Being charged by car hire company after hire finished....

mikelj99

Rented a small car (via EasyJet) from a company called Drivalia back in June 2023, picking up at Pisa airport. The car was returned at the end of the hire with no issues reported, and the authorisation on the credit card was lifted a month later. 
Thought that was the end of it until *5 months* later when I spotted an unauthorised withdrawal from my credit card of 40 euros. Turned out that it was made by Drivalia. There was nothing to explain why - no email/phone call/letter. Tried calling them but no-one at the desk speaking English. Other review sites show that this particular company do this on a regular basis.
 
Have now pursued this with the bank via a chargeback. However when I questioned the bank over the legality of what Drivalia had done, the guy in the Fraud team told me that European car hire companies can issues charges up to 6 MONTHS after you've returned a vehicle, which I didn't know.  One to be aware of !

eskbanker

It's quite normal for Ts & Cs of car hire companies to retain the right to charge the supplied card well after return - for one thing, they will typically reserve the right to levy an admin fee if they receive any later contact from authorities about alleged driving offences, violations, etc, and have to supply driver details.  Not saying that's what's happened here, but the principle of belated card charges is well established and not inherently erroneous....

retiredbanker1

I would also drop Easyjet a message about this.

It might be a one off/genuine mistake but if it happens regularly to Easyjet customers it might make them think about renewing their contract with them.

Slinky

We got charged by a hire company at Pisa for them giving OH's details to the authorities for a traffic violation (drove in a bus lane in Florence we think). It was several months after we had returned from holiday. We only received the communication about the fine about 3-4 months after that, so you could yet receive a fine in the post. 

IIRC our holiday was in June, the charge came in September and the fine turned up in January.

Westin

Sounds like a parking ticket or traffic infringement. It might be charged back via the vehicle number plate. Local authorities may not have billed the rental company for some time post infringement, or delays re billing your rental agreement.  

Is there anything in the rental T&C regarding the recharging of tolls, fines and fees?

mikelj99

What concerns me is that there has been no communication from the hire company (or easyJet). The money was simply taken with no explanation. And given the number of people that this seems to have happened to on the review site it definitely seems iffy.
i don’t recall any situation where I may have incurred a fine - doesn’t meant to say I didn’t of course but I would at least expect to see proof.
Anyway it’s now with the bank so will see what they decide and post back here then….