Holiday Car Hire Sector – more competition needed?

badger66

After a long journey, does anyone like to start their holiday by arguing with a car hire company at the airport?
Following a search on comparison site, I recently got stung by two common rip-offs. I hired a car from Firefly (part of Hertz) via broker Economy Bookings (EB -part of Booking Group based in Latvia).
1) Paying for Super Cover insurance (similar to fully comp insurance in the UK) – I paid EB for this but Hertz don’t accept EB insurance (yet they are happy to take bookings from EB). I had to pay for Hertz insurance too or cough up a €850 deposit. EB would not refund the premium, and the only comforting words from Hertz is I should have booked directly with them! Being based in Latvia, presumably EB are outside the jurisdiction of the UK small claims court.

2) Additional driver payment – this increased the cost by over 50%. Having a second driver, must represent minimal additional risk or technical wear. Hertz justify this by saying their rates are competitive,

I expect that Hertz and their brokers only get away with such a lack of customer focus because their competitors are much the same. Is there anything that organisations like MSE, Trading Standards and the Consumers’ Association can do to encourage more competition in the care hire sector? For example, should comparison sites provide more information such as highlighting if the suppliers listed are care hire companies or just brokers.

bagand96

Unfortunately I think this might be a case of you not exactly understanding what you were buying.

When you hire a car, you will have to pay a deposit which is perfectly normal. This deposit is for the excess on the included insurance. If you return the car without any problems then the excess is refunded.If you have an issue/cause damage then you might lose some or all of that excess deposit. It's similar to an excess on your regular car insurance.

Hire companies provide their own "Super Cover" which is a zero excess package, meaning you don't have to leave a deposit. however, this is expensive - it's how they make a lot of their money.

The Super Cover you bought from Economy Bookings is a separate policy between you and EB (or their insurer). This is a Car Hire Excess Insurance policy and is completely valid. You are still required to leave the deposit with the car hire company. If you have a problem, you pay the car hire company as required for the damage, and then claim that money back from your Excess policy.

Hertz wouldn't "recognise" the Super Cover from EB as it is a policy between you and EB. It was valid though; but you would have had to leave the deposit on your credit card with Hertz. Obviously, Hertz (and other companies) will try and scare you and make you believe it's not what you need or not valid - they want to sell you their own cover!

EveryWhere

bagand96 wrote: »

Unfortunately I think this might be a case of you not exactly understanding what you were buying.

When you hire a car, you will have to pay a deposit which is perfectly normal. This deposit is for the excess on the included insurance. If you return the car without any problems then the excess is refunded.If you have an issue/cause damage then you might lose some or all of that excess deposit. It's similar to an excess on your regular car insurance.

Hire companies provide their own "Super Cover" which is a zero excess package, meaning you don't have to leave a deposit. however, this is expensive - it's how they make a lot of their money.

The Super Cover you bought from Economy Bookings is a separate policy between you and EB (or their insurer). This is a Car Hire Excess Insurance policy and is completely valid. You are still required to leave the deposit with the car hire company. If you have a problem, you pay the car hire company as required for the damage, and then claim that money back from your Excess policy.

Hertz wouldn't "recognise" the Super Cover from EB as it is a policy between you and EB. It was valid though; but you would have had to leave the deposit on your credit card with Hertz. Obviously, Hertz (and other companies) will try and scare you and make you believe it's not what you need or not valid - they want to sell you their own cover!

No. I've have never had Hertz try to scare me into purchasing their excess waiver. So suggesting that such a thing is obvious, is somewhat disingenuous.

Likely the only reason why Hertz suggested the purchase of their Excess Waiver is because badger66 insisted that they did not want to have an authorisation block on their credit card. The only other option in that case is to purchase their excess waiver.

EveryWhere

There is quite enough competition. The problem is really yours.
You purchased a standalone insurance product from a Broker. You clearly did not bother to read the conditions of the insurance. It almost definitely indicated that it was a reimbursement product.
That is, if you have an accident, Hertz will charge you and then you will submit a claim to the insurance company, who in turn should reimburse you.

If you purchase via Hertz, it is not an insurance product, but an excess waiver. In other words, you are not required to pay for any damage in the case of an accident.
Since you are not required to pay for anything in the event of an accident, there is clearly no need to leave a deposit.

Two completely different products.

