Car Hire with no roadside assistance cover, is it legal?

dsdsds

Hi everyone,

I recently rented a car from Easirent, although now having looked further into their Trustpilot I realise they are offering cash incentives for good reviews – but that's another matter!

It was only a one-day rental and the brakes failed while I was still 100 miles from home whilst I was driving at 70mph. To make matters worse, I couldn't get through to a single person at Easirent, and none of the major roadside assistance providers had the vehicle covered (it was supposed to have 24/7 cover). Eventually I had to abandon it! Apart from getting my money back, I'm trying to ensure they can't do this again, it's clearly a breach of their rental agreement, but anyone know if they've broken the law too – certainly feels like it?

Thanks very much
DS

AdrianC

dsdsds said:

Hi everyone,

I recently rented a car from Easirent, although now having looked further into their Trustpilot I realise they are offering cash incentives for good reviews – but that's another matter!

It was only a one-day rental and the brakes failed while I was still 100 miles from home whilst I was driving at 70mph. To make matters worse, I couldn't get through to a single person at Easirent, and none of the major roadside assistance providers had the vehicle covered (it was supposed to have 24/7 cover). Eventually I had to abandon it! Apart from getting my money back, I'm trying to ensure they can't do this again, it's clearly a breach of their rental agreement, but anyone know if they've broken the law too – certainly feels like it?

Thanks very much
DS

How is it a breach of their rental agreement?
"None of the major roadside assistance providers had the vehicle covered" is not necessarily the same as not being "24/7 covered". Did you have the details of the breakdown cover provided in the rental paperwork with you at the time, or were you phoning around at random?

The Easirent website describes the action to take in the event of a problem with their car. Did you follow that?
https://www.easirent.com/breakdown-assistance2/
What brand of car was it, and what did their breakdown people say?

And, no, there's no law that says car hire firms have to include cover from "major roadside assistance providers" in their rental. Who would define "major"? Why would that definition not include the car manufacturer's own cover?

Herzlos

What's in their agreement? Do they say it has cover and who with?

Was it a new (covered by warranty) car?

Hasbeen

dsdsds said:

Hi everyone,

I recently rented a car from Easirent, although now having looked further into their Trustpilot I realise they are offering cash incentives for good reviews – but that's another matter!

It was only a one-day rental and the brakes failed while I was still 100 miles from home whilst I was driving at 70mph. To make matters worse, I couldn't get through to a single person at Easirent, and none of the major roadside assistance providers had the vehicle covered (it was supposed to have 24/7 cover). Eventually I had to abandon it! Apart from getting my money back, I'm trying to ensure they can't do this again, it's clearly a breach of their rental agreement, but anyone know if they've broken the law too – certainly feels like it?

Thanks very much
DS

Just to clarify when you called the actual breakdown assist number on your rental agreement, no one answered?

Also you abandoned the car, have you notified the rental company as to its location or have they now reported it stolen?

Brakes to totally fail on all 4 wheels is unusual, due do safety systems.

You need to provide more info as to what is now happening?

dsdsds

AdrianC said:

dsdsds said:

Hi everyone,

I recently rented a car from Easirent, although now having looked further into their Trustpilot I realise they are offering cash incentives for good reviews – but that's another matter!

It was only a one-day rental and the brakes failed while I was still 100 miles from home whilst I was driving at 70mph. To make matters worse, I couldn't get through to a single person at Easirent, and none of the major roadside assistance providers had the vehicle covered (it was supposed to have 24/7 cover). Eventually I had to abandon it! Apart from getting my money back, I'm trying to ensure they can't do this again, it's clearly a breach of their rental agreement, but anyone know if they've broken the law too – certainly feels like it?

Thanks very much
DS

How is it a breach of their rental agreement?
"None of the major roadside assistance providers had the vehicle covered" is not necessarily the same as not being "24/7 covered". Did you have the details of the breakdown cover provided in the rental paperwork with you at the time, or were you phoning around at random?

