Van hire damage & refund for repair overpayment

marko2002

If you have a piece of paper from them which says you paid them for the damage on the vehicle then you have just saved yourself £700 because legally you should be being asked for £1000 if the agreement says this is the excess. Doesn't matter if it's a scratch, you signed an agreement and it would likely stand up in court. However, it could well be the person who took the cash from you knew the damage wasn't anything to write home about and saw an opportunity to pocket £300, couldn't say either way but at the end of the day, always read what you're signing, never agree to a huge amount of excess like £1000 on a van rental, they are merely making you run the gauntlet and play Russian roulette so they can significantly reduce the cost of their own insurance (i.e. higher excess to customers ... lower cost to hirer). In future, go elsewhere and find a more reputable company that won't want a months wages if you are unlucky enough to have an accident !!.

ste_be

marko2002 wrote: »

...legally you should be being asked for £1000...

I recall now that what I was told initially (before agreeing to the £300) that their policy was that normally you would pay the £1000 excess and they would refund the difference once repair had been done, or something like that - which was why I paid £300, as it would apparently be unlikely to cost more than that.

plumfin

Sorry you had this experience with rental. From what you say, it sounds like the rental company did explain things at the start of the rental quite well, and it is really up to you if you ask for the estimate. I probably would, as I am in the business, but I understand why you may chose to keep quiet. How bad was the damage? did you get pics by any chance?

bris

£300 is nothing these days, like has already been said if you push for a repair you could end up with a bill for the difference.

If the damage was beyond a chips away type repair, which wouldn't take much, then they would want a respray of the whole panel connected to the damage, the whole door in this case.

In a lot of cases and depending on the company and age of van, they usually just take the repair money and off set the devalue the damage has caused at the end of it's life.

They are under no obligation to actually repair it, but they can charge you for the cost, so personally for just £300 I too think you got off lightly.

visidigi

marko2002 wrote: »

If you have a piece of paper from them which says you paid them for the damage on the vehicle then you have just saved yourself £700 because legally you should be being asked for £1000 if the agreement says this is the excess. Doesn't matter if it's a scratch, you signed an agreement and it would likely stand up in court. However, it could well be the person who took the cash from you knew the damage wasn't anything to write home about and saw an opportunity to pocket £300, couldn't say either way but at the end of the day, always read what you're signing, never agree to a huge amount of excess like £1000 on a van rental, they are merely making you run the gauntlet and play Russian roulette so they can significantly reduce the cost of their own insurance (i.e. higher excess to customers ... lower cost to hirer). In future, go elsewhere and find a more reputable company that won't want a months wages if you are unlucky enough to have an accident !!.

Absolute rubbish.

The excess is not a minimum amount you MUST pay in the case of an accident, its the amount you must pay before the insurance policy will cover you for more.

The rental company have deemed the cost to repair to be £300, they could have deemed it UP TO £1000 but the OP hasn't saved anything, like you claim.

The assumption the excess is high therefore that makes them less reputable is also just as laughable!

Its the policy they offer, you don't have to deal with them if you do not want to. In fact, I would say they are very good to have only asked for the £300 if the policy allowed for more - a sign of a company clearly not out to fleece the consumer.

plumfin

Just come back to this - totally agree with Visidigi. The excess is the maximum amount of money the renter is liable for in the event of damage to the rental vehicle. You don't always claim on the insurance if it is higher, ie, you collect £750 excess from the renter and the damage is £1000. The rental company makes a financial decision as to whether to claim vs the potential higher premium the next year.

Any reputable rental company would charge the appropriate amount of damage, if less than the max excess. I would charge loss of use, if the vehicle has to be off the road for a long time and I would also charge more if the renter did something stupid like take a 10ft van through a 6 ft bridge. Some things are outside of the remit of max liabilities. However, I agree that not taking the entire excess is a good way to assess this rental company.