Avis car rental paid penalty charge, now asking me to pay them

Madame_JoJo

I was wondering if anyone has any good ideas about this situation...

I was given a hire car in Dec 11 when my car was being repaired. During a long motorway journey, I felt ill and had to stop off at the services to have a nap. Unwittingly, I overstayed the 2 hour limit by less than an hour (I never saw any signs).

I have just received a letter from Avis enclosing a copy 'penalty notice' which they have paid! £50 plus £30 admin fee = £80. As the hire agreement was through AI Claims (a third party company on behalf of my insurer, More Than) I didn't pay for the hire directly. Therefore Avis state that I am liable to pay them and are demanding that I call them to pay the £80 in the next 7 days.

I don't think Avis should have paid the parking company that has sent this demand to them, as I understand that it is merely an invoice and should be ignored. They never consulted me about it either. The rental agreement was signed by me but it refers only to 'parking fines and court costs'. This is not a fine so why should I pay it?

Have there been any similar cases? Should I argue it with Avis and what are my chances of success?

Many thanks for your help.

taffy056

No you shouldn't pay them as they have broken their own terms with this, but I suggest you ask the guys at pepipoo for help with this, it's more complex as a third party company is also involved.

Create a new thread in the private parking forum


https://www.pepipoo.com


Good luck

Coupon-mad

Madame_JoJo wrote: »

I was wondering if anyone has any good ideas about this situation...

I was given a hire car in Dec 11 when my car was being repaired. During a long motorway journey, I felt ill and had to stop off at the services to have a nap. Unwittingly, I overstayed the 2 hour limit by less than an hour (I never saw any signs).

I have just received a letter from Avis enclosing a copy 'penalty notice' which they have paid! £50 plus £30 admin fee = £80. As the hire agreement was through AI Claims (a third party company on behalf of my insurer, More Than) I didn't pay for the hire directly. Therefore Avis state that I am liable to pay them and are demanding that I call them to pay the £80 in the next 7 days.

I don't think Avis should have paid the parking company that has sent this demand to them, as I understand that it is merely an invoice and should be ignored. They never consulted me about it either. The rental agreement was signed by me but it refers only to 'parking fines and court costs'. This is not a fine so why should I pay it?

Have there been any similar cases? Should I argue it with Avis and what are my chances of success?

Many thanks for your help.

Yes definitely argue it with Avis but check your Hire t&cs carefully. Do not be taken in if the t&cs say they will pay 'fines & penalties' and will then charge you. This is NOT a fine nor a penalty and is in fact none of their business. A hire or lease company is not liable, was never liable.

Have a read of this thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3748269

Look at the links to the pepipoo threads which are similar to yours. The main one to follow would be the most recent thread link I gave to that poster, MacBudman (but look at them all, for info) a link to a Sixt van hire thread. The link shows how a poster on pepipoo handled your EXACT situation, but with Sixt. His emails worked.

And then you may want to also post a new topic of your own on pepipoo for moral support and advice along the way.

AlexisV

Idiots. Tell them to get stuffed:

"Dear Avis

Our contract made no mention of liability on my behalf when it comes to the payment of unenforceable speculative invoices from third parties that amount to unlawful contractual penalties, only legitimate penalties issued under statute. Therefore I am unable to refund yourself or any agent or third party, or am liable to pay any 'admin fee'. As a major hire company I would expect you to understand the law surrounding 'parking charge notices' issued by private companies and their unenforceability. The fact you paid the sum is rather worrying for Avis from a business point of view and I recommend you obtain legal advice on the issue rather than paying alleged debts you are under no obligation to, and then attempting to chase refunds from customers. I enclose an article you might find of use: http://stillettorebel.zoomshare.com/files/SKMBT_60009060209020.pdf

Needless to say, this is the end of the matter and I regret I am unable to engage in any further correspondence."

peter_the_piper

Unlike a council ticket any qyery about parking in a private car park is with the driver only, not the keeper. They should have sent it back to the ppc and say they will have to contact the driver on the day. (they are not entitled to disclose who the driver is )

Madame_JoJo

Thank you for the good advice...I raised the query on Pepipoo and got some help...now have written letter to Avis and waiting to hear what they say. I wasn't given any T&Cs by Avis but checked them out last week online - states only 'fines and court costs' so argued no contract in place and even if there was, I am not liable to pay for a scam they have mistakenly paid!

give_them_FA

Luckily since the hire was arranged by a third party they don't have your credit card to pirate the money from, which is the situation others have found themselves in. You would have thought a major firm like Avis would be wise to this scam. Or do they too get a kick-back from the PPCs, lol?

Or maybe its a way of robbing you of £30 as an "administration fee". They're all at it, aren't they? Suggest you charge THEM an administration fee of £30 for dealing with their unjustified demand.

taffy056

I would say that these hire companies know exactly what they are doing with these invoices, and are in it for the trumped up admin costs for dealing with a PPC, think there might be an agreement to pay maybe a slightly reduced rate so everyone gets paid the scam. The more cynical might say that they ignore the PPC as well and pocket all the money, though that might be counted as fraudulant if caught out so doubt that. Still it's a win win situation for the hire/lease companies, they do sod all and pocket the money raised.

give_them_FA

Yes, people need to be more prepared to use the Small Claims Court to assert their rights against this sort of stuff. Rather than just moan and complain. If car hire companies make a charge which is outside of the contract- such as paying a scam PPC notice- then sue them if they don't cancel it. They always fall over themselves to pay/refund in my experience because it will cost them more to defend than you are claiming, plus they will inevitably lose.

Not in this case because JoJo hasn't paid them. But I think she would be on good ground to claim the same admin fee as they tried to charge her, and issue if they don't pay. They can hardly claim it's unreasonable if they tried it, can they?