Beware Car Hire quotes from Sixt

Victor_Delta

I chose Sixt for 1 week's holiday car hire in France because of a good price quote online.

However, when collecting the car, the agent told me that "unlike all the other car hire companies, Sixt do not include basic insurance in their initial quotes". He said he was very concerned about my taking the car without their insurance, even though, as I told him, I had arranged CDW insurance in the UK. I was in no position to know if he was right or wrong so eventually, and very reluctantly, agreed to pay the extra 20+ Euros per day, which added a huge 33% to the total bill.

I was left feeling I had been conned and, googling afterwards, suggested this was not an uncommon Sixt underhand tactic. I also now even see the extra item is labelled ‘Loss Damage Waiver’ on the final invoice (which I only received after the trip). Looks very dodgy to me or, at the very least, extremely devious commercial practice.

Oh, and to make matters worse, I was unable to collect my car at the agreed place (a mainline railway station) because of 'IT problems' which also made the handover process in the local office very slow.

I have sent in a written complaint to Sixt but not yet received a reply.

I will not use Sixt again.

sammynunes

This is a common tactic which is pretty much used by ALL hire car companies. They make little or no money on the rental so have to upsell to a percentage of renters to turn a profit.

Victor_Delta

I wouldn't mind the upselling if it were honest and truthful - this was not. And I've never had any other car hire company claim that they don't include any insurance with their initial online quote.

I take your point about low profitability - it's a very competitive marketplace although prices have recently rocketed - but I suspect the agents are highly incentivised to upsell such unnecessary, and expensive, extras to customers.

That still counts as dishonest business practice in my book!

thegreenone

We're going to Crete in September and hiring a car with Sixt.  I've checked our paperwork as it says:

inc.  Loss Damage Waiver 
        Third Party Insurance

Does this mean we will be hammered for extra charges at the airport?   Stop laughing and pick yourselves up off the floor   It's years since we hired a car abroad.

Car hire companies have been doing this for years and what's worse now is that it's so expensive to hire a car.

zagfles

thegreenone said:

We're going to Crete in September and hiring a car with Sixt.  I've checked our paperwork as it says:

inc.  Loss Damage Waiver 
        Third Party Insurance

Does this mean we will be hammered for extra charges at the airport?   Stop laughing and pick yourselves up off the floor   It's years since we hired a car abroad.

Car hire companies have been doing this for years and what's worse now is that it's so expensive to hire a car.

What is the EXCESS for the LDW? That's what car hire companies usually hammer you for when you pick up the car. You think you're fully insured, they tell you third party and CDW/LDW are included. But the CDW/LDW often has a big excess, possibly 500-1000 EUR. The paperwork you get when you book might state there's an excess, but be vague about how much it is. So most people ignore it or don't notice it.

Then when you go to pick it up, they say "there's a 1000 EUR excess, we'll have to charge your card/pre-authorise 1000 EUR and if you have an accident we'll charge it". But as an alternative, you can buy their "excess waiver" for something ridiculous like 200-300 EUR. So most people think it's better they're definitely charged 200 EUR than possibly getting charged 1000 EUR, and some people might have no choice as they don't have 1000 EUR headroom on their credit card.

The alternative is to use one of the many excess insurers. You buy the excess insrance in advance and decline the hard sell at the desk. Ignore any bulls**t about them not recognising the excess insurer, they don't need to, it covers you not them. You will still need the headroom on your credit card because they'll charge it if you have a claim and then claim from the excess insurer. See https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-hire/#needtoknow-6

 

thegreenone

Thank you for that @zagfles.  The excess is 800EUR and we do have headroom on the cc.

I'll have a look at the excess insurance - I have a funny feeling we did that yonks ago when we went to the US.

danielson81

Whilst your own excess insurance is good, what would happen in this situation?

- You decline the additional insurance at the desk
- Your card deposit is £1000
- On returning the car, they find a random scratch and deduct £500
- You tell your insurer on returning home
- They ask for the damage invoice
- The car supplier ignores you?

Chargeback, or is the car return report sufficient? 

I just wondered that's all. 

eDicky

danielson81 said:

Whilst your own excess insurance is good, what would happen in this situation?

- You decline the additional insurance at the desk
- Your card deposit is £1000
- On returning the car, they find a random scratch and deduct £500
- You tell your insurer on returning home
- They ask for the damage invoice
- The car supplier ignores you?

Chargeback, or is the car return report sufficient? 

I just wondered that's all. 

If at all possible, you don't leave the desk until they issue the invoice. If not and subsequent requests for invoicing are not fulfilled, keep all relevant records to present to your bank for a chargeback.