Sixt car hire

louisedawne

I rented a car from Sixt for a week. Didn’t take out the extra insurance. When I handed the car back I was told there was a tiny chip in the windscreen he said it was new. I asked how he new and he said because it was white. He told me it shouldn’t be a problem because it was out of the drivers view. I then got an email saying they were investigating the damage and today got a bill for over £800!  It’s a tiny chip of about 2/3 mm. How on earth can it cost that much? Is there an avenue I can take to dispute this?  I will say that I was not given anything to sign to say what condition the car was in when I picked it up. 

cubegame

Unfortunately there is probably very little you can do, although it might be worth putting in a complaint about the franchissee to SIxt head offfice.

The car hire business model is to hire cars at cost or below. Therefore to make a profit and be a sustainable business they have to sell over-priced additional insurance OR charge customers for damage. In some places, not having their additional insurance will almost guarantee you getting charged for damage.

Anyone considering hiring a car needs to make sure they are not the person subsidising the car hire of those who are more savvy.

louisedawne

It's so frustrating, how on earth have they come up with that price?  I have googled how much it actually costs to repair a chip and replace a windscreen, and it's no where near that price.  I assume I am entitled to ask for a breakdown and proof of the cost of repairs plus proof the repairs have been carried out?  I was shown another small chip that was there previously, so it makes me wonder if they are billing for repairs and not carrying them out?  I don't remember having any form to sign to point out any issues that the car may have before I drove the car away.  Not sure if that makes a difference?  If I had been told it might be an issue I would have hired the car for an extra night and had the repairs done myself.

gingerdad

We had a similar problem - but had insurance cover - did argue with Alamo and they, in the end, sent me a bill just for the windscreen which was a couple of hundred pounds - but that only really helped the insurance in our case - and the chip had definitely happened whilst I was driving and did require a new windscreen as big crack.

Well worth having a separate policy for such things 

gingerdad

louisedawne said:

It's so frustrating, how on earth have they come up with that price?  I have googled how much it actually costs to repair a chip and replace a windscreen, and it's no where near that price.  I assume I am entitled to ask for a breakdown and proof of the cost of repairs plus proof the repairs have been carried out?  I was shown another small chip that was there previously, so it makes me wonder if they are billing for repairs and not carrying them out?  I don't remember having any form to sign to point out any issues that the car may have before I drove the car away.  Not sure if that makes a difference?  If I had been told it might be an issue I would have hired the car for an extra night and had the repairs done myself.

£800 will be the full excess -