BEWARE!!! The deposit is enormous!

tommyzulu

RENTALCARS.COM did nothing to help when their agent in Naples, LOCAUTO, took 1100 Euros from my card because I had my own insurance.
That in effect disabled the card for the whole time I was abroad.
Despite a number of complaints to RENTALCARS, they did nothing about it and they do not even read your emails.
I will not use them again as an intermediary!

ianders

I don't think it's because you had your own insurance. That's the cost of the deposit.

http://www.locautorent.com/en/special-rental-conditions

pompeyrich

ianders wrote: »

I don't think it's because you had your own insurance. That's the cost of the deposit.

http://www.locautorent.com/en/special-rental-conditions

Only if you have your own insurance drops to €450 if you take out their zero excess option.

zagfles

Did they take it or just reserve it? It's perfectly normal for car hire companies to reserve the excess on your card if you have your own excess insurance. That's how it works - if you have an accident they'll take the excess from your card and you claim it back off your excess insurance. So the car hire company will reserve that amount in case.

StuieUK34

what confuses me with rentalcars.com (not that I would Ever enterain using them), is they say they include CDW & theft protection, with an excess of €1500 - €2300 ???????????

But thought the whole idea of a 'waiver' is to waive the costs should they occur.
IE: do a few laps in a supercar on race track, pay £100 for a few laps and insurance. However, your liable for upto £2k towards damage should u balls up......
But, they then offer you a CDW / Waiver for an extra £20 to 'waive' your commitment for paying any fees towards damage..

Maybe i'm being a bit thick here with understanding the waiver ?? (I hire a lot in the US, but that's always zero excess cos of the waiver and no stupid hold amounts on my card either)...

zagfles

StuieUK34 wrote: »

what confuses me with rentalcars.com (not that I would Ever enterain using them), is they say they include CDW & theft protection, with an excess of €1500 - €2300 ???????????

But thought the whole idea of a 'waiver' is to waive the costs should they occur.
IE: do a few laps in a supercar on race track, pay £100 for a few laps and insurance. However, your liable for upto £2k towards damage should u balls up......
But, they then offer you a CDW / Waiver for an extra £20 to 'waive' your commitment for paying any fees towards damage..

Maybe i'm being a bit thick here with understanding the waiver ?? (I hire a lot in the US, but that's always zero excess cos of the waiver and no stupid hold amounts on my card either)...

It's an excess, perfectly normal in insurance. I have excesses on my home and car insurances.

The difference with car hire is that the excess is usually massive, because they want you to buy their "Super CDW" which reduces or eliminates the excess. It's usually a rip-off and often has lots of exclusions. To avoid this rip-off you can use a third party excess insurance, but you'll then need a big credit limit on your CC so they can reserve the excess.

Obviously_the_best

There's a very simple lesson here.

NEVER USE A CAR HIRE BROKER. EVER.

They simply add hassle and book with the cheapest option, no matter the level of service. Always book direct with a well regarded local firm, who rely on their reputation, rather than brokers that rely on price.

Stav1955

Hi,

I rented a car a in Northern Ireland. I hired through Rental cars.com and I was supplied by Hertz.

Halfway through my holiday I noticed a very small chip on the windscreen, when returning the car I thought it would be a good idea to be honest and point this out to a member of staff as these can easily be repaired/replaced. I was told by a member of staff someone will phone me to let me know my options.

The next day I received a phone call from Hertz, they said they will charge me £750 for a new windscreen and have let me off the additional £100 which is normally charged as a good will gesture (Cheers)

I have just been going in circles with them, I know for certain a windscreen does not cost that kind of money to change over/repair a car windscreen however the rental car company is happy to profit from my hard earned cash.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.