Car hire: can this be challenged?

AdrianC

Sure, but that doesn't mean it's a legal presence that the OP has any contract with...

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

brianposter wrote: »

As to legality, you can write anything into a contract.

You can try, but it doesn't make it valid. Consumer law makes it very clear that unclear, ambiguous or unfair terms are either treated in favour of the consumer or as if they do not exist and they cannot sign away their rights simply by agreeing under contract even if you can show that they have read it and understood it. Other laws could also be brought into play, so I don't think it is at all helpful to suggest that as an answer.

brianposter

AdrianC wrote: »

Sure, but that doesn't mean it's a legal presence that the OP has any contract with...

A court is unlikely to worry overmuch about the paperwork niceties underlying a website - to do so would open up all sorts of opportumities for fraud.
There is also probably EU regulation on the subject.

AE Ltd. is AEs website presence in the UK. The OP has a contract with them.

AdrianC

brianposter wrote: »

A court is unlikely to worry overmuch about the paperwork niceties underlying a website - to do so would open up all sorts of opportumities for fraud.

Mmm. What does it matter what a contract actually says?

There is also probably EU regulation on the subject.

Yep, it does. It's illegal to treat businesses from one EU country differently to businesses from another.

AE Ltd. is AEs website presence in the UK.

AE's corporate presence.

The OP has a contract with them.

With some part of the corporate, perhaps. And the main EU business is German. But, for all we know, the OP does not have any kind of contract with them for supply of a car. He may well have a contract with Global in Portugal (whoever they may be, local franchise or...?), who have a contract back with AE for the introduction service.

brianposter

Having looked at one of my own rentals, it is perfectly clear who is nominally responsible for the contract.

AdrianC

brianposter wrote: »

Having looked at one of my own rentals, it is perfectly clear who is nominally responsible for the contract.

And that's a similar situation to this? An online clearing-house for multiple providers across multiple countries?

brianposter

AdrianC wrote: »

And that's a similar situation to this? An online clearing-house for multiple providers across multiple countries?

The same situation - AE.

moneytroll

The contract is with Auto Europe. Since I never picked up the car, I never made any secondary agreements with Global.
I am still sorting it out with Auto Europe.
I presume since they are registered to trade in UK, there would be some sort of trading standards that apply to companies trading in UK.
I will investigate this once Auto Europe fail to resolve this for me.
Global have assured me that they never received any monies from Auto Europe so the money must still be with auto europe in which case it will be up to them whether they reimburse me or not.

moneytroll

I now have another incident:
arrived in Jamaica with my family, notified the car company of any delays but when we got there, the company had no car for us, in no category. They drove us to the property but I have now been waiting for two days for them to bring the car (they promised to bring one as soon as one is available).
I mean these practices should really not be allowed: if the car company know there won't be a car, they should notify the customer so that alternative arrangements can be made.
It's really crazy. I again pre-paid the full amount for 12 days and now been without car for two days.