Rental Car Additional Payment - Do I have a leg to stand on?
Discussion
I booked two rental cars through a comparison site. Through this website I went for 'full protection' which includes "the car's excess; Windows, mirrors, wheels & tyres; Administration and breakdown charges".
On arrival at the rental desk I gave them the voucher from the website. The assistant asked about insurances and I said "yes, I've booked it with the full protection option". He printed a slip with a list of these protections/costs and said I just need to initial each one to make them valid. He also took an authorisation on my card (I assume this is standard?).
I did the initialling, went on my way, returned the car 3 days later and received a receipt showing 'payment due' of about £20 less than was quoted through the website. Assumed it was the correct slip and the difference was the website's fee and went on my way.
A week later, repeated the process for the second rental.
Today I received my full credit card statement and have been charged in full FOUR times; Twice for each rental. The customer services team at the comparison site is diabolical and didn't offer any advice other than to fill in their web-form with the details of my over-charge.
Instead I contacted the rental company. They have informed me that the first charge is the payment for the car hire to the comparison site and the second charge, from them, is for the additional insurance. I've stated to them as I have here, that I paid for full insurance through the booking site and made that clear at collection. At no point was I informed that the insurance being offered was additional or subject to further charge, nor that by signing the slip I was accepting those charges - It was simply explained as being "acceptance of insurance" which I believed I'd paid for through the initial booking and I thought was just a legal thing to say "Yes, this is me and I am this old and this is where I live etc".
I seem to be getting nowhere fast with either party and am currently £200'ish out of pocket for additional charges. I'm fortunate enough that, being a business booking, my employer has reimbursed me in full so it's not "my" money... but on principle I'm furious.
Essentially I can call it an experience and be happy it wasn't my own cash, but I think it's massively misleading the way it was sold to me and I'm sure not to be the first victim of this. Is there any come-back to this that I can use?
[Post edited during type to remove company names. Apologies if any were missed!]
On arrival at the rental desk I gave them the voucher from the website. The assistant asked about insurances and I said "yes, I've booked it with the full protection option". He printed a slip with a list of these protections/costs and said I just need to initial each one to make them valid. He also took an authorisation on my card (I assume this is standard?).
I did the initialling, went on my way, returned the car 3 days later and received a receipt showing 'payment due' of about £20 less than was quoted through the website. Assumed it was the correct slip and the difference was the website's fee and went on my way.
A week later, repeated the process for the second rental.
Today I received my full credit card statement and have been charged in full FOUR times; Twice for each rental. The customer services team at the comparison site is diabolical and didn't offer any advice other than to fill in their web-form with the details of my over-charge.
Instead I contacted the rental company. They have informed me that the first charge is the payment for the car hire to the comparison site and the second charge, from them, is for the additional insurance. I've stated to them as I have here, that I paid for full insurance through the booking site and made that clear at collection. At no point was I informed that the insurance being offered was additional or subject to further charge, nor that by signing the slip I was accepting those charges - It was simply explained as being "acceptance of insurance" which I believed I'd paid for through the initial booking and I thought was just a legal thing to say "Yes, this is me and I am this old and this is where I live etc".
I seem to be getting nowhere fast with either party and am currently £200'ish out of pocket for additional charges. I'm fortunate enough that, being a business booking, my employer has reimbursed me in full so it's not "my" money... but on principle I'm furious.
Essentially I can call it an experience and be happy it wasn't my own cash, but I think it's massively misleading the way it was sold to me and I'm sure not to be the first victim of this. Is there any come-back to this that I can use?
[Post edited during type to remove company names. Apologies if any were missed!]
Ozzie Osmond said:
I'm trying to make the sums work on this one.
Booked through the online site. £147 for the first booking and £141 for the second. The insurance I apparently was charged for from the rental company themselves came to £122 for the first and £98 for the second. Both rentals were for 3 days.- You say you've been double charged and are out of pocket by £200
- You had two rentals, apparently for about 3 days each, so
- You were expecting to pay £33 a day but have been charged £60 a day
The £147/142 figures were for all inclusive through the comparison site and the site shows which brand you're hiring the car from. I chose the one I did based on both the cost and the fact their desk is within the airport terminal. I didn't go direct to the company website to compare costs.
Starfighter said:
Was this overseas? I I had this with a rental in Italy where they added the insurance ( the company self insures beyond legal minimum) and billed me. I argued that I don't speak Italian and was not given an English copy ( the company will normally print in English and local language) and had not asked for it. It was refunded in full.
Adding extras is quite common in the holiday locations as there is commission to be had and many rentals aren't too familiar with the processes and tricks.
Nope, this was in Belfast. Adding extras is quite common in the holiday locations as there is commission to be had and many rentals aren't too familiar with the processes and tricks.
