Ryanair car hire booking rejected by Europcar

treacleminer

My friend, who's 79, booked a flight on his credit card to the Republic of Ireland plus a car hire, both with Ryanair - paying a small premium on the car hire because he's over 75. When he and his wife landed, and went to Europcar (who Ryanair arranged the car hire with) to collect a vehicle, he was point-blank refused because of his age. As a result, he had to pay out £300+ to hire another car from another hire firm at the airport. He's now trying to reclaim the booked car hire cost paid to Ryanair. Sadly, Ryanair - and Europcar - are now playing 'tennis' with responsibility for the refund. You get the picture. Is this common? Is it Ryanair, who have my friend's money, trying to wear him down so he'll go away? Or his credit card provider? After speaking to his Santander bank, he doesn't seem confident that his credit card will refund the £200+ paid for the initial car hire. Bit of a longwinded tale. But hope someone can advise. Thank you.

xlnc99

Im a bit of an expert with car hire and europcar.

Most car hire firms to have an age restriction to 70. It says clearly in their terms and conditions. Europecar however do not have any age restrictions and it does not say in their terms in conditions.

I know this first hand because i recently hired a car from the very same place for my dad who is 80 without any problems, extra money or deposit. Had to look around as alot of companies would not hire due to the age so had to settle for europ car

Get a complaint in

D_M_E

I would also pursue a Section 75 claim against the CC as Ryanair clearly did not supply what had been paid for and clearly cannot and will not supply the hire.

I would also add to the claim the extra £300 as well since it was incidendental and necessary to obtain the contracted srvices.

If they persist in their efusal - do it from the beginning - raise a complaint with them and tell them you will take it all the way to the Financial Ombudsman,

eskbanker

D_M_E wrote: »

I would also pursue a Section 75 claim against the CC as Ryanair clearly did not supply what had been paid for and clearly cannot and will not supply the hire.

But Ryanair never were going to supply the hire itself, they were acting as an agent for the company who was actually going to supply it (Europcar), thereby breaking the debtor-creditor-supplier chain needed to qualify for s75 cover....

jimbo26

He entered into a contract with RyanAir, not Europcar. I therefore believe RyanAir is responsible. Good luck though as RyanAir appear to have little respect for their customer or employees.

Terry_Towelling

It would be interesting to know who has the car hire money at the moment - Ryanair or Europcar. Either way, a dispute should be raised with the card company on the basis that the paid-for service was not provided.

The card provider will then raise a Chargeback to Ryanair (as they were the ones who took the payment) and they can sort it out with Europcar themselves. NB the Chargeback amount will be limited to the portion of the original transaction that related to the hire, not the cost of replacing the hire.

The question of S75 cover for any consequential loss incurred by having to pay more with another hire company is an interesting one. Surely it is a question of who in the 'chain' is responsible for the problem. On the face of it, we have an agent breaking the DCS chain, but if said agent was responsible for breaching the contract they made with the customer by booking with a rental firm who do not rent to the over 70s, then surely that would mean the DCS chain ends with the agent and a liability will exist - anyone else think that's logical, or am I on my own?

What would be useful is to have some evidence of the refusal of Europcar to rent the car based on the age of the renter.

Ben8282

One problem here of course is that in the absence of proof that the rental was refused on these grounds, Europcar could claim an altogether different reason for refusing the rental. They could even deny everything and claim he never turned up!

treacleminer

Thanks everyone for your advice. Much appreciated. I shall print it all out and give to my friends.