Rental car rights

thebottomline

Hello,

I hope you’re all well. I have a feeling we’re limited in our rights here, but feel aggrieved and so wanted to run it past the MSE mega brains to see if we have any chance of recouping some of our money. 

We were due to have a pickup truck dropped off today, for us for a Christmas trip for the family. It was due to be dropped off at 8:30am whereby one of us could parent the children and the other could deal with the car drop off.

We called ahead on Friday and they confirmed it would be delivered at or around 8:30, and that there is only a 10 minute window drivers have so it won’t slip. 

Come 8:30, no arrival. Same by 8:45. We  call up and get told that they’re running late so it’ll be 10:30.  We explain that this may not work for us now as we have other errands to run. They say fine they’ll drop the keys through the letter box. 

I’m at work at 10:30, and my wife gets home nearer 11 and the driver is there and says “sign here so I can give you the keys”. My wife signs and gets the keys. 

It’s a little more battered than expected, which is disappointing for a Christmas trip but should still run, will do the job.

My wife then opens the van up and it absolutely stinks of smoke. 

She uses some air freshener, leaves the windows open for a couple of hours but it still stinks. 

She calls up and asks if they have any alternatives, explains which direction we’re going and says if there’s an alternative on the way or near we’d happily switch. They seem polite and say they’ll get back to her. 

Just under an hour later she gets a call and is met with a much different tone - there’s nothing they can or will do, the delivery driver said it didn’t smell and we’ve signed for it so tough. He also said “you’ve signed for it so you can’t go through your credit card to claim it back” which seemed an escalation. 

He also said we can’t reduce our days booking (as we said we’d happily pay for this day given it’s been delivered), which is from today until next Monday. 

Do we have any options at all here given we signed for it, given it’s an unpleasant, smokey car with two young kids, even to reduce the days? Or are we bang to rights?

Thank you. 

eskbanker

Does the (unnamed) hire company have a policy on smoking in its rental vehicles?

thebottomline

eskbanker said:

Does the (unnamed) hire company have a policy on smoking in its rental vehicles?

We will have a look at this, thank you. 

thebottomline

I have just found out some additional information - my wife was partly wanting to rent this type of vehicle to see if she likes driving it to possibly buy one in the future. 

She’s just found the same car for sale on a second hand car website, but the car has 20,000 more miles on it than advertised…

Does this strengthen our position in any way?!

Thank you 

eskbanker

thebottomline said:

I have just found out some additional information - my wife was partly wanting to rent this type of vehicle to see if she likes driving it to possibly buy one in the future. 

She’s just found the same car for sale on a second hand car website, but the car has 20,000 more miles on it than advertised…

Does this strengthen our position in any way?!

Can't see how it would?

born_again

thebottomline said:

I have just found out some additional information - my wife was partly wanting to rent this type of vehicle to see if she likes driving it to possibly buy one in the future. 

She’s just found the same car for sale on a second hand car website, but the car has 20,000 more miles on it than advertised…

Does this strengthen our position in any way?!

Thank you 

Why would a car for sale make any difference to a hire car? So NO is the answer..

Given your wife signed for the car, then it is taken that she checked the car & signed the form highlighting any of the damage & checked mileage?

MeteredOut

thebottomline said:

I have just found out some additional information - my wife was partly wanting to rent this type of vehicle to see if she likes driving it to possibly buy one in the future. 

She’s just found the same car for sale on a second hand car website, but the car has 20,000 more miles on it than advertised…

Does this strengthen our position in any way?!

Thank you 

So the car (which is the actual same care, not just the same make/model), as was advertised, had 20K fewer miles than the one delivered to you? Is that right?

It depends how old the advert is, but of course a hire care is going to have more miles on it since the advert was placed - its not as if they'd not rent it out whilst trying to sell it.

Okell

thebottomline said:

I have just found out some additional information - my wife was partly wanting to rent this type of vehicle to see if she likes driving it to possibly buy one in the future. 

She’s just found the same car for sale on a second hand car website, but the car has 20,000 more miles on it than advertised…

Does this strengthen our position in any way?!

Thank you 

Sorry but I'm struggling to understand what you mean by this?

Unless you are saying that your wife has just found the rental vehicle for sale, what relevance does seeing the same model for sale at n 000 miles have?

Even if it is the same vehicle, what relevance does its mileage have to your car rental?

How do you think it would strengthen your position?

(I think you are assuming that people here understand what you mean without telling them...)

sheramber

What is the date of the advert?

If it is an old advert the rental company may have bought it from that advert.

eschaton

I’m not following. 

First it’s a pick up truck, then it’s a car, then it’s a van, then it’s a car again. 

What did you hire? Are you in the UK?

saajan_12

thebottomline said:

I’m at work at 10:30, and my wife gets home nearer 11 and the driver is there and says “sign here so I can give you the keys”. My wife signs and gets the keys. 

It’s a little more battered than expected, which is disappointing for a Christmas trip but should still run, will do the job.

My wife then opens the van up and it absolutely stinks of smoke. 

 

What exactly did your wife sign? Eg was it the rental agreement or did it say anything about the condition of the car? If the latter, then why didn't she check the condition first (asking them to unlock if they don't want to hand over keys) before signing? 

thebottomline said:

My wife then opens the van up and it absolutely stinks of smoke. 

She uses some air freshener, leaves the windows open for a couple of hours but it still stinks. 

. 

In terms of practical solutions, could you take it in for an interior detail?

Potentially argue the toss about claiming that cost from them later, but at least it doesn't ruin your christmas break and lowers your loss vs not getting any use out of it?