Just need advice

bigshauny88

Hi,

Apologies if this is in the wrong place.

I hired a car from avis or budget which are pretty much the same. I hired the car for 28 days and returned the car with a full tank as requested so I don't get charged. I arrived and the usual happened a female checked in the car and did a quick walk around the car and there was a small chip on the windscreen which as we all know is usually free to repair on insurance. She said there may be a small charge. So I said why would you charge for a small chip like that which is nobody's fault. So basically to long story short she is trying to charge me £71 for the tiny chip. I persisted to argue my case and they have added the charge to the bill it has come 490 which I clearly stated that I don't have the funds in my account for that and it will.only get reversed. This was yesterday (8/12/2015) so I left pretty posed off. So a few things I need to know are

When could they try take the funds and fail and will.they try again and again until they get the money?

What can I do to stop them taking the money which may cause problems but I don't want them to take the money and I not have enough for my rent at the end of the month.

What can I do to solve this matter and not be charged 71 for the windscreen?

Kind regards
Shaun pilkington

wealdroam

bigshauny88 wrote: »

Hi,

Apologies if this is in the wrong place.

I hired a car from avis or budget which are pretty much the same. I hired the car for 28 days and returned the car with a full tank as requested so I don't get charged. I arrived and the usual happened a female checked in the car and did a quick walk around the car and there was a small chip on the windscreen which as we all know is usually free to repair on insurance. She said there may be a small charge. So I said why would you charge for a small chip like that which is nobody's fault. So basically to long story short she is trying to charge me £71 for the tiny chip. I persisted to argue my case and they have added the charge to the bill it has come 490 which I clearly stated that I don't have the funds in my account for that and it will.only get reversed. This was yesterday (8/12/2015) so I left pretty posed off. So a few things I need to know are

When could they try take the funds and fail and will.they try again and again until they get the money?

What can I do to stop them taking the money which may cause problems but I don't want them to take the money and I not have enough for my rent at the end of the month.

What can I do to solve this matter and not be charged 71 for the windscreen?

Kind regards
Shaun pilkington

Yes, they will keep trying until they get the money or decide to try another tactic.
That 'other tactic' could be passing your debt to a debt collector, or starting court action to recover their money. Both of those options will add significant costs to your debt.

To answer your last question... I cannot think of any way you can do that.

Have you read the terms of your agreement?

Did you take out any insurance to cover this sort of thing?

George_Michael

bigshauny88 wrote: »

and there was a small chip on the windscreen which as we all know is usually free to repair on insurance.

Chips are normally free to repair when the vehicle is owned and insured by a private individual but this may not be the case when a car hire company takes out insurance.

bigshauny88 wrote: »

She said there may be a small charge. So I said why would you charge for a small chip like that which is nobody's fault.

It might not be your fault but as the hirer, it is still your responsibility to either ensure that you had insurance in place to cover any possible damage and if not, to cover the cost yourself.

philip1988

When I hired from Avis in Italy last September I was asked if I wanted to take out windscreen cover to cover situations such as this.

bigshauny88

I was never offered windscreen cover at all. I'll have to maybe negotiate with them over the phone.

LilElvis

What you can do to "solve it" is allow them to take the money you owe. You have several weeks until the end of the month in order to arrange an overdraft facility with your bank so that your rent payment can still be made.

Keep_pedalling

bigshauny88 wrote: »

I was never offered windscreen cover at all. I'll have to maybe negotiate with them over the phone.

You can try, but you are unlikely to get anywhere. Car hire firms damage charges also cover the cost of the car being off the road, and not hired out. Usually charges for damage however small tend to be well over what you are being charge, so be thankful the idea age was not to the body work.

agrinnall

bigshauny88 wrote: »

.. they have added the charge to the bill it has come 490 which I clearly stated that I don't have the funds in my account for that and it will.only get reversed.

If it's a credit card, which is what most hire companies ask for (incidentally, how can you not know whether it's Avis or Budget?) it will definitely go through. If it's a debit card it will almost certainly go through and if you don't have enough money you'll end up with an unauthorised overdraft which will cost you even more. The only way in which it might not be successfully claimed is if it's a basic bank account that doesn't allow an overdraft, but I'm not sure if any of them issue full debit cards. But you'll still owe the money so they'll take you to court and you could end up with a CCJ, trashing your credit record for years to come. All over £71 which you don't seem to deny happened while the car was in your possession.

Hintza

To clarify. You had a chip on the windscreen and instead of thinking best get that seen too or I will be charged you tried to blag it with the company that it was a free repair.

Hmm not too smart!

NotRichAtAll

if you think about the cost of a new windscreen, then technically £71 is a small charge.

takman

NotRichAtAll wrote: »

if you think about the cost of a new windscreen, then technically £71 is a small charge.

A new windscreen cost me £145 fitted last year so they arnt as expensive as you think. But £71 is probably a fair charge to get someone to come fill in a chip.