Car hire in Spain

Hebrews12

Hi all

We've got a bit of a problem which is in part our own fault due to never having hired a car abroad before and need some advice ASAP.

We picked up our car from OK Rent a Car. Our flight was delayed so we got in after 10pm and got a 50 Euro fine. Anyway, that's by-the-by. There was just one guy on the desk and he was trying to explain lots of things to us but there were some language barriers which made it hard for us to understand. We were asked to sign lots of things and one was sheet with a picture of the car we were having and it showed all the areas on the car that has marks/scratches/dents. We were asked to sign that which seemed strange as we hadn't seen the car. My experience of hiring cars in the UK is that you're taken to the car and you look round it together to check it over. We were then told that the car was an automatic and we said we'd booked a manual. He said there were no clean manuals left so we said we would take a manual that hadn't yet been cleaned. We were given other bits of paper to sign and did so as we were keen to get away as it was very late. But I looked at the documents a couple of days later and noticed that the piece of paper that has a picture of the car on it shows that there are no marks/scratches etc when in fact there are lots. I'm worried that we'll return the car and find that we are are held responsible for these marks. I've tried several times to contact them but they never respond.

With hindsight, I now realise that I should have taken photos of the car before we drove it away although even that would have been difficult as it was dark.

So, are we screwed? They're holding a thousand Euros on our credit card in case of any damage.

Hoping that someone can help and thanks for reading.

CB

jimarnold_2

not a lot you can do now other than be careful when returning it allow plenty of time to get it checked
its common to sign the paperwork before seeing the car but you really should check it over and go back if there are any scratches etc

I guess we (meaning you) will find out if OK rentacar are OK !

where was this ? and how much did you pay ? - if the price was too good to be true eg 20 Euro a week then you are more likely to be ripped off.

Hebrews12

Thanks for this. It's in Asturias and we paid 261 Euros for 2 weeks. We took out their insurance in advance too for 83 Euros too which is a 'Platinum Excess Waiver' policy but I'm guessing that's not going to be any help in this situation.

cubegame

Why did you take a manual instead of an automatic? I can understand the other way round.

EveryWhere

Hebrews12 wrote: »

Thanks for this. It's in Asturias and we paid 261 Euros for 2 weeks. We took out their insurance in advance too for 83 Euros too which is a 'Platinum Excess Waiver' policy but I'm guessing that's not going to be any help in this situation.

If you have bought the Premium Cover direct from OK Rentacar, no need for concern.

But if they took a 1000 euro authorisation, it looks as if you bought an independent policy. So it could be that if OK try to charge you for scratches, make sure that they give you an invoice for the damage there and then. If supplied, use it to claim the money back from the insurance policy.
If they refuse and then subsequently take something from your card, dispute the transaction with your credit card company. OK will then either have to produce an invoice or relinquish any claim.