The Easirent website describes the action to take in the event of a problem with their car. Did you follow that?
(Link taken out as I'm not allowed to post links yet!)
What brand of car was it, and what did their breakdown people say?

And, no, there's no law that says car hire firms have to include cover from "major roadside assistance providers" in their rental. Who would define "major"? Why would that definition not include the car manufacturer's own cover?

Thanks very much for the reply, I'm sorry I should've explained in more detail.
Yes I phoned the number provided (which wasn't on the rental agreement they printed out, but I found in my email) and they informed me that the cover had expired last year. This was Ford warranty cover which is provided through the AA and they advised I phone the RAC and Green Flag, which of course I did, and none of them covered it. We called every single Easirent number we could find, made over 60 calls, and an hour later we gave up, on the advice of the local police whom we wanted to advise that we might leave the vehicle. We also tried to take out cover and use the cover through our bank but they couldn't because it wasn't a private vehicle. In this sense I feel like that is a breach of their agreement, and until now (2 weeks) they have been unable to provide me with details of their cover.  Of course, it doesn't have to be a major provider, it just has to exist and be someone you can actually get hold of! 

dsdsds

Herzlos said:

What's in their agreement? Do they say it has cover and who with?

Was it a new (covered by warranty) car?

Thanks for the reply, see my response above. It was a 2018 model so I guess had already expired.

dsdsds

Hasbeen said:

dsdsds said:

Hi everyone,

I recently rented a car from Easirent, although now having looked further into their Trustpilot I realise they are offering cash incentives for good reviews – but that's another matter!

It was only a one-day rental and the brakes failed while I was still 100 miles from home whilst I was driving at 70mph. To make matters worse, I couldn't get through to a single person at Easirent, and none of the major roadside assistance providers had the vehicle covered (it was supposed to have 24/7 cover). Eventually I had to abandon it! Apart from getting my money back, I'm trying to ensure they can't do this again, it's clearly a breach of their rental agreement, but anyone know if they've broken the law too – certainly feels like it?

Thanks very much
DS

Just to clarify when you called the actual breakdown assist number on your rental agreement, no one answered?

Also you abandoned the car, have you notified the rental company as to its location or have they now reported it stolen?

Brakes to totally fail on all 4 wheels is unusual, due do safety systems.

You need to provide more info as to what is now happening?

Thanks very much for the reply, please see my responses above.
Yes I notified them by email (and even tried twitter!) at the time and then went in the office the following morning.

The brake pedal very suddenly wouldn't depress at all. We had already driven for a good while with no issues, and there was nothing physically obstructing it. I don't pretend to know much about cars but I'm an experienced driver and have never had anything like it before, thankfully I managed to slow it through the gears over a couple of miles and get it to stop in a lay-by.

I was very lucky that my brother was travelling in the same direction and was able to take me back, although we had only hired two cars in the first place to respect social distancing guidelines!

I am basically calling and emailing them and getting very little response, I've given them a list of information I require from them and deadlines and so far they have ignored it except for a two line email saying they'd look into it which was over a week ago. 

MinuteNoodles

Anything they've broken is a contractual dispute and a civil matter. There are no laws they have broken by not having roadside assistance because there is no law requiring it.

dsdsds

MinuteNoodles said:

Anything they've broken is a contractual dispute and a civil matter. There are no laws they have broken by not having roadside assistance because there is no law requiring it.

Ok thank you, that's what I was asking really. I'm surprised that there isn't a requirement for them to have it, but claiming to have it and then not being able to back that up is another matter I guess.
Thanks 

MinuteNoodles

I think the best you can hope for is a partial or full refund of the hire fee. If you paid via a credit card and it was £100 or more then you may be able to pursue it under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act with the credit card company if the hire company don't play ball.

The_Rainmaker

Easirent are not a company to rent cars from the headline price in many cases is less than the price of a pint but a little research will horrify you.