Help getting refund on car hire after service denied

OtterNonsense

We hired a car from Klass Wagen via Ryanair for our holiday in Portugal. As I presented my drivbing licence at the hire desk, the right edge of the licence card snapped off, and the hire agent claimed he could not accept it. He said he would have to cancel the booking, and we should contact Ryanair for a refund. However, when I did that, I got a stock response from Ryanair denying the refund as I "did not meet the drivers licence requirements that were outlined during the booking process".

I have three reasons why I believe we should still be refunded, but I'm not sure which, if any, are valid legal grounds:

• the damage happened at the hire desk, so I couldn't reasonably have foreseen this, and did in fact bring the required documentation.
• the damage was superficial - only around a 3mm strip on the right side of the licence, so all details and the photo are unaffected. The hire agent himself even implied that the licence remained valid, as he suggested we should try presenting it to a different hire company.
• we were told we would receive a refund, and made alternative arrangements at significant additional expense based on this assumption.

Is it worth pursuing any of these lines of argument, and if so how should I approach Ryanair to avoid getting the same copy-pasted response again? Or should I just cut my losses?

Any advice is appreciated!

eskbanker

I suspect that your booking via Ryanair will actually form a contract with another company, such as CarTrawler, as well as the actual vehicle provider, so worth checking your order confirmation documentation to establish who is on the hook contractually, as it probably won't be Ryanair themselves.

flaneurs_lobster

I want to know how a photo driving licence just decides to snap?

I chopped up an expired credit card yesterday, took some effort.

OtterNonsense

Ah, sorry - yes it is Cartrawler. They use Ryanair branding in their emails, so I didn't even realise it had been passed on to another company.

flaneurs_lobster11:44 am

I want to know how a photo driving licence just decides to snap?

I chopped up an expired credit card yesterday, took some effort.

The licence snapped where it lined up with the adjacent credit card in my wallet, so I'm assuming it was worn as a result of pressure being applied in the same spot for years on end.