stung by prebooked car rental

annamichellewilliams

I booked a hire car for a recent holiday in advance, paying an upfront amount on my credit card. As I have rented cars on several occasions with other hire companies before I was prepared to place a deposit on my credit card on arrival or I would have the option to pay a deposit waiver to make this amount smaller.
On arrival the hire car company wanted 1000euro deposit and had no other option. They refused my partners card as he doesn't drive. I don't carry cards with such high credit on holiday for the risk of getting robbed. Instead I had a card with £700 credit which was not sufficient.
Ended up purchasing a completely new rental with AVIS next door and the online company have refused a refund, despite the fact their customer service line was unavailable and their partner was unhelpful.
Do I have any rights to get my prepaid money back?! I've never known a company ask for such an amount and in the online company's terms and conditions it doesn't state the amount. Help!

aecarrental

Be careful when you are dealing with this type of people. First read their written terms and condition. Then only break into any deals.

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zagfles

EUR1000 is typical of the sort of CDW excess charges - which is often the deposit required. Sometimes they actually charge and refund, which can be a pain if your statement comes in between! It's set at a level where the gullible can be conned into buying "Super CDW" at some silly price like £200, or, should they have insufficient credit like you, be forced to buy it.

If it didn't state the deposit required in the T&Cs then you could ask for a chargeback - but does it say something woolly like "a deposit of 700-1200EUR may be required"? If there's no clue as to the amount then you'd have good grounds for a chargeback.

Why do you avoid taking cards with higher limits? If you're robbed the CC are liable for any fraudulent spending, not you.

annamichellewilliams

Thanks for the advice - next time I will certainly take a higher limit card! On this occasion, and through my persistence the company have refunded me. I'm very relieved, but this serves as a warning to anyone else in a similar situation to me. They explained that some of their cars need up to 4000EURO deposit.