no longer need to be left in the short stay car park - there will be check in agent on hand to take the keys and look over the vehicle with the customer.

One last tip for all car rental hirers - Sixt (and in fairness some of our competitor major brands) now offer 'Top Cover' - it costs you a little bit more than the normal cdw/ldw excess waivers - but completely negates any excess. In other words - you don't have to worry about being charged for damage.

knightstyle

It always annoys me when you don't have the chance to check a hire car with a representative when you pick up and return the car. We had a go at Hertz as we had to sign the forms, including a condition form in the airport building and then a long walk to the car to pick it up in the pouring rain so no chance of seeing scratches etc. Then when handing back were told to leave it "over there" to be checked later. No problems but not a good thing from the customers point.

Strider590

There's a lot of this going on at the moment (especially with insurance courtesy cars), hire companies claiming for damages that the customer did not cause and which might not even exist. It's a nice little earner if they know how to play it......

Im not sure if it's individuals working for them who are somehow able to get a bit of a back hander from the over inflated repair costs. Maybe someone's cousin is contracted to do repairs? who know's?
It might even be corruption at the highest level, repairs being done by a sister company for example?

Either way, it's on the increase and they seem to love dropping off and collecting the vehicle when it's either a) raining or b) too dark outside to inspect it properly.

mskemp85

Not quite a happy ending.

A quick check of my bank statement indicates I was charged an extra £26 on top of my hire charge. According to the invoice, it was fuel charges.

Just to be clear, I filled the car up to the brim, at the BP station at Stansted airport. Those of you that know Stansted will know that this petrol station is less than a mile from the car parks.

So £26 for 1 miles worth of petrol. Seems fair. Back to their customer service line once more.

Update: Apparently the car took 10 litres of fuel. Either I am going mad and took it for a very long detour on my way back, or something odd is going on here

Gary_Coughlan

Hi mskemp85,

I have forwarded a reply to your email, I hope you don't mind the additional post here on this forum. All personal references have been removed.

"No need for a receipt.


I understand your impression maybe that rental companies sneak on charges for bogus dings and hidden extras. This is not how Sixt operates, we are an extremely customer focused organisation.

I hope you can appreciate that we recorded new damage when checking in the vehicle, according to our documentation this damage was not present at the start of the hire. It was therefore natural for us to contact you to ask about the damage. In this case the damage was small, we appreciate that you had no knowledge of it and I do not mean to infer that this damage occurred during your hire.

We were of course more than happy to refund this charge. Likewise, I believe you when you say the vehicle was full, I have no reason to question your integrity nor would I wish to. The vehicle did take fuel after the hire, but this was not as a consequence of you not filling the vehicle to full at the station as you rightly thought that you had and I would therefore surmise that the fuel gauge supported your view. Either a fuel gauge fault, fuel reading error or additional refuelling to full was required but none of which was intentional by any of the parties concerned.

The charge in principle is correct. However, I have credited the fuel charge to provide you with the best possible service, in view of the fact that the gauge indicated that the vehicle was full and that you had fuelled the vehicle at BP prior to return. Please allow 5-7 working days for the refund to show in your account.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions."

Best regards
Gary

CM66

I hire cars 7-8 times a year and have had mane different companies try it on by adding on 'damage' charges. The worst was Europcar who delivered a totally filthy car which was impossible to inspect, and then went on the try and charge €500 for a chip in the windscreen (which i still dont think was there!!)

I got them to cancel it eventually but it was a total nightmare......

But - I recently got a private year long policy to cover to car excess for about £40 ish so might be worth considering if you are hiring on a regular basis!

nomoneytoday

I thought everyone filled cars to the "first nudge" on the pump rather than brimming.
They come that way when picked up too.. IMHO

Savingswatcher

As I say - ask the car rental company if they offer Zero excess Insurance Sixt do from their UK corpororate London and Airport locations. It's a few pounds more but peace of mind - especially if you only hire a few times a year.

I'm not knocking the '£40 a year excess policy' companies - but you still have to pay the excess up front at the rental desk and claim it back by providing a lot of paperwork and proof etc.