Car Hire rental excess charges

75REVOR

Am I within my rights to say “No” to a UK car hire company from credit card blocking their insurance excess and the ‘refundable’ deposit they also want to take?
Why? In January I hired a car for 4 days from Budget. The hire charge was £71 which was paid online when booking. On collecting the car the usual rigmarole ensued. I declined the insurance excess as it was so expensive. Because I had said “No” they said a refundable deposit of £100 would be taken off me and a £850 block put on my CC.
When the car was returned with no problems and full tank, my card was refunded the £100. The £850 block would be removed within 5 to 10 days, so I was told.
Much to my annoyance I found that the £100 deposit refunded was used by my CC company to reduce the amount of block on my card. Payment taken from my bank account which of course was not put back, but simply added to unused credit on my CC. The block was eventually removed 18 days later. Yes EIGHTEEN days later!

I am hiring another car for 21 days in March (with AVIS) and want to know if I can refuse them to do as above? It really is a scam putting me into all sorts of bother. Have car rental companies the legal right to do such things? I will be taking out an annual 3rd party excess policy.

Ant.Evs

It's their car they can do what they like, you can accept their terms and conditions or they will refuse to rent you the vehicle.

zagfles

It's standard practice to block the excess amount on your CC. One reason why it's worth having a credit limit much higher than you'll ever actually spend on the card.

But are you saying it took 18 days to get the £100 they took on the card? That isn't right, a refund should take a couple of days at the most. The block may take much longer but refunds should be quick.

cautiousjon

I rent cars with Enterprise when in the UK and their excess policy is a bit more lenient. I always refuse their additional excess insurance (as I have my own through a third party company) but they have only ever put a block of £200 on the card, despite the standard excess being £700 for the cars that I rent (C and D category).

Hominu

75REVOR wrote: »

Am I within my rights to say “No” to a UK car hire company from credit card blocking their insurance excess and the ‘refundable’ deposit they also want to take?

Yes, but likewise, if you refuse they also have a right to refuse to let you hire a vehicle.

That said, most hire companies only block £100 - £200 on my card anyway. One requested £500, but considering the limit was £5000, I didn't care so much (it's only virtual cash anyway).