So since you bought a standalone insurance product via a Broker, Hertz has to take a deposit from you in the case of damage.

Your problem has nothing to do with Hertz at all.
It's like you blaming Haagen Daz because a supermarket sold you melted ice cream. Even though on the supermarket shelf, it stated that it has been discounted because it had melted.

Then you expect Haagen Daz to take the hit because of your failure to read the label on the supermarket shelf.
Worse, that you blame Haagen Daz for not delivering you free tubs of ice cream, when they didn't sell you the ice cream in the first place.
The problem is entirely between you and the supermarket. Nothing to do with the ice cream manufacturer.
In the case of the supermarket, they have stated that the labelling was clear and they do not refund perishable products.

cubegame

You ended up being the person who subsidised everyone else's cheap car hire. The rule with hire car companies is to say no a lot. They rely on gullible people who are feeling a bit vulnerable in a foreign country.

EveryWhere

cubegame wrote: »

You ended up being the person who subsidised everyone else's cheap car hire. The rule with hire car companies is to say no a lot. They rely on gullible people who are feeling a bit vulnerable in a foreign country.

??

Have you actually read the first post at all? Neither Hertz nor the broker is at fault.

How did they? They simply had to allow the 850 euro block on their credit card. That doesn't cost anything.
They held standalone car hire excess insurance in the case of any accident.
They are not at any disadvantage and have no cause for complaint, other than perhaps paying a few pounds more than the cheapest rates for their standalone insurance.

EveryWhere

This is what it states on the Economy Bookings website;

Don’t risk leaving your car rental without protection
At the counter, the car rental company will block a deposit amount on your credit card. You could lose a deposit amount, if the car is damaged or stolen, but as long as you have our Full Coverage, we will refund you! Why pay more for cover at the car rental counter.

So it is undeniably clear that you have to have a deposit blocked on a credit card.

In addition, on the confirmation page, it states;

Documents on Pick-Up:
Credit Card
Take your credit card in the main driver's name with a limit large enough to cover the excess

So once again, there was no ripoff on the part of either the broker, nor Hertz. But just a failure on the part of badger66, in not bothering to read anything.
Can only imagine the headache they have caused, whilst being totally in the wrong.

Caz3121

badger66 wrote: »

I had to pay for Hertz insurance too or cough up a €850 deposit.

perfectly normal, have a look at section 6 in this article https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-hire/#needtoknow-5

cubegame

EveryWhere wrote: »

??

Have you actually read the first post at all? Neither Hertz nor the broker is at fault.

How did they? They simply had to allow the 850 euro block on their credit card. That doesn't cost anything.
They held standalone car hire excess insurance in the case of any accident.
They are not at any disadvantage and have no cause for complaint, other than perhaps paying a few pounds more than the cheapest rates for their standalone insurance.

Yes I did read it.

You obviously didn't read my reply though.

I implied that the OP was at fault.

richardw

badger66 wrote: »

After a long journey, does anyone like to start their holiday by arguing with a car hire company at the airport?.....

No definitely not.

Hello and Welcome to MSE. You’ve had a bad experience and have been caught in the car hire minefield, which is easily done.
I don’t think more competition is needed, but I do think more clarity is needed from car hire brokers and supplier websites before booking, others are campaigning for this.

Spend a bit of time reading the MSE articles on car hire, and be ready to avoid these problems the next time.

badger66

Many thanks for the post by ‘richardw’. Yes, holiday car hire is a minefield – but does it have to be? When spending about £300 (say, buying a small television), I don’t need to go on MSE to check out 34 tips, read through the terms and conditions of the provider and their partners (and have these checked by a solicitor) then go to another company to have the television insured. I appreciate that car hire may be more little more complex than a television but it seems that car hire businesses are happy to exploit this. In a modern economy, is it unreasonable to expect car hire brokers to emphasise, from the outset, that their Super Cover insurance is unlikely to be accepted by the car hire companies, not bury this fact in their T & Cs?

You mentioned that ‘others’ are campaigning for greater clarity from the sector. Could you say who this is, as I would certainly like to support their efforts?

One day, hopefullly an entrepreneur will come along and shake up the car hire sector (so it’s focused on servicing rather than exploiting vunerable customers) just like Easy Jet did in air travel. Maybe the Competition and Markets Authority is already examining the car hire sector, looking at profitability, levels of consumer satisfaction etc.