Car Hire Damage Charges (I didnt do it) - Anything I can do?

Tomzmuffin

Hi

I hired a car for 24 hours from National Car Hire to be able to drive myself and my sister to a concert on 3rd July.

The next day I was going on holiday at 7am so I needed to use the out of hours drop off service.

I booked the car via the telephone and went to collect it the next day. I returned the car at 1.30am that night and went on holiday. When I returned they had charged me £137 for damage to the car which was not there when i dropped it off. They also did not contact me to tell me that there was damage and would be charging me.

I called up on 15th July and spoke to their customer service and they said that I had authorised them to take the money when i signed, I explained i didnt have a problem with that I had a problem with not being notified. I disputed the damage and said I wanted them to investigate and check the cctv camera that I purposefully parked the car in front of.

They were supposed to call me within two weeks to give me there results when they didnt I called them on 29th July. I was told that their investigation had established that the damage was new. I explained I could have told them that as it wasnt there when I picked it up but I was disputing that I did it.

I was told that as per the T&Cs you are liable for the car until the site office opens in the morning. I was not made aware of this when i made the booking on the phone and was again not made aware when i picked it up and I made it very clear to both people that I would be dropping it off in the middle of the night which is why I needed a site that had the out of hours service.

My assumption was that if I park the car on their property, in front of their cctv cameras and put the keys in a locked box that was me terminating our contract.

I argued that I was not made aware of the T&Cs when booking but they said that as I had a copy of the T&Cs when i picked the car up I should have known. I explained that by that time they had charged my card for the hire and if I had cancelled they would have charged me a cancellation fee.

I enquired about the cctv and was told that they requested the site manager look at it but they couldnt view it and comment on it and it was down to me to ask the site manager to view it and give his comments to me (what investigation they did i have no idea).

So I called the site manager and was told that the cctv only went back to 8th July. Had they told me to ask the site manager at the time of my complaint I would have been able to view it.

I have asked for pictures of the damage which they have so far failed to send me. The apparent damage is on the back bumper and on the rear right side. I parked the car face on to the site building in a parking space which you have to go over a pavement to park in in front of a cctv camera. For another car to have done the damage they would have had to go up over a pavement to hit the car, the only way I could think that would happen would be via a 3 point turn which again doesn't make sense as a roundabout is visible from this point.

I want to take this further and will send an email to the site manager complaining but I want to know if there is anyone I can go to to further this complaint.

Looking online I have seen this has happened to other people too.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks

Exemplar

Hi. I worked in car hire for about 4 years. You are responsible for the safe return of the car during their working hours unless you have specifically agreed to drop the car off outside of hours (if you had you should have been met by a car hire company employee at an extra agreed cost).

By signing the contract you have agreed to their terms and conditions, not your own.

The burden of proof will be placed on you, not them. This happened to me several times when I was a manager. I used to take photographs of the car in situ.

I would, in your situation, ask for evidence of the damage or ask to inspect the car (if still available or not transferred to another branch or on hire).

Tilt

I also have worked in car rental as a manager.

The rental ends when the agreement is 'closed' which can only be done by a employee of the rental firm. The few firms that do allow out of hours drop offs, will no doubt have it in their t & c's that the hirer is responsible for the car until the agreement is closed off. Even with CCTV footage which shows a third party damaging the car, you would still be responsible unless you could identify the third party (just as you would if it was your own car) so they could be pursued accordingly.

However, I would of thought under these circumstances, you would of opted for damage liability waiver (or CDW) which removes/reduces you responsibility to pay the insurance excess stated on the agreement.

Having said the above, you are still entitled to be shown proof that the damage existed when the car was checked over in the first instance. It is possible that a member of the hire co's staff caused it when moving it....

GAZ237

£137 would not even cover the cost of the smallest amount of damage.

Would be interesting to see a picture of the said damage.

spacey2012

They are famous for it, start by opening an unauthorised charge investigation at your bank.

EdGasket

GAZ237 wrote: »

£137 would not even cover the cost of the smallest amount of damage.

Would be interesting to see a picture of the said damage.

Maybe it is a slight scratch and they are having it done as a scratch repair rather than a complete respray. Also some unscupulous offices have been known to charge different customers over and over for the same damage that they never actually bother to repair anyway.

arcon5

spacey2012 wrote: »

They are famous for it, start by opening an unauthorised charge investigation at your bank.

If the bank allow it.

Buzby

You think a CCTV camera would spot damage worth £137? All it would prove is it was parked and nobody went near it. If returning out of hours I always take 4 pictures of the car to retain if there is any comeback.

Your T&Cs will also state you agree to any damage being debited to the card you used to pay, so a dispute seeking a reversal will fail as the bank is not an arbiter (and you agreed to it).

What was the damage, and could it have been flagged on your collection of it?