Scratch after car hire return

knowles157 · 5 May 2009 at 12:26PM

Hello everyone.. I returned my car to national car rental;
no-one was there to examine the car.
I went into the airport and gave the keys to the representative at the desk. a few days later I received a bill for car hire plus £650.
When I called them they told me there was a scratch on the bumper that had been colored in with a touch up pen.
I categorically swear that this was not done by me and will swear on oath if I have too. I am stuck now, they keep telling me they are getting in touch with the insurance company to get information, and I keep telling them that I did not scratch the car, and i don't care what information they are gathering. This is about the 25th time I have hired with them in the last 4 years, and never had a problem in the past.

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! · 5 May 2009 at 2:29PM

They didn't inspect the car upon return, so its their tough !!!!. Tell them to whistle.

knowles157 · 5 May 2009 at 2:33PM

wish i could, but they have my money!!

maninthestreet · 5 May 2009 at 2:36PM

£650 to repair a small scratch on a plastic bumper? They're having a laugh! A SMART repair for that should cost £100, tops.

Sirbendy · 5 May 2009 at 3:45PM

I had a hire car for a week..they inspected it pre-delivery, did it again in my presence, and gave me the option of signing a waiver to the tune of £2.50 a day up to a max of £40 to cover any damage like this, or a 1 off payment of £250.

I did the £2.50 a day. When I returned it spotless, the guy laughed at the seat covers etc and said "you could have keyed the thing or done anything to it, you've signed the waiver! It's not your issue. You could have left the car at the side of the road to collect if you'd like it.."

I'd tell them to get bent, not putting too fine a point on it - it's their onus to do the post return inspection in your presence. I would give them a kicking by any means necessary.

knowles157 · 5 May 2009 at 4:20PM

they have just told me they are refunding me £585 out of the £650 as the scrath is only going to cost £65 to fix.. I have been told that the head office can't over ride the local office.. what a joke .. they are asking me to call the local office and spk to the manager there -

Quentin · 5 May 2009 at 4:29PM

Write and tell them they have 14 days to refund the money they have wrongly taken otherwise you will take legal action to recover your money.

Then if they ignore this, issue a summons via moneyclaimonline. Don't waste any more time on niceties with them.

And hopefully your bad publicity for them is going to cost them lots more than the £650 they tried to scam off you in lost business from readers who will now look elsewhere for their car hire!

cpdc1030 · 5 May 2009 at 4:37PM

Yikes. I'll remember to avoid the in the future. With Enterprise they've always been very good to me - they have a fixed price schedule for minor damage. When I did put a dent and scratch on a door it was £75 which was quite reasonable.

However I had to agree to the charge first - they couldn't just take it.

I even had a chip in the windscreen once which I declared but they were willing to ignore as I was a repeat customer.

knowles157 · 5 May 2009 at 4:41PM

the moral of this is: It pays to complain..
RAC did the same thing, gave me a £185 renewal quote - i called them up to cancel and they gave it to me for £85 - saved a £100 for a phone call -

Quentin · 5 May 2009 at 4:44PM

Don't see that as the "moral" at all!

No-one should pay a penny to a "reputable" company (never mind your £100) which is trying to scam them over something they are not responsible for.

knowles157 · 5 May 2009 at 4:54PM

you have a good point

Scratch after car hire return

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