Car Rental Rip Off

alanmead_2

bagand96 said:

MoneySavingExpert.com doesn't link through to car hire companies.  Their article suggests some comparison sites to use for comparing prices, I guess you used one of these and ended up at HolidayCars.com?

Hiring a car in the US as a European normally includes all legally required insurances, and with the major companies is often excess free.  However when US residents hire a car the system works differently, they are usually covered by their own motor insurance and/or credit card.  This can cause an issue if people unwittingly book a car as a US resident or on a US portal as they often don't include cover.

I notice HolidayCars.com do ask where you are resident when you start a quote.  Although when arriving via a comparison site you may bypass this stage.   Not sure if this is what's happened and they've unwittingly booked you the wrong rate.

Agree with others, you've documentation stating the insurances were included, perhaps a S75 claim against the payment to HolidayCars is the way forward.  They may have shot themselves in the foot by later committing to writing that your hire didn't include it.

You're absolutely correct - it was through at link from MSE - I can't remember which one I went through now - I think it was SkyScanner or Kayak.
Thanks for the S75 advice.

eskbanker

A word of caution on the s75 front - it typically excludes purchases made via third parties such as agents, so if you paid Holiday Cars but the actual service supplier is United then this will normally preclude a s75 claim, which requires an unbroken debtor-creditor-supplier chain, although the devil is in the detail regarding exactly which company the contract is with and which party has breached it.

BFBW

alanmead_2 said:

BFBW said:

I'm somewhat confused. Did you have an Excess Policy or not and did you show them the Excess Policy or not?
You seem to be tiptoeing around this.
It seems that the staff are not used to dealing with U.K. customers and instead are used to U.S customers showing their CC policies. Simply showing them your Excess policy may have sufficed. But there is no mention of you showing them this.
BUT...this statement changes everything:

 "IMPORTANT! This offer is a basic rate and does not include liability insurance. We recommend you to pre-book additional insurance or check if your personal/business insurance covers your liability. Should you not be able to show valid insurance upon arrival, the supplier will obligate you to pay for the insurance locally."

If you paid via CC, then inform your provider that you would like to make a claim under Section 75. You are covered both under misrepresentation and failure to provide. You have the evidence that Third Party Liability was included. 
As long as there was enough on your CC to cover any Excess CDW amount, they don't have a leg on which to stand. Section 75 can also cover the extra that you had to spend on getting another car. It should put you back in the position that you would have been had you been supplied with the car. So a US$600+ reimbursement.

I had an Excess Policy - they didn't want that - they wanted a Liability Policy. I told them I had excess coverage and was happy to put the deposit down on my credit card (which had more than the $2500 excess available). But they wouldn't let me proceed without showing them Personal Liability Insurance.

The statement "IMPORTANT!..." was sent to me via email after I tried to claim a refund as they had mis-sold me the car rental.

Thanks for the advice regarding the Section 75 info.

Bookings made through U.K. portals are required to have the statutory minimum amount of liability insurance. SLI is just an option to increase it to US$1,000.000. 

The key is whether you stipulated that you were a U.K. resident. But since you assert the voucher stated that it was included, the onus is on them to demonstrate otherwise.