Help with hire car big charge

saunaboy1975

Hi there,

Hired a van yesterday from AivsBudget. Checked it out on own before driving (very rude rep wouldn't check with me) and was fine. Drove it, dropped off at 1615 last night. Office closed so checked it on own again, fine, and dropped keys in the relevant box.

Got email receipt today for £500 damage, big bump in back door. Inpsection by agent not done until 0930 this morning, and parking facility is open all night.

Can they do this? I have asked for last inspection paperwork before me just in case it was missed on my inspection. But I think given where bump is, some !!!!!! has hit the van between 1615 last night & 0930 this morning. It is the only time I have hired a vehicle without walking round it with agent, so I did so (without any paperwork as was all electronically done before going to get car in parking area) on my own.

Is there anything I can do? I have a £250 excess that I paid extra to reduce from £1000 but still...

Thanks for any help!

Aylesbury_Duck

saunaboy1975 wrote: »

Hi there,

Hired a van yesterday from AivsBudget. Checked it out on own before driving (very rude rep wouldn't check with me) and was fine. Drove it, dropped off at 1615 last night. Office closed so checked it on own again, fine, and dropped keys in the relevant box.

Got email receipt today for £500 damage, big bump in back door. Inpsection by agent not done until 0930 this morning, and parking facility is open all night.

Can they do this? I have asked for last inspection paperwork before me just in case it was missed on my inspection. But I think given where bump is, some !!!!!! has hit the van between 1615 last night & 0930 this morning. It is the only time I have hired a vehicle without walking round it with agent, so I did so (without any paperwork as was all electronically done before going to get car in parking area) on my own.

Is there anything I can do? I have a £250 excess that I paid extra to reduce from £1000 but still...

Thanks for any help!

In a nutshell, yes. As far as they're concerned, the damage occurred during your hire of the vehicle. How are you going to prove otherwise?

Whenever you hire a vehicle, you have to have it checked upon collection and return by an employee if you want to be sure of not being blamed for damage caused by someone else. If that's not possible, a set of time-stamped photos is about as good as you're going to get to prove it was unmarked when you returned it.

As for what you can do, I'd contact them and ask for their evidence that you damaged it. You can only deny it and see how far you can push it.

Crabman

Were there cameras at this location? That would be able to help you assert that the damage was not there at the drop-off time and possibly indicate how the damage was caused.

If you inspected the vehicle yourself at the time of drop off (evem without photos), that is evidence that can be submitted in support of your position.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

We had similar with Europcar, they agreed to forget the charge as the car had been moved from where we left it before they took photos of the damage.

The Europcar rep from the Managing Director's office were adamant that, the above aside, the car was our responsibility until they checked it.

There is a code of conduct regarding out of hours rental drop offs stating:

Customers permitted to return vehicles outside normal opening hours must be provided with clear procedures for doing so. They should be advised to park the vehicle in a safe location. The customer must be made aware that they remain responsible for the vehicle and any post-rental damage or parking offences until the rental station re-opens and the vehicle is checked in. If the vehicle is returned to a car park operated by the rental company, signage should be displayed advising customers of their liability.

Which might give you some ammo but I wouldn't bother complaining to the office you hired from or customer services, email address is on ceoemail for AivsBudget UK head office.

Mercdriver

OP - did you take photos with your mobile of the van at the point of return? Photos are time-coded so can be used as evidence