car hire, £28; stupid parking, £105 - Euro Car Parks

empage

The story:
I hired a car to visit my friend in Darlington when I arrived where she lived I couldnt see any parking so went into the Sainsburys car park.

At this point I did see the 3 hour free parking limit and fully intended on moving the car before then.

Her little girl was ill so we didn't go out and I totally forgot about the parking until about 2 hours after the free parking ended!

Today I have received a letter from Enterprise car hire.

They are charging me £35 for the admin of dealing with this and have forwarded me the Parking Charge Notice from Euro Car Parks.

Rather irritatingly the 2 week deadline for getting a reduced cost ends tomorrow because the letter was sent to Enterprise on the 10th April but not forwarded to me till yesterday and I received it today. The original letter states I get a discount if paid within 14 days of their letter, that is tomorrow.

My issues:
I parked there longer than I should have I know that and I did see their signs. It was a genuine mistake, my friends little girl being ill just put it out my mind. I understand that and I would be resigned to pay.

However, £70 seems very steep considering 3 hours are free. Even £40 seems steep.

I have a day to decide what to do because Enterprise (who will be automatically charging me £35) took so long to forward on the letter. I signed the contract I have to pay that, ok. But £35 to take that long to forward on the notice is somewhat irritating.

What should I do. Pay the discounted £40 right now? ignore it? dispute it on the basis of and definitely lose the early payment discount? (I havent had a chance to check the Enterprise contract I signed to check if they can keep charging me £35 if they keep getting letters from the car parking company yet either)

I have been off work ill (that visit was the first time I had visited a friend in about 7 months) I have only just returned to work on a phased return (today was my third day back) so I am more broke than I ever have been before too. Potentially having to pay £35 to Enterprise plus £70 to Euro Car Parks is really not something I can afford right now.

Advice appreciated!

Thanks!

Redx

same advice as in this thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4953226

they havent followed the BVRLA guidelines

they cannot charge you for this , they should have named you as keeper and you get a pcn in your own name and you deal with it

if they charge you £35 , its an unauthorised charge as its not a fine or penalty so is unlikely to be in the contract , its their fault if they dont follow the BVRLA guidelines ! (naming the keeper , ie:- you)

a lot of all you need to know is in the NEWBIES sticky thread at the top of the forum , but as you can see from the thread I linked, the advice is still the same even though its enterprise and not toyota

Browntoa

Read the newbie thread at the top

Appeal using the standard templates about GPEOL etc

Don't pay

Interesting point about if you can claim £35 back if POPLA say it's invalid ?

lescm19

You son't have to pay £70 and nor should the Car hire company on your behalf.
Others will clarify but the upshot is that Euro Car parks cannot charge you £70 as they are not the landowners and £70 is too much (it should be £0). As you will want to dispute this unenforceable parking charge (and eventually win) the hire company should not pay ECP or charge you for the privelege. Cynics would say they hung onto it long enough in the hopes that they could do you for the admin fee.
So contact them and say you deny liability for said ticket and do not pay it on my behalf; appeal in due course and pay zero.

stluke023

Write to the car park company advising them not to pay as an appeal is in place, and that only with a court order can they pay on your behalf.
Any administration costs will be claimed back of them as this is not a criminal offence or ticket
Also ask them in your rental contract where this clause is and post the screen shot

empage

apologies I did read the newbies thread but I appear to have misread it, sorry! I thought that the Newbies stuff only applied to car owners as it said dont admit being the driver but I obviously cannot claim to be the car owner as Enterprise are and I was the only named driver for that time period but I am beginning to understand the difference between owner, driver and keeper now!

I have called Enterprise and they have confirmed that they have passed my details on to Euro Cars. The £35 is their charge to me for the privilege of telling me I have been issued a charge ( I will now double check the T&cs to see if they can actually charge me this £35). They will not be paying the parking charge on my behalf.

Apparently Euro Car Parks will send me another notice directly to me. Time will tell if they do this and if they then actually give me 14 days to pay at the discounted price (I wont). I will then use the templates to appeal.

Btw the MSE main site states: Don't just shell out for an unfair ticket slapped on your car or in the post. ... You could also ignore it and wait to see if you get court papers in the post demanding payment ...

The forum sticky says I shouldn't ignore it can I doubly confirm this...?

Thanks very very much!

