Tell me your hire car stories

Tell me your hire car stories

Author
Discussion

callmedave

Original Poster:

2,686 posts

144 months

Thursday 21st August 2014
quotequote all
I remember a few years ago, hired a little Corsa D 1.2 for a week 'staycation'

(got the car for £100!)

Driving through a car park, looking for a space a woman in a 206cc pulled forward out of her space, T-boned the car, the door bent in such a way that you could stick your hand out the top part of the door!

I called the rental company, they said they would sort a replacement if that one was no good, or we could just sort it when i return it, I went for option two.

When i returned it, the woman checks it over with her clip board in hand 'scratch on wing mirror, large dent in door etc'

We step in to the office and she says i will have to pay the premium of £500 and this will be refunded when its sorted on the 206cc owners insurance, i told her that i have just returned from holiday and dont have the cash, she says its ok, not to worry then, i leave them my details just in case, but never heard from them again!

I found it quite funny, bringing a car back with a door hanging off (jaskass style!) and not paying for it, and they were absolutely fine about it!

Lets hear your stories!....

Dog Star

16,079 posts

167 months

Thursday 21st August 2014
quotequote all
Once hired a brand spanking new Clio in Corfu. Got it stuck on a beach (one with huge pebbles) and had to get this bloke with a pick-up truck to pull me out. The wheeltrims were really, really fked up from the wheels spinning for ages up to the axles in gravel, and there was still gravel banging around in the cavities when it went back.

When I gave it back I put the trims on one side of the car and parked that side against a wall, made my excuses and left.

parabolica

6,703 posts

183 months

Thursday 21st August 2014
quotequote all
Booked a rental last thing on a Friday lunchtime for collection that night (spur of the moment decision to fly home for the weekend) Ordered the smallest class possible as I was only going for the weekend, but had to tick the 'auto' option as the gf's license is auto only. Turn up at the desk and given the keys to a 735d. Paid the pricely sum of £35 per day for wafting around in luxury. I was sad when I had to return it.

oldaudi

1,306 posts

157 months

Thursday 21st August 2014
quotequote all
Picked up a Hire car in Nice for a drive to Cavalaire Sur Mer. Gave me a dark green Laguna, car was very new and not a mark on it. Upon returning from the beach one of the days we noticed a massive dent in the rear bumper. No idea when it got there but clearly someone hit it whilst we had it parked up.

Obviously we were worried when we returned the car. We couldnt speak French and expected a waving of arms arguement. Whilst they looked over it my Mrs followed the young lad round but stood between him and the car, showing a bit of leg and side boob. She wasnt a looker (more of a go'er) but freshly tanned, this young lad was looking at her.

Anyway, we signed the form that it was all good and left.

Not much of a story but, well, I guess you had to be there.

Edited by oldaudi on Thursday 21st August 16:33


Edited by oldaudi on Thursday 21st August 16:34

Rude-boy

22,227 posts

232 months

Thursday 21st August 2014
quotequote all
1995 RAC Rally.

2 x 6'+ 16 stone+ blokes.

2 x full professional camera kits, batteries, tripods, etc

2 x Bags of clothes for a week filming the RAC.

1 x 63 mile old 1.2 3 door Corsa.

1 x Universal Forestry commission gate key that didn't always work.

That poor car didn't stand a chance and looked like a 150,000 miler on it's return. Gravel roads leading to stages were driven flat out, we worked out the flat in Fourth was a higher top speed than Fifth and on a few occasions when the key refused to work the odd hedge and ditch might have been driven through in the name of TV.

That poor car.

schmalex

13,616 posts

205 months

Thursday 21st August 2014
quotequote all
I'm normally very careful with hire cars as I really don't agree with abusing anyone's property.

However,a few years ago, I caught the front lip of a HSV GTS on a rather high kerb in Canberra and pretty much pulled the whole of the front off when I reversed back out of the space after my meeting. I gaffer-taped it back together and drove it back to Sydney, where I undertook a slightly better repair using self-tappers and lots of elbow grease. Upon return, I was able to park the car such that the front was pretty much obscured by a wall, pillar and another car. The guy came and signed the car back in without a quibble and I never heard anything further.

P-Jay

10,551 posts

190 months

Thursday 21st August 2014
quotequote all
Well, many years ago I worked for Europcar in Sydney, collecting, delivering but mostly washing rentals during the Olympics and onto the Xmas period which is when most Aussies also take their summer hols - it was chaos, easily the busiest time in the site's history we were told - we were having 30-40 Camry's, Commodores, Calais (Commodores with metallic paint and CD players) Echo's (Yaris's with ugly saloon boots) TT's and Vitara's delivered a day sometimes to keep up with demand on top of the existing fleet and we had to turn the around quickly "NO, fkING QUICKER THAN THAT MATE" all in an underground carpark near Kings Cross before driving them down to a bigger site near the airport. - it was mental - I crashed at least 3 of them into walls in the garage, a mate of mine crashed so many he just stopped coming to work - the estate versions of the Commodores were stupidly tail happy for something so big and slow (abet cars with 3.2 V6 engines) I suspect the boaty suspension and brand new green tyres didn't help so a good few of them came back all smashed to hell on the back of trucks.

People do indeed treat rentals as badly as you might think, each car aside from the huge Amazons that went out went with a warning that if they took them off-road in red soil they would forfeit their deposit - even the Vitara's (although they were called something else in Oz) were banned from off-roading, the dash would somehow fill with all the super fine red dust and couldn't be cleaned out again - people who return clean looking cars straight from a jet wash, but the undercarriage would be caked in soil and crap and they'd steal anything - spare wheels, jacks, bits of trim "oh, that fell off and we lost it" even the Echo's got off-roaded and abused - and how anyone can wear the fronts and a 2.0 auto Camry in 3000kms is beyond my comprehension.