Update:
Following advice here have this morning called both my credit card companies (conveniently these charges aren't on the same card...
) to explain the situation.
American Express were very helpful and informative. Removed it from my account with in a minute or two and told me they'd wait 30 days for the rental company to respond.
HSBC eventually did the same, but it took 3 times as long and I'm still not convinced they understood what I was trying to tell them. We shall see.
Following advice here have this morning called both my credit card companies (conveniently these charges aren't on the same card...
) to explain the situation.American Express were very helpful and informative. Removed it from my account with in a minute or two and told me they'd wait 30 days for the rental company to respond.
HSBC eventually did the same, but it took 3 times as long and I'm still not convinced they understood what I was trying to tell them. We shall see.
Starfighter said:
If you have a booking confirmation saying car rental and insurance £100 and they then sold you the same insurance at the desk then this should be a slam-dunk to challenge.
From what I got back from the company yesterday:Rental Company said:
[referencing the receipt] ...we show the prepaid voucher was applied. The additional charges stem from the optional PAI/PEC and SCDW coverages being accepted at the counter.
Your prepaid voucher included Collision Damage Waiver and Theft Protection. The additional charges were for Personal Accident Insurance and Super Damage Waiver, so you were not double billed for the same services as included in your prepayment.
We are unable to refund as the services are signed for and utilized throughout the rental. We apologize for the troubles.
Your prepaid voucher included Collision Damage Waiver and Theft Protection. The additional charges were for Personal Accident Insurance and Super Damage Waiver, so you were not double billed for the same services as included in your prepayment.
We are unable to refund as the services are signed for and utilized throughout the rental. We apologize for the troubles.
Toaster Pilot said:
Lots of car hire comparison sites sell you their own excess protection insurance which means you decline the hire company's cover and then if something happens you pay the excess and claim it back from the insurer
What it sounds like you've done is take that cover and then agree to full cover from the rental company too
It certainly appears that way, but the rental company didn't explain this to me at the counter. They took advantage of my naivety, didn't inform me of what I was signing up for, and are now claiming that because I initialled the slip that I agreed to this.What it sounds like you've done is take that cover and then agree to full cover from the rental company too
AlexIT said:
I had a very similar experience not long ago.
Booked the car through one of these companies, with special offer which included full cover.
At counter the Lady asks if I wanted full insurance, said I booked through company, made me sign full cover, took credit card details.
Later on I found on Credit Card details the cost of the booking (including insurance) + 30 € insurance.
The following month I had automatically 30 € credited back from Booking site without any intervention from my side.
This was at Frankfurt airport.
If you want I can PM you site and Rental company details.
Thanks, I spoke to the booking site but they refused to do anything on the phone and asked me to fill in their web form instead. I searched "rental cars" and if you add dot com to that you get the booking site I used. This rental business "hurts".Booked the car through one of these companies, with special offer which included full cover.
At counter the Lady asks if I wanted full insurance, said I booked through company, made me sign full cover, took credit card details.
Later on I found on Credit Card details the cost of the booking (including insurance) + 30 € insurance.
The following month I had automatically 30 € credited back from Booking site without any intervention from my side.
This was at Frankfurt airport.
If you want I can PM you site and Rental company details.
405dogvan said:
To be clear tho, when you say you used a website - was it just a 'GoCompare' which referred you to the hire company's site or did you do all the booking through the third-party website??
Check what you've been billed-for too - if everything went to 'car hire company' then you've definately been ripped-off - if the charges are to different companies (e.g. the third-party company sells separate insurance) you'll see that on the bill??
Booked through the comparison site and this shows as two charges on my statement (one per rental). I have two separate charges from the rental company themselves.Check what you've been billed-for too - if everything went to 'car hire company' then you've definately been ripped-off - if the charges are to different companies (e.g. the third-party company sells separate insurance) you'll see that on the bill??
gizlaroc said:
What happened was you got there and then bought the car hires excess waiver cover too, but you already had this, just purchased through a third party, you didn't need it.
In hindsight yes, I realise this. My disappointment is that despite telling the agent at the desk "I booked with full insurance" he took that as "please give me full insurance" and pretty much doubled my hire costs.As I say, I feel it was mis-sold to me and I was taken advantage of by being asked to initial the slip having been told it was just "to make the insurance valid" and not "to accept further insurance".
I received a reply from AmEx after disputing the charge. They say that they have received sufficient 'evidence' to support the charge and have reapplied it to my account.
The evidence supplied is the signed slip below which, as explained, I only signed as I thought it was to make insurance I had purchased through the booking site valid.
I'm not sure where else to go from here. Any advice?
The evidence supplied is the signed slip below which, as explained, I only signed as I thought it was to make insurance I had purchased through the booking site valid.
I'm not sure where else to go from here. Any advice?
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