Camper van hire 'damage' charges

Did you report the faulty/broken switch when you returned the vehicle to the hirer?


For future, it might be an idea to go around the van yourselves before driving off, literally flicking switches, ensuring air con is working, the hob, fridge etc, are all in good order, rather than just the usual bodywork checks....

To be honest, I'm with the OP. These conversions can be pretty home-made and it is not surprising to me that there can be faults on them that come up under normal use. Let's make the assumption (unusual on MSE I know) that the OP is being straight about the lack of force.

It is unfortunate that on something like this it would be impossible for either party to prove who did what. It may not help if the switch was broken and it was not brought to the attention of the hire company as that would tend to point to a cover up. These switches may well not be the same quality as we would expect from a volume car manufacturer who is conscious of warranty claims and so specs something that can do many presses with little chance of failure. They will not be original equipment, but simple things that get added during conversion.

If I have objected to the charge and the hire company are sticking to their guns, assuming I had paid by credit card, I would make a complaint to the credit card company.

I will happily pay for things that a break through carelessness or negligence. I would not pay for something not of suitable quality for the job. Chances are that inspection of the switch would have identified the cause of failure, and typically you would find it is some little delicate bit of plastic that has cracked or deformed. Then it comes a case of pot luck who it failed on - it might have been inappropriate force by persons unknown (including the OP) or it might be faulty manufacture or it might simply be poor design.

I would put the onus on the hire firm to show it was by unreasonable conduct and I would say any T & C that held me responsible for something that was fair wear and tear or manufacturing defect or simply unfit for purpose would be unreasonable.

Let's imagine a further twist in the OP's issue. What if the hire company knew the switch was faulty, perhaps they've had loads of them fail on these camper vans over the years, and chose to pretend otherwise? They plan to charge the poor sap where it finally broke on as there is a nice few smackers to be had from the unsuspecting punters who pay up because they are feeling guilty that it came away in their hands. Would it be reasonable to simply say "Tough, check your T & Cs, you've got to pay up."?

House_Martin wrote: »

To AylesburyD
What with the words "YOU broke it " very "pragmatic advice indeed !, more like an accusation. You ve hung drawn and quartered him already and made your biased decision
How do know that he/she "broke " it .It "malfunctioned with normal usage " is an alternative way of looking at it,
Thats wear and tear in my book.
It could have been badly made Fiat camper made up of penny pinching shoddy switch gear

"Hung drawn and quartered"? Get a sense of perspective. The OP is £200 down and I think they'll have a tricky job to recover it. My "biased decision" doesn't matter, it's just my view. My advice was to check the conditions of hire, something the OP is checking out.

If I really wanted to condemn the OP, I would have linked their breaking of the switch to something completely spurious, like a headlamp perhaps. Anything to fit my agenda.