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Scratched alloy wheel on Enterprise hire car - what to do?

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  • smjxm09
    smjxm09 Posts: 669 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    The wheels always get special attention when you take a hire car back.
  • Kilty_2
    Kilty_2 Posts: 5,818 Forumite
    Drive it in a muddy field, make sure they sign it off as OK before you leave.
  • copier_guy
    copier_guy Posts: 507 Forumite
    is the spare an alloy?

    Doh!! KTF beat me to it
  • Kilty_2
    Kilty_2 Posts: 5,818 Forumite
    KTF wrote: »

    Thats why if you get one that is near 2 years old and/or 40k (Hertz typical lease period) it will pre pretty beaten up.

    :eek: - is that just for the bigger cars or do their Astras etc stay for that amount of time too?

    Europcar de-fleet the smaller stuff at ~14k miles which is usually ~6 months. (and some of them are pretty beat up at that age!)
  • Wig
    Wig Posts: 14,139 Forumite
    edited 1 January 2012 at 2:55PM
    If they get it reapired cheaper than 600 they can only legally request what it cost them to repair not the full 600.

    There was some similar scam highlighted recently about insurance companies getting low cost trade rate repairs passing the invoice through fronting (dummy) companies and charging the third party insurer for the full retail rate by adding on a big percentage.

    I would quickly find a specialist wheel repairer and see what it will cost to repair, maybe get a quote. Then decide what you want to do, then (if you decide to do nothing) present it with a bit of mud on it and if they find it and charge you, challenge them on the amount charged ask to see an quote for repair and/or an invoice of repair and show them your quote for repair if there is a big difference.

    Maybe a scrap yard has one - unlikely.

    Is the spare an identical alloy? - unlikely
  • KTF
    KTF Posts: 4,848 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Kilty wrote: »
    :eek: - is that just for the bigger cars or do their Astras etc stay for that amount of time too?

    Europcar de-fleet the smaller stuff at ~14k miles which is usually ~6 months. (and some of them are pretty beat up at that age!)
    Far as I can tell thats across the board. I have had everything from a proper hammered Astra that looked like someone had been using it for golf practice, a Passat Estate with a nice crease from a side swipe down all 4 panels and a Ceed with a tear all up the back bumper. All drove fine but cosmetically 'interesting'.

    Years ago they all used to be much lower mileage and in better condition but I cant remember the last time I had something that didn't have 10k+ miles on it and various battle damage.

    The person at the rental desk was saying how she was pretty shocked at the state of the cars when she started but just accepts it as normal' now, even on the newer stuff.

    I cant speak for other agencies as my work favours Hertz so others might be better.

    Btw, if you want a 'free' upgrade then book a Focus class automatic. Hertz never seem to have any in stock so just tend to give you something from the class above - had quite a few Passat DSG that way. A colleague did the same and got given a Prius.
  • Wig wrote: »
    If they get it reapired cheaper than 600 they can only legally request what it cost them to repair not the full 600.

    True, but don't forget that apart from the cost of the repair, they can legally charge for all other losses incurred.
    If the car is unavailable for hire for a full day whilst the repair is being carried out then they will probably charge the maximum rate possible that they could have received for that time.

    I know that it shouldn't be a problem for them to simply fit another wheel and put the car back into the rental pool, but they may not do this and simply charge for the lost revenue instead.
  • I hired a car from Europcar a few weeks back and they disregard scuffs to wheels.
  • wazza
    wazza Posts: 2,595 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    What model is it? You may be able to get a used rim from a breakers/tyre shop and swap it over.
    Problem with having access to internet is that i get asked by many to solve their problems :( Well at least i learn something on the way :D
  • I hired a car from Europcar a few weeks back and they disregard scuffs to wheels.

    My experience back in July as well. In all, they were really not interested in it save it had no big bangs or dents here and there.
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