Browntoa

New advice is not to ignore but use POPLA to appeal

But euro do not go to court from memory

Redx

do what that sticky thread says

never ignore a pcn in england or wales

stluke023

I would fight the charge from Enterprise as it is not a criminal ticket from the Police its private robbery impersination charge
Fight for that back threaten not to use them again, I am hopeful you could get that dropped

Half_way

Enterprise Terms and conditions here: https://enterprise.custhelp.com/ci/fattach/get/2808682/1391018907/redirect/1/filename/UK%20Jan%202014.pdf

As for the advice it has been Never ignore, always challenge and complain to the car park owner/land owner where possible for quite some time.

skipping through the Terms on the link above is this piece of information, by charging you an admin fee for a private car park company's speculative invoice it would appear that enterprise are in breach of their own terms and conditions, remember that in order to try and make these parking charge notices private company's can not issue ( or call them ) fines or penalties

. Charges:a.
For all daily items designated as “/day” on Page 1:
• If Page 1 indicates “day = 24 hour period”, a day is each consecutive
full or partial 24 hour period.
• If Page 1 indicates “day = calendar day”, a day is each consecutive full
or partial calendar day.
• All charges are for a minimum of 1 day.
b.
For all rental terms shown as “/week” or “/month” on Page 1:
• If Page 1 indicates “/week” a week is 7 consecutive days beginning at
the start time of the rental.
• If Page 1 indicates “/month” a month is 30 consecutive days beginning
at the start time of the rental.
c.
The time charges for the rental period and any extension of the rental
period.
d.
Additional Obligations - You shall pay to us on demand:
• All fines and court costs for parking, bus lane, congestion charge, traffic
or other offences assessed against the Vehicle, us, you, any other
authorised driver or any other driver you permitted to use the Vehicle
until the Vehicle is returned unless cause by our own fault;
• A reasonable administration fee for processing any fines or offences
against the Vehicle, you or us during the rental period, unless caused
through our own fault;
• Our costs including reasonable legal fees, allowable by the courts if
awarded in our favour where permitted by law, incurred collecting
payments due from you under this Agreement;
• A reasonable collection fee if the Vehicle is not returned to the original
rental office indicated on Page 1;
• A cleaning fee if you fail to return the Vehicle in a reasonable condition and
such charge shall be the additional cost to us reasonably incurred as a
result of such failure;
• Any recovery fees applied where the damage to, or Vehicle fault, is the
result of human error and is not covered by any manufacturer breakdown
programme.
e.
In the case of damage to, loss or theft of, the Vehicle or any part or
accessory howsoever caused to the Vehicle unless caused through our
own fault, you shall pay us on demand:
• Fair market value of the repair or replacement of the Vehicle or a
repair value calculated by reference to our standard list for minor
repairs,
• Reasonable administration fees,
• Loss of revenue at the daily rate shown on Page 1(or if no rate is
provided on page 1, at the standard daily rate for the vehicle
provided) based on our loss of income of the Vehicle, not to exceed
30 days, provided that this does not result in us being compensated
twice for the same loss;
• A reasonable sum for diminishment of value as determined by an
independent Motor Engineer,
• Towing, storage and impound fees.
We shall have the sole right and responsibility to repair the Vehicle and
shall, unless you have already settled our agreed repair costs, attempt to
repair the Vehicle and process the insurance claim in a timely manner.
Your liability for damage to, loss or theft of, the Vehicle may be reduced
by the purchase of Damage Waiver or Excess Protection/Partial Waiver
(see Paragraph 8).
f.
You will pay Value Added Tax and all other taxes (if any) payable on any of
the charges listed in this Paragraph 5.
g.
You are responsible for all charges, even if you have asked someone else
to be responsible for them or we have billed any third party. You agree that
we will compute and debit final charges from your credit and/or debit card
if that is the form of deposit or security being used, as shown on Page 1.
All charges are subject to final audit. We will use reasonable endeavours
to notify you before debiting from your credit and/or debit card charges
which are finalised or come to light after the end of the Agreement.
Where the rental of the Vehicle is consequent upon your own vehicle
having been involved in an accident, we may at our sole discretion permit
payment of the charges due under this Agreement to be deferred for a
period not exceeding 11 months from the date of this Agreement. At the
end of the deferment period the amount due shall become payable in one
single payment. No interest or other charges shall be payable during, or
in respect of, the deferment or credit period.

Redx

cant see anything there about parking charge invoice fees (as its not a fine and not a penalty , not a police matter etc)

also I still cannot see any explanation as to why they have not followed the BVRLA guidelines and newsletter either (the 2013 newsletter advising all their members to name the keeper and therefore absolve themselves under POFA 2012)