Section 75 question

kjs12345

First post here so please guide me if I’ve posted in the wrong place!

My question relates to making sure we have credit card protection for the cost of hiring a motorhome in New Zealand next month.

My girlfriend has already paid the deposit using her credit card so I believe we should be covered by section 75 protection.

We are intending to pay the balance of the hire charge using an HSBC Global Money debit card. This seems to be the most efficient method for making payment to New Zealand avoiding the hire companies 2.5% credit card charge and any foreign currency bank charges.

The debit card is in my name. Will this balance payment still be covered by the section 75 protection? My concern is it may fall outside if the deposit was paid by my girlfriend?

I would be very grateful for any help as I can’t find a clear answer to this in the guides I’ve been able to find.

Many thanks.

MorningcoffeeIV

As long as your girlfriend is benefitting from the purchase, she'll have s75 protection.

Your debit card has nothing to do with it.

DullGreyGuy

There are two areas that S75 tends to fail on:

1) Value of goods... the item must be between £100 and £30k... what an item is can be disputable and often comes down to the invoice... if you are paying more than £100 per day then not a worry but if you are paying 21 days at £75 per day there could be an argument that the unit price was under £100

2) D-C-S... the law says there must be direct relationships between the debtor (the credit card account holder), the creditor (the bank) and the Supplier... this often fails when a broker or other intermediary is involved meaning there are indirect relationships or where someone uses their account to hire a car in their partners name or such therefore breaking the 3 party setup required. 

eskbanker

If there is a partial payment made using a credit card in the name of the hirer then the details of other payments don't matter, so if the rental is in her name and she's paid on her credit card (to the actual hire company rather than a third party agent) then the section 75 protection should be secured.

kjs12345

Thanks for the replies, very helpful and much appreciated.

• The day hire rate is just over £100 so we should be ok there.
• We are both listed on the hire agreement so that should be ok.
• The only possible problem I can see is that I know some Motorhome hire companies “hire in” vehicles from other companies or private owners to meet demand. I don’t think this would fall into the category of being an intermediary as our hire agreement is with the Motorhome hire company and we have no visibility of how they source vehicles.

DullGreyGuy

kjs12345 said:
The only possible problem I can see is that I know some Motorhome hire companies “hire in” vehicles from other companies or private owners to meet demand. I don’t think this would fall into the category of being an intermediary as our hire agreement is with the Motorhome hire company and we have no visibility of how they source vehicles.

As long as you sign a contract with X, pay X and X gives you the keys you should be fine... how X gets the vehicle, they buy it, lease it, sub lease it etc etc is totally irrelevant

Will_Riker

It's worth just thinking about what you envisage the S75 protecting you from.  In essence, it will give you the same rights against your card issuer as against the merchant - i.e. if the merchant fails to honour the terms of the contract, and also fails to reimburse you.

If, for instance, you arrive there and find the hire company has gone bust, you can make a S75 claim (not much help to you in the immediate term when you're stuck without transport, but at least you can get your money back).  It won't, however, cover you if you damage the vehicle and get stung with a massive insurance excess (for instance).

S75 can give you some useful extra piece of mind, but it must never be regarded as a substitute for proper purpose-designed travel insurance.  And on that note, make sure you fully understand the terms of the hire agreement, particularly with regards to insurance.  I don't know about NZ, but certainly in the UK it's common for there to be a £1000 excess on the insurance (which you have to pay if you damage the vehicle), but you can reduce this to something like £100 or £50 if you opt to pay an additional premium to the hire company.  It's always worth taking the time to read and fully understand the terms & conditions.

All that aside, I hope you have a great trip, it sounds like the holiday of a lifetime!

eskbanker

Will_Riker said:

And on that note, make sure you fully understand the terms of the hire agreement, particularly with regards to insurance.  I don't know about NZ, but certainly in the UK it's common for there to be a £1000 excess on the insurance (which you have to pay if you damage the vehicle), but you can reduce this to something like £100 or £50 if you opt to pay an additional premium to the hire company.  It's always worth taking the time to read and fully understand the terms & conditions.

The MSE approach is to take out a standalone excess insurance policy, rather than paying the heavily marked up cover offered by the rental company:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-hire/#needtoknow-6

kjs12345

Thanks everyone for your replies, much appreciated.

We have already sorted out comprehensive travel insurance and have reduced the excess so that’s done.

The S75 would be to cover us in case the Motorhome turns out not to be available when we arrive or if the vehicle turns out to be nothing like as the advertised Motorhome. 

born_again

kjs12345 said:

Thanks everyone for your replies, much appreciated.

We have already sorted out comprehensive travel insurance and have reduced the excess so that’s done.

The S75 would be to cover us in case the Motorhome turns out not to be available when we arrive or if the vehicle turns out to be nothing like as the advertised Motorhome. 

You do not need S75 for that. A chargeback would cover that. So long as you payed in full on the card.