Hire Car Damage Charges

[J3PTF]

Hi,

A few months ago I hired a car abroad, booked through a 'broker' website in the UK. The car was returned damaged which I hold my hands up for, and the hire company said they'd be in touch about the repair / costs etc.

About a week later my credit card was charged, for an amount that was a fair bit more than I expected. I got in touch with both the hire car company and the company I booked through asking for them to explain / breakdown the costs. They have been unable to so this. All they have done is sent me a picture of the car as I handed it back, and an 'invoice' which basically just says "repairs to car reg xxxxxx" and the amount.

Aside from thinking they're taking the piss here, the lack of detail on what the charges are actually for is not good enough for the company I took out excess insurance with, and so they won't pay out until I get a breakdown of the costs so they can assess whether they are reasonable or not.

Given the refusal to provide any more info, what are my options here! And who' should I be chasing - the hire company or the company I booked through?

Any advice welcome

Edited by J3PTF on Friday 16th September 16:49

[dxg]

Be prepared for a long wait.

It took me months to get a final figure out of Avis...

[J3PTF]

Did they charge you before the worked out the figure, or take a holding amount first?

It just seems odd here that they they've taken a very specific figure (in both £ and euros) and released the rest of the held amount....

[superlightr]

how much?

[Sheepshanks]

J3PTF said:

Aside from thinking they're taking the piss here, the lack of detail on what the charges are actually for is not good enough for the company I took out excess insurance with, and so they won't pay out until I get a breakdown of the costs so they can assess whether they are reasonable or not.

Hmmmm...I've often wondered how likely these companies are to pay out.

J3PTF said:

Given the refusal to provide any more info, what are my options here! And who' should I be chasing - the hire company or the company I booked through?

Any advice welcome

I know it's tougher in practice than many here seem to believe but I wonder if you have grounds to ask the card company to do a chargeback? If nothing else, it might generate a response from the rental company.

[Grumpy old git]

J3PTF said:

Hmmmm...I've often wondered how likely these companies are to pay out.

Very likely if you pick one regulated in the UK. Questor were fantastic when I managed to lose my hire car keys, I had the money in my account in less than a week, but then I had an invoice clearly setting out what I'd been charged.

[redddraggon]

Take it up with the CC company.

[J3PTF]

Sheepshanks said:

J3PTF said:

Aside from thinking they're taking the piss here, the lack of detail on what the charges are actually for is not good enough for the company I took out excess insurance with, and so they won't pay out until I get a breakdown of the costs so they can assess whether they are reasonable or not.

Hmmmm...I've often wondered how likely these companies are to pay out.

J3PTF said:

Given the refusal to provide any more info, what are my options here! And who' should I be chasing - the hire company or the company I booked through?

Any advice welcome

I know it's tougher in practice than many here seem to believe but I wonder if you have grounds to ask the card company to do a chargeback? If nothing else, it might generate a response from the rental company.

To be fair, I chose the excess insurance company based on positive experiences friends and family have had with them, so I'm reasonably confident they would pay out if they had all the info.

I'd thought about the chargeback angle, but wasn't sure whether that would be affected by the fact I'd had the amount pre authorised by the rental company. I'll give them a call later perhaps and see what they say.