Avis Car Hire **WARNING**
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taffjones99
Posts: 6 Forumite
All,
I thought it would be useful to tell the forum something that's happening to me at the moment as a warning against using Avis car rental - they are a conning bunch of !@!#
I rented a car for the weekend (3-6 August) Avis at Luton airport. I've worked in Europe for 10 years and come home every weekend, so this is probably the 200th time I've rented. It's the first and only time I've rented from Avis. I didn't do anything on the weekend, literally drove home and parked up in the gated parking of my apartment for the whole time, then returned to the airport at 6am on Monday.
A couple of hours later, Avis sent me a bill for £900 for damages they claim occurred during my rental. There are apparently three small scratches on different panels of the car. It's unbelievable that this damage could have occurred the one time I used Avis and on a weekend where it was safely parked and not driven once. In 200 plus times I rented from Enterprise and a couple of dozen times from Hertz, Budget, etc. there was never a problem!
I complained to Avis and they refuse to refund the money, so I've opened a case with small claims court which I've just heard they will defend.
In the meantime, I searched the DVLA website and find that the car was sold to a dealer TWO WEEKS after I returned it. It looks extremely suspicious to me that this damage occurred on what was probably the final rental of the vehicle - one scratch I could have believed, after all it wasn't wrapped in cotton wool, but THREE scratches on different parts of the car! It's completely clear to me that Avis were trying to get the best price for the sale at my expense. The scratches probably occurred over the previous 6 months.
Additionally, £905 for three scratches less than 5cm long is totally ridiculous! I recon they could be fixed good as new for £150 quid.
I'm hoping this helps someone out there - and if anyone has ideas of what else I can do to make Avis feel the full pain of this, please let me know.
I thought it would be useful to tell the forum something that's happening to me at the moment as a warning against using Avis car rental - they are a conning bunch of !@!#
I rented a car for the weekend (3-6 August) Avis at Luton airport. I've worked in Europe for 10 years and come home every weekend, so this is probably the 200th time I've rented. It's the first and only time I've rented from Avis. I didn't do anything on the weekend, literally drove home and parked up in the gated parking of my apartment for the whole time, then returned to the airport at 6am on Monday.
A couple of hours later, Avis sent me a bill for £900 for damages they claim occurred during my rental. There are apparently three small scratches on different panels of the car. It's unbelievable that this damage could have occurred the one time I used Avis and on a weekend where it was safely parked and not driven once. In 200 plus times I rented from Enterprise and a couple of dozen times from Hertz, Budget, etc. there was never a problem!
I complained to Avis and they refuse to refund the money, so I've opened a case with small claims court which I've just heard they will defend.
In the meantime, I searched the DVLA website and find that the car was sold to a dealer TWO WEEKS after I returned it. It looks extremely suspicious to me that this damage occurred on what was probably the final rental of the vehicle - one scratch I could have believed, after all it wasn't wrapped in cotton wool, but THREE scratches on different parts of the car! It's completely clear to me that Avis were trying to get the best price for the sale at my expense. The scratches probably occurred over the previous 6 months.
Additionally, £905 for three scratches less than 5cm long is totally ridiculous! I recon they could be fixed good as new for £150 quid.
I'm hoping this helps someone out there - and if anyone has ideas of what else I can do to make Avis feel the full pain of this, please let me know.
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Comments
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I'd say they've put themselves in a difficult position by effectively disposing of the evidence. If they produce photos to the SCC they'll still need to somehow prove the pics are of that particular vehicle.
Having said that, did you take pics yourself on pickup?The questions that get the best answers are the questions that give most detail....0 -
Good for you OP. I’d be peeved with Avis as well.
I actually wonder if Avis would proceed with defending the small claims action or will drop their claim again you for the damage nearer to the defence and hearing date. Good luck to you. Please drop back to the thread to update how things progressed and the outcome.0 -
@mgdavid - no photos before the hire, Also the chap at the rental company didn't want to take a look at the car as it was too dark (when I picked it up). He said to check the next day, which, looking back would have been a good idea. On the other hand, this happened 20 or 30 times with Enterprise and I never checked the next day and was never accused of damage!
@Westin - I think I'd be happier to meet them in court. This would be the third time so I know the procedures pretty well. I won both of those cases, so felling good for this one.
The last time was against Expedia (their Terms and Conditions misleadingly indicated you can change your flight (for £15) in conditions where the airline only has the option of rebooking at full price) and while it felt good winning, it didn't change the way they do business. I'd love to have a bigger impact.0 -
I used Avis in Italy in the summer.
I booked it through Rentalcars. At the desk in Bologna Airport I repeatably refused their fuel up front option as i will always fill up before return.
Upon returning home I received a different invoice and charge to my CC account where fuel up front had been added as well as location surcharge (included within the Rentalcar booking)) and Road Tax( also included within the Rentalcar booking)
!!!!!!!s at Avis are ignoring me.
Seems they are now like Goldcars and want to rip you off if they can.
They have lost the usual Excess Insurance rip-off because I buy an annual policy here and now they try the Roadside breakdown added costs.
Avis are crap.
Now two companies to avoid - Goldcar and Avis/Budget0 -
Good for you OP! Please keep this thread updated with your court case.0
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I used Avis in Italy in the summer.
I booked it through Rentalcars. At the desk in Bologna Airport I repeatably refused their fuel up front option as i will always fill up before return.
Upon returning home I received a different invoice and charge to my CC account where fuel up front had been added as well as location surcharge (included within the Rentalcar booking)) and Road Tax( also included within the Rentalcar booking)
!!!!!!!s at Avis are ignoring me.
Seems they are now like Goldcars and want to rip you off if they can.
They have lost the usual Excess Insurance rip-off because I buy an annual policy here and now they try the Roadside breakdown added costs.
Avis are crap.
Now two companies to avoid - Goldcar and Avis/Budget
Open a dispute with your CC company. AVIS will have to produce the paperwork to prove that you agreed to those services.0 -
Update on the Avis thing -
After telling small claims court they would defend the claim, Avis suddenly decided to give in. No letter, no apology, just a refund of the £905 plus court costs and interest.
Obviously I'm happy to get the cash back. Unfortunately they can't be made to pay for my time e-mailing, researching, etc. I'm pretty sure that Avis do this all the time, and that they won't change their ways but it goes to show that you can fight them and they back off pretty quickly.0 -
On the theme of bad car rental companies...
I rented a car from Hertz for two weeks over the Christmas period and when I returned it they charged me for an extra day - no warning, nothing. Just an extra £44 charged to my card.
Long story short - I'm a member of the Hertz award scheme and they have my card on record for quick checkout. They charged me a few hours in advance of collection and when I returned it they calculated from the time they CHARGED me - that makes it 2 weeks PLUS 4 HOURS.
They refunded it pretty quickly - their claim I picked up the car at 9am didn't stand up against my 11:50am flight tickets :rotfl::rotfl:0 -
taffjones99 wrote: »Update on the Avis thing -
After telling small claims court they would defend the claim, Avis suddenly decided to give in. No letter, no apology, just a refund of the £905 plus court costs and interest.
Obviously I'm happy to get the cash back. Unfortunately they can't be made to pay for my time e-mailing, researching, etc. I'm pretty sure that Avis do this all the time, and that they won't change their ways but it goes to show that you can fight them and they back off pretty quickly.
Congratulations taffjones99.The comments I post are my personal opinion. While I try to check everything is correct before posting, I can and do make mistakes, so always try to check official information sources before relying on my posts.0
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