Rental car - tyres be warned!

halfpint79

Hi
I recently returned from a trip to Norway where I rented a car from one of the major international rental chains which I prebooked and paid for through their UK website.
Halfway through my trip I discovered the car had a flat tyre and called their assistance number as there was no spare in the car. They sent a tow truck (from a local recovery centre) who took the car off to a garage and said on their return I would have to pay the bill for the new tyre. I was very shocked by this & called the rental co. to clarify. Several calls later the office confirmed that flat tyres are classed as "damage" and therefore the customer either has to buy a new tyre or pay the insurance excess (in this instance around £900). Unbelievably you could end up buying them a brand new tyre for their car, even though you have not driven it recklessly!
Fortunately the garage were able to repair the puncture so I only had to pay out around £40. I spoke again with the rental office on returning the car to see about getting my money refunded and they refused and said once the car is driven out of the parking lot it is the customer's problem. I said I found this unreasonable as there is no way of knowing whether the tyre was already damaged when I collected it (slow puncture etc). I asked whether all the tyres were taken off and checked for punctures in between customers to which he said no...I said well in that case how can I be sure that the tyres were ok on collection and he said "they should be".
On research I believe all main rental companies in Europe have the same policy on tyres and try to sell you an extra insurance against this. However I believe this situation is very open to abuse as tyres cannot readily be checked when collecting your rental car. Surely under UK consumer law this does not fit?

At this stage I still want to try to get my £40 back and would like some clarification on the legal perspective as I rent cars quite regularly and worry that next time I could end up shelling out for a new tyre. Anyone had similar experience and got their money back?

where.do.i.stand

I wouldn't kick off too much as if it was just a repair, they legally have to change it for a new tyre due to their insurance, so if much more is said they may catch wind of this and charge you for a complete new tyre, which they use top of the range.

Gloomendoom

OP, if you rent cars on a regular basis you would be advised to get a car hire excess policy. Tyres are normally included.

pompeyrich

halfpint79 wrote: »

Hi
On research I believe all main rental companies in Europe have the same policy on tyres and try to sell you an extra insurance against this. However I believe this situation is very open to abuse as tyres cannot readily be checked when collecting your rental car. Surely under UK consumer law this does not fit?

Not just tyres but glass too, so that stone flicked up by the car in front could also cost you dear, unless you have either the rental car company's extra insurance or an excess policy mentioned above.

I had a blow out on a Spanish motorway, "luckily" I had bought the extra insurance as my annual policy had expired. I say luckily, it was still a polava, they gave me 3 choices, get the tyre fixed, pay the garage and reclaim it when I returned the car, swap the car but have to pay for another tank of fuel, even though the original car had 3/4 of a tank, no refund for that! or carry driving on the space saver.

I managed to talk them into letting me fill up the old car and take another, also full for no extra charge, apart from the 10 litres of fuel bought in a local petrol station. Hate to think what would happen if something serious happened.