Hire car fuel - caught out?

NatN

We hired a car in Mallorca with the fuel clause as full to full. When we picked up the car we checked everything, took photos of scratches etc. But didn’t notice that the tank was only a quarter full. Feeling very silly at present.

The paperwork supplied by the hire company says the tank is full at pickup. We have left a 55 euro deposit for returning a full tank.
We do have a picture of the dashboard at pickup with date and time showing the quarter full tank.
We’ve had no luck trying to contact the company to advise us what to do.

What would people do? Return the tank full keeping the receipt of the cost to fill it to get the deposit back and try to get the fuel reimbursed or return at the level it is and risk losing the deposit and paying refill charges?

Are we in the wrong for driving it away or are they? Our insurance is via a broker.

Any advice appreciated!

EveryWhere

NatN wrote: »

We hired a car in Mallorca with the fuel clause as full to full. When we picked up the car we checked everything, took photos of scratches etc. But didn’t notice that the tank was only a quarter full. Feeling very silly at present.

The paperwork supplied by the hire company says the tank is full at pickup. We have left a 55 euro deposit for returning a full tank.
We do have a picture of the dashboard at pickup with date and time showing the quarter full tank.
We’ve had no luck trying to contact the company to advise us what to do.

What would people do? Return the tank full keeping the receipt of the cost to fill it to get the deposit back and try to get the fuel reimbursed or return at the level it is and risk losing the deposit and paying refill charges?

Are we in the wrong for driving it away or are they? Our insurance is via a broker.

Any advice appreciated!

Just send an email with the picture to the car rental company. Since you haven't bothered to name them, you can find the details for yourself.

NatN

Thanks for your reply EveryWhere 🙂
The company is Record Go.
We have already emailed customer services a few days ago but no reply unfortunately.
Will update the thread when we’ve returned the car, hopefully with some useful advice!

EveryWhere

Send the picture to them, keeping a record. If they try to charge you for not filling the tank, open a dispute with your CC company.

https://www.recordrentacar.com/en/recordgo-contact/
+34 936 19 24 68

The only issue would be that you signed for a full tank. But your photograph will counter any assertion that they supplied the car with a full tank.
Could it be that the fuel gauge is faulty?

cubegame

Presumably you signed a document to agree that the tank was full?

If so, you may have to chalk this one up to experience.

After all, one may question why you took a picture showing it was a quarter full but did not raise this at the time?

photome

If you signed to say it had a full tank it’s unlikey your card company will help as they will ask the rental company who will provide them with evidence that you signed for a full tank

NatN

Agree - we even asked each other as it wasn’t obvious it wasn’t full as it was an unfamiliar dashboard. We were taking a picture for the mileage 😕
Will have to see what happens but feeling very frustrated 😕

The_Fat_Controller

If you can't work out how to read a fuel gauge then you shouldn't be driving !

slinga

So much easier to do full to full but nowadays it's as is to as is.
I usually overfill, not on purpose, sometimes by 1/4 tank.


Last time I asked Enterprise to provide a car with a full tank. When we picked it up it was just below 3/4 full. I noted it to the lady handling our car pick up.
She said wait 10 minutes and she had the car filled up and said we should return the car 3/4 full.


Result.

brianposter

The_Fat_Controller wrote: »

If you can't work out how to read a fuel gauge then you shouldn't be driving !

I have on more than one occasion found it difficult to understand the fuel gauge on hire cars. You drive a hundred miles and the gauge does not move - what is it measuring ?
Modern fuel gauges are often unsatisfactory.

doningtonphil

brianposter wrote: »

I have on more than one occasion found it difficult to understand the fuel gauge on hire cars. You drive a hundred miles and the gauge does not move - what is it measuring ?
Modern fuel gauges are often unsatisfactory.

And that is where you win. Most cars seem to stay 'beyond full' for the first several miles of driving. It also means that you can return the car with the needle on 'full' but with not quite as much fuel in the tank as you might have received on collection. Though it would probably be a lot more straight forward and cost a few euros more to wait until the fuel pump shuts off when filling