Car hire nightmare

Elinhaf

I recently rented a car in Honolulu from the airport branch of Advantage. We didn't take out the extra CDW, and had a nightmare which the company are now requesting money to the sum of $2000 for! Unfortunately we managed to lock the keys in the car boot along with all of our belongings. We called the roadside assistance and got put through to a call centre, but the employee was struggling to get us the assistance because no one at advantage Honolulu was answering the phone (for over an hour!). He eventually apologised and said there was nothing he could do to help us other than put an urgent message on the system for advantage Honolulu to call us. He then told us to try some locksmiths so the hawaiian police tried calling some for us with no luck (they wanted cash only or were too busy). Several hours later and very dehydrated we resorted to getting into the car by force and unlocking it which caused some damage to the door frame. We completed an incident report and took the car back, and were told we'd hear from the claims dept within 4-5 days (also didn't happen). The only thing I've heard is to receive an email yesterday from Viking collection services requesting I make the payment. There are a few things I'm trying to find out now:
The company have the details of my Halifax credit card, can they just take this money without my authorisation?
How is the best way to dispute this?
Can this debt be resold and could I face court summons etc if I refuse to pay?
It seems to have turned into a huge nightmare and I'd be very grateful for some advice please..help!!
Thanks
Elin

[Deleted User]

They should be able to take it directly from your credit card, as you've already given authorisation for them to do so. But I'm surprised that hasn't already happened.

If you feel the cost is excessive, then dispute it with them. However, it doesn;t sound particularly high given the damage you did to the car.

How likely they are to pursue a debt overseas is another matter.

Chino

Elinhaf wrote: »

How is the best way to dispute this?

What is it that you want to dispute? The car hire company presumably just wants reimbursement for the $2,000 you cost it to repair the damage that you caused:

Elinhaf wrote: »

we resorted to getting into the car by force and unlocking it which caused some damage to the door frame.

Elinhaf

The main issue I've got is that if they had a functioning roadside assistance service which they promised, no damage would have ever happened to the car 😕

[Deleted User]

Then that can form part of your dispute as mitigating circumstances.

vacheron

Not useful in this instance, but each time we hire a car abroad I take out separate excess insurance which can usually be purchased for just £20-30.

Avoid the cover from the hire car company which is usually exorbitantly expensive (and probably the reason you didn't take it out at the time).

With independent excess cover the hire company would still charge your card for the damage (as you have authorised them to do in the forms you will have signed), however you then claim this amount back from your own excess insurer.

Elinhaf

Good to know for future, thanks!

pramsay13

Would excess insurance cover deliberate damage by insurer?

NewToTheUkAgain

This is the risk you run when you decline CDW. Can’t imagine why you would do that when you don’t have external cover. Mad.

I work in the business and personally I wouldn’t touch the external policies either.

Can’t really grumble, you knew the risks, you rolled the dice and lost. Pay up

eco_warrior

Deleted_User wrote: »

They should be able to take it directly from your credit card, as you've already given authorisation for them to do so. But I'm surprised that hasn't already happened.

vacheron wrote: »

With independent excess cover the hire company would still charge your card for the damage (as you have authorised them to do in the forms you will have signed), however you then claim this amount back from your own excess insurer.

Car hire companies still need to get explicit consent for additional charges when they present them to the customer. So they can't have it in the small print and just take it when they want. The customer must be presented with the additional costs, then sign for it, in order to make the charge valid.

If they then take any additional charge then it can easily be disputed via chargeback. Then they woukld need to go down the route they have with the OP and chase them via other means.

NewToTheUkAgain

Eco Warrior that is somewhat true. They must inform you of the charges. They do not need your express consent as you have given that when signing up for the liability.