Car rental administration fee

marythemoose

Hi,

I rented a car and drove through London but completely forgot about the congestion charge (I know, idiot). The car rental company just took £102 out of my account (I believe they keep your card details in case of any penalty charges), which I have found out was for £60 congestion penalty charge PLUS £42 administration charge.

I can't find any mention of this administration charge amount anywhere on the booking voucher, emails, or their website; do I have any grounds for arguing this is an unreasonable charge? And does it matter that they've already taken the money from my account, does this make it more difficult to get back?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

Robbie

Half_way

check your agreement carefuly to see what it says babout paying fines and penaltys.
most cases on here usualy refer to private parking charges/fees, your case could be a little different as its a real legitimate charge.
who was the rental compnay?

marythemoose

Thanks for the reply

I rented the car through rentalcars.com and collected it from the Avis desk at Exeter airport.

The T's & C's from thwe website state the following regarding fees:

Other optional items & fees
* Out of Hours Fees
* One Way Fees (where applicable)
* Additional extras requested at time of booking or purchased locally (for example child seats)
* Deliveries & Collections
* Supplementary Insurance to cover injuries to drivers &/or passengers
* Fines, Toll Fees & Parking Charges
* London Congestion Charge
* Fuel charge (optional fuel purchase options or refilling charges) - please see separate section on supplier’s fuel policy


Please note that charges made at the location for these & other items will be subject to any applicable sales taxes & location taxes / fees. Prices for local extras are controlled by the local rental company & may be subject to change.

These are repeated on the voucher you print and take with you when you collect the car.

There is no mention anywhere of the amount of any additional fees, and I thought maybe I could argue that £42 is unreasonable?

peter_the_piper

I think it is about time that the admin fee levied by car hire firms should be investigated as were the banks admin fees.

Coupon-mad

If the hire t&cs don't mention any admin fee then there isn't one. Complain and require the firm to show you where the admin fee was accepted by you as part of the contract.

marythemoose

Thanks a lot, I'll let you know how it goes.

marythemoose

Here's the reply I got:

Thank you for your email.

Since your last email we have been liaising with Budget on your behalf with your query, and I am now in a better position to explain the amounts you have been charged for.

The charge is for:

Fuel Up Front 40.22 + VAT
Traffic fine 60.00
Admin fee 35.00 + VAT

I have attached a copy of the Penalty Charge Notice Budget received in regards to this rental. Budget have paid the penalty of GBP 60.00 on your behalf and also charged an administration fee of GBP 42.00 for the time and labour involved. I have also attached a copy of the signed RA indicating the rental period and vehicle registration number.

As per the documents received from the local authority the vehicle was driven into the congestion charging zone without payment.
The charge is currently £10 per day (Monday - Friday, 7am to 6.00pm) to drive in the central zone. This £10 daily charge allows you to drive around, leave and re-enter the charging zone as many times as required in one day. In case this daily charge is not paid by midnight on the first day of travel, customers are issued with a Penalty Charge Notice. You may visit where you can find all relevant information regarding this fee.
In case you have any reason to dispute the Penalty Charge Notice, please contact Transport for London directly. You may find their contact details on the attached documents.

---

This is an additional cost that is not included in your Travel Jigsaw rental. To make sure our customers are aware of what is included and what may be extra we are careful to explain this information in our terms and conditions.

It states that: Your Rental Includes

* Unlimited Kilometres for ALL car groups
* Insurance ( - Collision Damage Waiver - Theft Protection - 3rd Party Liability )
* Local Taxes
* Airport Surcharge
* Road Fee
* Premium location fee

Other optional items & fees

* Out of Hours Fees
* One Way Fees (where applicable)
* Additional extras requested at time of booking or purchased locally (for example child seats)
* Deliveries & Collections
* Supplementary Insurance to cover injuries to drivers &/or passengers
* Fines, Toll Fees & Parking Charges
* London Congestion Charge
* Fuel charge (optional fuel purchase options or refilling charges) - please see separate section on supplier’s fuel policy


Please note that charges made at the location for these & other items will be subject to any applicable sales taxes & location taxes / fees. Prices for local extras are controlled by the local rental company & may be subject to change.




You will find our full terms and conditions available on our website, during the booking process, before payment is taken on pressing the “Book Now” button you are agreeing to these terms and conditions. This has to be done before you can proceed with your booking. As well as this as a web based company, we also send you confirmation of your booking in writing and on your car rental voucher. This voucher was sent to you at

As a broker we deal with a large number of suppliers who all offer a large variety of packages at different prices, some including items such as additional drivers and a tank of fuel. If you ever have any special requirements or would like advise before booking please give us a call on our free phone number and one of our call centre staff will be more than willing to advise you.

We are sorry for any misunderstandings in this instance and we hope this has clarified matters for you. May I also take this opportunity to thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention, as the feedback that we receive from our customers is extremely important in helping us improve our services and the products we offer.

Kind regards,

I have responded, asking them to show where I agreed to the £42 charge; we'll see what they come back with.

prosnap

By paying the penalty charge they have also removed your legal right to appeal it.

taffy056

That's the problem with hire/lease firms, you are knackered as they pay the charge as they are the ones liable if its not paid, they then take it from your card as per their T&Cs , whether their admin fee is excessive is something I don't think has been to court, at least not amongst users on here. To be honest your only recourse is to sue them and I don't think you'll win as you agreed the terms.

taffy056

Thinking about it, isn't there a clause that allow hire companies to give the details of the hirer to authorities like the council and police ?

marythemoose

Thanks a lot for the advice guys

This is the reply I got to my last email:

Thank you for your email.

We are sorry to hear our response does not satisfy you.

Please find enclosed the signed documents showing you accepted the terms of Budget and their administration fee policy.

I am sorry that you still remain dissatisfied, unfortunately once a rental agreement has been signed locally, you the renter then enter into a separate legal contract with Budget relating to the rental and any extra charges. For this reason we are very careful to advise our customers to read and check the rental agreement carefully before signing. Attached please find the signed rental agreement

Whilst we understand the situation you found yourselves in, we are unable to take this matter any further as a company as you have signed and accepted the products locally Should you wish to dispute this matter further and as this dispute lies with Budgetmay I respectfully recommend you contact them directly quoting .

We apologise for any inconvenience encountered.


Kind regards,

I'll respond again to the other company and see how i go...