Car hire price much higher than advertised plus hard upsell

Erik6

Hi,

Warning to others and assistance with my complaint sought. I have just come back from a Holiday in Spain (which was very nice). What I wasn't happy about was the car hire.

I had pre-booked a car for 2 weeks with a company through one of the websites that allow you to compare companies and prices.

It stated the price I should pay on arrival. I followed moneysavingexpert advice and bought a separate CDW excess policy as I didn't want to pay the higher charge for this policy.

On arrival I was a bit annoyed to find that the car hire firm wasn't located at the airport. We had to wait almost an hour to be collected.

On arrival at the depot to a very long queue. I was told that in addition to the charge in the pre booking I had to pay an additional 72 Euro for fuel plus an additional 40 Euro admin fee. As I was in the middle of now where late at night I was stuck and felt I had no option but to pay. There it was quite a hard up sale to get me to buy their CDW excess policy. They pointed out to me that the policy I had bought did not provide cover in case of an accident - also that if I needed to examine the vehicle and identify the scratches by myself (in the dark) and that if any were missed they would be attributed to me it was a £350 Euro fee per scratch that I would need to pay. I thought that they should have identified the scratches before hand.

It was late and I was very tired so I felt compelled to pay the extra fee for this (approx an additional 220 Euros) but this meant they waved the 72 Euro fee as I would now return the car full of fuel rather than empty.

The 40 Euro admin fee I feel very put out by. The hard upsell was also annoying especially as I was tired as were my kids and my elderly parents who were also travelling with us became very concerned that I should buy their insurance.

I have written to the company that I made the booking through they have replied to say they will get back in 7-10 days. Also just so you are aware during the holiday the van did receive two sets of scratches while it was parked in a street.

Any thoughts or advice welcomed.

jackieblack

Which company?

pompeyrich

jackieblack wrote: »

Which company?

3 guesses!

Erik6

I made the booking with Economy Bookings and the Hire car company was Del Paso.

I have now spoken to Economy Bookings who said that I should not have been asked to pay the 40 Euro and 72 Eurofees plus that they should not have tried to sell me their own policy insurance policy if I already had one.They have said they will contact Del Paso to ask what the extra charges were as the bill I received from Del Paso wasn't itemised - this can take another 28 days.

Caz3121

Erik6 wrote: »

plus that they should not have tried to sell me their own policy insurance policy if I already had one.

you said you had a CDW excess policy which means that the car hire provider will often either try to sell you their own policy or take a large deposit on your credit card which can be retained in case of damage.
In this situation (next time!) you can decline their policy and pay the large deposit instead - if there was damage that they retain deposit for then you would then make a separate claim with your excess policy
Info in Section 6 here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-hire

Erik6

That was my plan, but at the time I understood from them that the CDW Excess policy was not legitimate and then they started talking up the costs I would have to pay, plus emphasising the inspection of the vehicle in the dark. I know I should have argued back but I was tired as were my children and parents.

eDicky

Erik6 wrote: »

That was my plan, but at the time I understood from them that the CDW Excess policy was not legitimate and then they started talking up the costs I would have to pay, plus emphasising the inspection of the vehicle in the dark. I know I should have argued back but I was tired as were my children and parents.

It is not for the hire firm to judge whether your separate excess policy is 'legitimate', in fact it is none of their business and you will do better in future not even to mention it or discuss anything. You simply need to decline their own excess insurance and accept the deposit or pre-authorisation being taken on your card, entering into any further discussion about it will just open the way for their 'hard sell' which you suffered this time. As for the darkness, I never travel without a small but powerful LED flashlight in my hand-carry, they are not expensive.

brianposter

My suggestion would be that as soon as these arguments start, you should ask for a "complaints form".
The form does not have to be completed on the spot (despite whatever you may be told) and can be filled in in English. If the form is not provided you call the police.
Asking for the form effectively indicates that you have an ability to cause them problems.