Parking Eye letter, when in hire car

blarb

Hi,
I've read all the stories/advice about private company parking "fines" so understand the basics. The situation here is that I was in a hire car, and overstayed by <10mins in an ALDI car park (limit=1h20). The hire car company forwarded it on to me, and also replied to the company concerned (Parking Eye). With the hire car contract the renter is liable for any parking fines etc. If it was my car I'd just ignore. When the car is a hire car company, and they have replied with renters name/address to the scam merchant, what is the situation ?
Will the hire car company not receive further communication and they just send letters to me ? Still ok to ignore them?

Obviously £80 is not a fitting cost for "losses incurred" of overstaying in a free car park by < 10 mins.

Thanks in advance to all

Coupon-mad

Has the hire company charged you an admin fee for handling this piece of rubbish? If so then the advice I just gave to someone else on the Luton Airport APCOA thread applies to get it refunded:


QUOTE ME A FEW MINUTES AGO!
For a start, it's important that you understand that you do NOT have a fine nor a parking ticket there. It's important because you are going to have to clearly explain this to Eurocar.

Secondly, you must check the EXACT wording of the hire t&cs, I have not seen one in a long time that does actually allow them to take an admin fee for handling a breach of contract begging letter. Most hire t&cs talk about 'fines & penalties' which this is NOT. They have no liability for this matter and it's actually none of their business, they should have binned the letter.

Can you show us the exact wording of those t&cs about 'fines'?

In the meantime I would contact your card issuer and get that 'admin fee' payment put into dispute, tell them that the hire company had no right to take it and you will be complaining and disputing it. Make it clear that your previous authorisation for that company to make debits on your card is now revoked as the business is completed. You may like to mention that you suspect that the company might try to take further monies shortly but any further amount is denied and disputed, so you need the card company to know this and return any request for payment, unpaid. This should then stop the company from panicking and paying the fake PCN when they get another threatogram.

That done, you must complain and tell the hire company that this matter is nothing to do with them and is in fact a scam. You may have to explain why - especially if it's not a British based company as they may have assumed 'if it looks like a British PCN, it must be a PCN'.

Do not beat about the bush and make sure you reply in writing and keep a copy of your correspondence. This is a fake PCN which is a spurious amount which is very probably NOT covered by their t&cs and for which they have zero liability in law, therefore it was never their business to charge an admin fee for receiving it - let alone think anyone needs to pay it!

This pepipoo thread is the one for you to read, especially if the hire firm try to take money from your card:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=62531

Copy the letters the poster used, just change anything not relevant and quote their own hire t&cs at the hire firm, just like that poster, user1EOUf, did. Your case is a little different as it's 'only' the admin fee at the moment, luckily they haven't yet gone the whole hog and paid the 'parking charge'.

Do not take their excuses for an answer, this is ONLY a private allegation against a driver (you). Do not let the hire co tell you what they 'think' their hire t&cs cover (any reference to fines, penalties, offences, authorities and Traffic Law can ONLY relate to proper PCNs from Local Authorities or the Police).

To convince the hire company, I would also send them this Fleet News link (or print it out if writing snail mail) and maybe conclude by saying you are somewhat surprised that a large company such as them, would fall for this well-known scam and you are sure they will realise their error now and you expect a refund of that admin fee or you will escalate the dispute with them and with your card company:

http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/2009...s-urged/30698/

Please show us the wording of the hire t&cs and do let us know what happens with the hire company in due course.

QUOTE


Oh and in your case I think you can also add something into your angry email or letter, about breach of the Data Protection Act. Would they release driver's details if ANY private firm wrote them any old letter mentioning a car reg and a date? They should only divulge the info to a proper authority (Council or Police) not a scam firm trying it on with a breach of contract allegation dressed up to look like a parking ticket.

blarb

Thx. Just saw the other thread too. Will be sending the letter to the hire car company (Enterprise) and post back with news

Coupon-mad

blarb wrote: »

Thx. Just saw the other thread too. Will be sending the letter to the hire car company (Enterprise) and post back with news

Good.

Enterprise t&cs do NOT cover them to deal with anything that's not a fine. So they should not have done anything, should have treated it like unsolicited/unwanted mail, not given them your personal details!

vax2002

Cancel any direct debit with the hire company and ask the bank to put a stop on any payments to them, if you need to cancel the debit card, it will be time well spent, or if you want to wait and see, then I can cut out the wait and see bit>
Thehire car company will hit your bank account for around £220, parking charge, late payment charge, admin fee x 2