Car hire company trying to con me...

elsien

Your protection against a damage claim would be the photos/video you took before handing the car back.

unholyangel

OP, how did you book with them? You say you saw them online but did you also book online?

Even if you didn't, theres still a few things you could potentially use, but if you booked online, then they would need to provide certain information in a durable medium.

The things that could potentially help are:

40.—(1) Under a contract between a trader and a consumer, no payment is payable in addition to the remuneration agreed for the trader’s main obligation unless, before the consumer became bound by the contract, the trader obtained the consumer’s express consent.

And also, part of the information the trader must supply (regardless whether it was on premises or distance):

(f)the total price of the goods or services inclusive of taxes, or where the nature of the goods or services is such that the price cannot reasonably be calculated in advance, the manner in which the price is to be calculated

So if it forms part of their main obligations then the latter would be better to rely on. If it doesn't then the former.


Either way, they can't bury a clause in the small print which allows them to vary the price. Because in order to be considered a fair term, it would need to clearly & adequately be drawn to your attention. Price setting terms can be exempt from the fairness test but only if they are transparent and prominent (which again, buried in the small print is neither transparent nor prominent).

Takmon

Mr_Singleton wrote: »

I'd like to thankyou for quoting the entire original message because after reading 2 short replies I'd completely forgotten what the original post said. Thanks to you I was able to read the entire thing again

It's always best to quote the OP on threads like these because they have a habit of being deleted when posters don't like the replies they receive, so it helps preserve the thread.

I'm surprised you haven't seen this happen before.