Rentalcars.com

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  • photome
    photome Posts: 16,361 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Bake Off Boss!
    edited 7 July 2018 at 2:44PM
    Flame wrote: »
    My understanding is that you cannot renew your paper licence unless you have changed your name, your address, or your licence is about to expire.
    You can change it to a photo card at anytime for a £20 free.

    Thatswhy I havent changed mine as once you do change you have to pay the fee every 10 years to keep photo up to date
  • stevie11
    stevie11 Posts: 682 Forumite
    photome wrote: »
    You can change it to a photo card at anytime for a £20 free.

    That’s why I have I changed mine as once you do change you have to pay the fee every 10 years to keep photo up to date

    That is why I haven't changed mine yet. Maybe I am just a skinflint ;)
  • photome
    photome Posts: 16,361 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Bake Off Boss!
    stevie11 wrote: »
    That is why I haven't changed mine yet. Maybe I am just a skinflint ;)
    Me too

    That should apply to most on here though
  • EveryWhere
    EveryWhere Posts: 3,249 Forumite
    Flame wrote: »
    I would appreciate some advice.

    We recently booked car hire via rentalcars.com and were due to collect the car from Thrifty at JFK airport.

    My husband made the booking and was our principle driver. However, when we arrived he was told that his old-style paper UK driving licence was not acceptable, although they were happy to rent to me and also my son who both have plastic licences. Neither of us was willing to drive in New York so that wasn't an option.

    We phoned Rentalcars who spoke with the manager, but she was adamant. We asked Rentalcars if they could arrange car hire with another firm but they said it would take at least two hours. Since we had a 3-4 hour drive ahead of us, this also wasn't an option.

    We were therefore obliged to rent from another firm, who did what they could on the rental price, but the insurance (usually included when you rent from the UK) was extra and made the rental £650 more.

    We contacted Rentalcars to explain the situation, and they in turn (quite rightly) tried to get compensation from Thrifty. However, Thrifty have declined to compensate.

    This has been escalated with Rentalcars and we are waiting to see if they will compensate us.

    Does anyone have any thoughts on how we stand legally? Rentalcars cancelled the initial contract and refunded the money. Is that the end of their obligation?

    Intermediaries like Rentalcars, Hotels.com, Booking.com are becoming more popular now. If there is no legal obligation to provide you with what you have paid for, that has serious implications.

    I should point out that Thrifty refused to deal with us direct as we had no contract with them - and the rental firm next door had no problem with my husband's paper licence. Also, we had rented a car from Thrifty (Seattle) quite recently with no problem at all for the paper licence.

    Judi

    Paying the £650 for insurance extras was your mistake.
    Not your fault, as you didn't know that you could have purchased standalone cover before you finalised your car hire rental contract.

    There are perhaps only three companies that supply policies with CDW, CDW Excess and SLI all rolled into one. Which is what you need if you are renting in the USA/Caribbean without any cover;
    https://www.bettersafe.com/Products/Car-Hire-Excess-Insurance-Protection
    https://www.insurance4carhire.com/usa-canada-car-hire-excess-insurance
    https://www.carhireexcess.co.uk

    So you could have obtained an annual policy that would have fully insured you for that trip and any others within a year, for as little as £85.
  • slinga
    slinga Posts: 1,485 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary
    photome wrote: »
    You can change it to a photo card at anytime for a £20 free.

    Thatswhy I havent changed mine as once you do change you have to pay the fee every 10 years to keep photo up to date


    I just changed mine as coming up to 70.


    Didn't cost anything and doing it online the replacement photo licence arrived in 4 days.
    It's your money. Except if it's the governments.
  • photome
    photome Posts: 16,361 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Bake Off Boss!
    slinga wrote: »
    I just changed mine as coming up to 70.


    Didn't cost anything and doing it online the replacement photo licence arrived in 4 days.
    Why did it not cost you anything
  • worried_jim
    worried_jim Posts: 11,631 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post
    stevie11 wrote: »
    Yes logic says that but until I have to legally I will just pre check with the rental agent.

    Saying that your comment doesn't help those that in good faith rent a car but are misfortunate due to the poor understanding of the rules by the rental agent.

    The mind boggles! You can lead a horse to water.......
  • bagand96
    bagand96 Posts: 6,098 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    The mind boggles! You can lead a horse to water

    I did think the same. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of foreign car hire agents mis-understanding the validity of the of UK licenses....

    If it’s known to be a potential issue then who wants the problem at the start of their holiday? The cost of a photocard license is tiny compared to what you’re spending on a holiday.
  • slinga
    slinga Posts: 1,485 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary
    photome wrote: »
    Why did it not cost you anything
    Dunno, but it was free.:)
    It's your money. Except if it's the governments.
  • damo101
    damo101 Posts: 270 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    I have an ongoing issue with these guys since trying to hire a car in Belfast.

    Most rental companies in NI require you to have your license for 3 years but mine is slightly less than 3 years old. I spoke with rentalcars via online chat and they said they have a way around it, or knew of a rental company that would accept my licenses.

    When I went to pick up the car the company refused to give me a car. It meant a ton of hassle and extra expense. The rental company said it's between me and rentalcars to sort out which is fair enough.

    This was almost 8 weeks ago and still waiting for rentalcars.com to come back to me. They did ask for copies of receipts for the extra expenses i incurred soon after I got in touch but not a peep out of them since then

    I'd probably avoid these guys in future unless they come up with a full refund for the car hire and extra travel expenses
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