Parking charge and admin fee from hire company

MistyZ

People often (quite rightly) complain here about these admin charges. Why not search the forum for hire cars / admin fees to see how others have dealt with them. My feeling is that some have got their money back after fighting off the PPC .....

Half_way

When dealing with the hire/lease company, its vitally important that you do not, under any circumstance call the parking charge notice a Fine or penalty.
It is neither of those

anxiouscharlie

Thank you, I am drafting a letter of complaint now to the hire car company stating that it was simply a "notice" and not a fine or penalty, so they had no right to take my money. Will check what others have done and post my draft here. You're all so helpful, I really appreciate it!

Umkomaas

The_Deep wrote: »

Has the hire company complied with the Memorandum of Understanding with the BPA? Sorry, cannot find a link.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9b0iavad3aqeh28/BPA%20BVRLA%20MoU.pdf?dl=0

anxiouscharlie

Hi all...what do you think of the below letter of complaint to the hire company?

To whom it may concern
Re – plate number xxxx / contract number xxxx / traffic violation notice x 2
On xxxx 2019 I received an email from xxxx containing two separate customer letters: xxxx and xxxx.
These letters concerned two “traffic violation notices” of which you had been notified concerning a vehicle of which I was the hirer at the time the notices were issued.

I am yet (as of xxx 2019) to receive an official notice from the UK Car Park Management company concerning the alleged offences, and therefore I have had no opportunity to appeal.
In your letters, you stated that:

As a reminder, your signature on the rental contract gives xxx full authorization to process any applicable charges for associated administration fees. We will attempt to charge the card listed below:

I believe that you have taken my money erroneously based on the following:

a) You should not take money out of my account for a card I had previously used in good faith for a rental, especially given this is a credit card and I will incur extra charges. You should give customers the choice of payment, and notice and pre-authorisation this money is to be taken, to avoid any extra charges.

b) You should not be taking admin fee charges based on a “notice of violation” (not an official fine or penalty), especially when I have yet to even receive that notice in person or have a chance to appeal.

When calling your customer helpline on the morning of xxx Jun to query why the payment has been taken, I was directed to your terms and conditions, which state the following:

4. Renter's Main Obligations
…
(vii) check that Renter has not left any personal belongings in the Vehicle before Renter returns the Vehicle;
(viii) pay any administrative fines, fees, charges, costs, penalties, or other fines that are imposed, issued or incurred in connection with the Renter's usage of the Vehicle during the Rental Period (including usage of the Vehicle by Authorised Drivers or other third parties who are permitted by Renter to use the Vehicle), such as fines or fees for illegal parking or speeding, non-compliance with bus lane, congestion charges, tolls or violations of the rules of the highway or traffic offence or contravention in any country, in all cases, to the extent permitted by law and not caused by Owner;

(d) Renter shall pay to Owner on demand:
(i) any additional charges, such as for an Extended Rental Period, for any late return of the Vehicle after the end of the Rental Period;
(ii) all penalties, fees, fines and court costs for parking, bus lane use, fines and road tolls, for all roadway infractions or other Vehicle-related offences which are assessed against the Vehicle, Owner, Renter, any Authorised Driver or any other person Renter permitted to use the Vehicle, until the Vehicle is returned, unless caused through Owner’s own fault;
(iii) For rentals originating in Ireland, a fee for the use of a trailer baller up to € 100;
(iv) an administration fee in the range of €/£ 5 to 45 for processing any fines or offences against the Vehicle, Owner, Renter, any Authorised Driver or any other person Renter permitted to use the Vehicle during the Rental Period, unless caused through Owner’s own fault;
(v) a collection fee of up to €/£ 150 based on the actual costs of abandonment incurred by Owner if the Vehicle is not returned to the original rental branch indicated in the Rental Agreement Summary; and
(vi) a cleaning fee of up to €/£ 100 if Renter fails to return the Vehicle in good condition due to unusual wear and tear, including but not limited to smoking in the Vehicle or coarse soiling, to compensate Owner for the costs incurred as a result of such failure.
(e) Renter shall pay any value added tax and all other taxes (if any) payable on any of the Rental Costs.
(f) Acceptable payment methods are credit card and debit card.
(g) For other rental charges see Rental Agreement Summary.

At no point in these Terms and Conditions do you state that you are authorised to take money out of my account without prior agreement, on a card of which details you have kept beyond my rental agreement period.

The wording of the rental agreement and the terms and conditions do not cover speculative invoices from private companies.

I expressly refuse you permission to make any charge against my card relating to such an invoice, and any such charge will be reported to the card company as an unauthorised transaction.

If you have already taken the money I will be contacting my credit card company to dispute this; and please confirm that when I have successfully appealed against this notice with UKCPM you will refund all administrative charges taken.

I was highly impressed with my xxx rental experience, the van was a pleasure to drive and the staff were so helpful. I would have definitely used you again, until this incident, which has severely dented my trust in your company.

Please reply to this letter either via post or by email to xxx as soon as possible.

Kind regards

xxx

MistyZ

Well I rather like that!

The_Slithy_Tove

You really do need to be emphasising that they have taken money OUTWITH their own terms. What they have received is a mere invoice, and does not come under any of the categories in 4(a)(viii) or 4(d)(ii). You do say it, but it doesn't stand out clearly enough, IMO.

Forget prior authorisation - I am sure the agreement you signed allows them to take money without prior authorisation (as long as it's legit - see above).

Oh, and go to your card issuer and request a charge-back on what the rental company have taken.

anxiouscharlie

Thanks! Have made that bit a bit clearer. I will update you all if I hear back, and will let you know when I get my actual notice through from UKCPM. Thanks for your help lovely lot.

DoaM

The hire company will be loosely depending on condition 4(a)(viii) ... the problem is that what UKCPM have issued is an invoice for an alleged breach of terms and conditions at a car park - there was no illegal act committed at all.

Another factor is ... loading/unloading is allowed - it's not a parking event. Therefore access to DVLA for the keeper details may have been a breach of their KADOE agreement.

anxiouscharlie

I did wonder if the loading/unloading stopping/no stopping factor could come into play as they are calling it a "parking charge notice".

One more thing. The CCTV shows the time of arrival and the time of departure, but it does not show any time in between - the unloading and loading of the van, for instance. And the wording of the notice states:

"The period of parking to which this notice relates is the period that immediately preceded the incident time and date above." The incident time is the arrival time...at which point no violation had occurred!!