Van hire - excess on insurance

magictorch1976

Hi All
I wonder if you could please give me some advice ?
I hired a van a couple of weeks ago to move house. Unfotunately, I scrapped the van causing a dent about 75cm in the bottom of the side panel by the rear wheel arch and som scuffing to the plastic trim. The damage was caused on a fence post at my new house so there will not be any third party claim.
I owned up on the return of the vehicle and the dodgy-looking guy sucked air through his teeth and said "oooh mate, you'll have to pay the £500 excess."
I refused because I'm not so sure it's morally right to charge me £500 for damage that would ultimately not cost that to repair. In fact, the 2 quotes I have got are around the £200 mark.

I am willing to pay for the damage - I caused that and I have no issue with paying for property that is not mine but at the end of the day, what's to say they will not take the £500 off me and not get the vehicle repaired ?
It appears a little to be like daylight robbery and I am sure that this constitutes an unfair term in a contract ?
I have now received a snotty letter from their head office saying that if I do not pay up within 7 days of the date of the letter, they will commence legal action without further notice. The letter was sent on the 1st. I received it on the 8th !
Apparently, I could have taken something called CDW - Collision Damage Waiver insurance ? This was never offered to me either by the call centre or before I collected the vehicle. OK, I should have read all the paperwork but it was 8am in the morning and I had a 3 bedroom house to move in a day. I didn't have time to read it all and it does not really appear to be in plain english, (after the event of course.)
Please can you give me some advice ? I haven't responded to the letter as of yet.

Many thanks and best regards
J.

custardy

cdw is a standard money maker for the hire companies as most take it out.
its a tricky one as its under the contract i suppose.
have you asked head office to invoice you for the actual work done with proof of work done?

magictorch1976

I haven't yet, that's a route I could go down I suppose. Thing is, I don't want them doing it in their own body shop and then invoicing me for £499.99 !!

custardy

tbh theres little you can do about that.really they can use any bodyshop of their choosing

magictorch1976

So am I within my rights to actually ask them for say 3 independent quotes to repair the van, to use the cheapest and then to give me proof of the work being carried out ?

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

While the vehicle is being repaired it will not be available for hire, costing the company money. You should factor that into any sums you do.

Personally I wouldn't pay it, I'd argue the case and settle for a lower figure. Bear in mind that they probably won't repair it anyway.

magictorch1976

OK so half a day ! Great ! Thanks for that - a positive response LOL.

I can be quite argumentative. I was going to call Consumer Direct and ask their opinions. Although I actually work for a law firm so I suppose I should really tap my resources ?!

Conor_3

So let me get this right. Because you can't drive for toffee, you damaged someone elses property and you don't think you should pay. Instead, you think they should claim on their insurance, lose money whilst the van is in for repair and bear the cost of the following years premium increase because of the payout?

The repair is going to cost a good couple of hundred quid or more depending on how lucky they are to get a colour match with the paint. If they're unlucky, it's a full side repaint which is several hundred quid. Add to that a weeks worth of lost revenue. Are you going to compensate them for that?

vikingaero

A 75cm dent sounds like a new panel to me on most cars. OK on a van you can be more creative as access to dents are easier than in a car.

A decent bodyshop will charge at least £100 for the paint alone let alone labour, VAT, loss of hire, fuel to take the van and driver to and from base and collecting it again. £500 doesn't sound too far off the ball park.

Granted if it was a door dent in a car park then £500 is excessive.

magictorch1976

So let me get this right.

First of all, you haven't got it right have you ? If you had bothered to read my original post correctly, you will see that I am perfectly willing to pay for the "damage," which I have been quoted by 3 independents at around the £200 mark.

Because you can't drive for toffee,

Accidents happen. It's a fact of life. I would have liked to see you get a LWB van through the gap that I had to. I refute the defamatory comment that I cannot drive and I suggest you come back with constructive comments to help me with my issue or please don't bother posting a reply at all. I didn't damage it intentionally and I didn't even attempt to "get away with it." I am sure if I "could not drive," I would not have had to produce my valid, clean driving licence.

you damaged someone else's property and you don't think you should pay.

As previously stated, I am perfectly willing to pay to have the damage repaired at a cost that is realistic and to have proof of that repair. If you had agreed to collect something for me and dropped and damaged it before delivery, do you really think you would accept me plucking a figure out of thin air rather than give you the realistic cost of repair or replacement ? Of course you wouldn't.

Instead, you think they should claim on their insurance, lose money whilst the van is in for repair and bear the cost of the following years premium increase because of the payout?

Again, I haven't stated I expect them to claim on any insurance policy, quite the opposite.

The repair is going to cost a good couple of hundred quid or more depending on how lucky they are to get a colour match with the paint. If they're unlucky, it's a full side repaint which is several hundred quid. Add to that a weeks worth of lost revenue. Are you going to compensate them for that?

I won't be compensating them for a week's worth of lost hire revenue on a job that means the vehicle will be off the road of 1/2 a day. Let's be realistic here - the vehicle is no way undrivable because of a dent is it? Actually, don't bother to answer that question - your comments are not welcome.

Thank you for your deconstructive response. Much appreciated.

Honeydog

Having to pay the excess if you damage a hire vehicle is hardly an 'unfair term in a contract' Something or the sort has always been there for any vehicle I've ever hired whether car or van.

You damaged their hire van and now you want them to waste man hours driving about getting quotes! You live in cloud cuckoo land! Of course if they own a bodyshop they are going to use that. Unless of course, you are offering to take some days off work to deliver and collect the van and drive it between the places you got your quote from and the hirer's premises.

Tough lesson to learn and expensive but you'll never be so reckless with a hire vehicle again!