Car Hire Scam Warning - InterRent (Car Del Mar)

Beta_Block_Party

Just to warn you to check your credit card statements after return from holiday.

I booked a week's car hire with InterRent via the Car Del Mar broker site. It included 'All Inclusive Cover'.

I picked up the car and signed the contract, leaving my credit card details as deposit as stipulated.

When I returned home, I discovered £133 extra had been taken off my credit card the day I picked up the car.

When I complained, InterRent sent me a copy of the contract I had signed, where they had listed something called 'Super Inclusive Cover' at £133.

Basically they stitched me up. I had already paid for the car online and assumed this contract related to that. They are saying I willingly spent more than the cost of the week's car hire package on ANOTHER extra insurance package.

I have disputed it with my credit card company and am waiting to see what happens. Anyone know where I stand? :mad:

PeacefulWaters

So you signed for cover without reading what you were signing?

Beta_Block_Party

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

So you signed for cover without reading what you were signing?

I did. Because I'd already bought and paid for the car hire (with insurance) in advance and was led to believe the contract was a formality of the pickup process.

I think a reputable firm with genuine intentions would verbally inform me that I'm being offered an extra unnecessary insurance with a very similar name to one I'd already bought.

So you support this kind of customer deception?

CM66

Its the same for almost all rental companies.

The initial contract include CDW only, which is a type of insurance but means you are liable for the excess (can be more that €1,000)

They then try and up-sell you the full damage waiver which means you aren't liable for any charge. They have obviously done this and you have signed for it.... you should be more wary of what you are signing!

Beta_Block_Party

CM66 wrote: »

Its the same for almost all rental companies.

The initial contract include CDW only, which is a type of insurance but means you are liable for the excess (can be more that €1,000)

They then try and up-sell you the full damage waiver which means you aren't liable for any charge. They have obviously done this and you have signed for it.... you should be more wary of what you are signing!

I was fully covered by the insurance I'd already bought, and they did not even try to upsell me!

They didn't mention anything about it, just invited me to initial some carefully selected areas of the contract.

If people think it's okay for companies to behave like this and put the onus on the customer to treat them with complete distrust (what basis of a customer relationship is that?) then I guess they will carry on taking their corrupt ways to new depths.

richardw

Beta_Block_Party wrote: »

I was fully covered by the insurance I'd already bought...

What was the excess on this insurance?

PeacefulWaters

Beta_Block_Party wrote: »

So you support this kind of customer deception?

Not at all.

The car hire industry around the planet is a disgrace.

Often aided by tired customers landing off planes and not checking either the car or the paperwork.

nocash

Thanks for the warning, was just about to book with them but not now

macman

Next time, buy your CDW excess cover before you go-an annual policy is around £40 or less.
As pointed out above, had you declined this rip off, then you would have been liable for the entire excess in the absence of any other cover, should you have had an accident.

benjus

CM66 wrote: »

Its the same for almost all rental companies.

I wouldn't say that. Like many people on this site I buy excess cover separately so do not want the hire company's super cover policy or whatever they call it. I always get offered it, but no-one​ has ever tried to force me to take it when I've declined it, and it's never been added to any contract without my consent.

So some car hire firms are definitely much worse than others - in fact almost all I've used have been somewhere between fine and great. But then I tend to check out the options in advance and avoid any firm that is reported to engage in such practices.

jonnymonny

InterRent is the "cheap" brand of Europcar. As such, they try to compensate for low headline prices with expensive extras. In my case, it involved a cleaning fee. At French airports, they expect the client to return the car clean enough to rent out again, without any further cleaning on their part! In my view, I returned the car impeccably clean but they decided they would charge me €20 for vacuuming a few bits of straw in the foot-well. Beware!