Hire Car Dispute - Green Motion

[Quattromaster]

I refurb the alloy wheels for a car hire company.

They charge the customer £150 per wheel, we charge £35.

We do approx 25-30 wheels a week, you do the maths.

The owners tell me they don't make a penny on the actual hire itself, they make the money on damaged wheels, bodywork, baby seat and sat navy hire.

[S11Steve]

Quattromaster said:

The owners tell me they don't make a penny on the actual hire itself, they make the money on damaged wheels, bodywork, baby seat and sat nav hire.

I'd suggest they haven't got their business model quite dialled in if that's true what they're telling you. Recharge and add one are profitable, but not sustainable.

Most margin in rental is made from the resale of vehicles. There are enough ways to buy them with fleet discounts, rent for 6 -12 months then dispose of them, rinse and repeat.

[Chucklehead]

To buy big and get fleet discounts you need capital. Very few of the smaller operators have that liquidity, so their fleet is by far majority made up of lease vehicles, if not 100%.

That's one of the reasons you end up with horrific low rates in off season like you see in Spain. Cheaper to keep em out than to find somewhere to park them.

[Hugo a Gogo]

I'll never use Green Motion again, for all the previously mentioned reasons

I also suspect in my case that the guy went straight to a previously known mark, that would be bad enough, but the extreme high charges for extremely small 'damages' compared to any other car hire firm tips them over the edge

I have a seperate policy, but I wouldn't want this shower to get the money

[InitialDave]

Chucklehead said:

You can google *insert name of rental company here* unfair damage charges, and you'll get many, many hits for any company you choose.

I would agree, and am pretty cynical about these sorts of things, but when you see an excess cover service specifically say "our only exceptions are Green Motion in Leicester and Green Motion in Luton", it does make you go "umm" over and above the general hearsay.

As I said, I have used them myself, and had no issues, even when I expected comments (a gearbox helpfully deciding to use its oil as a preservative on a van's ply lining).

Edited by InitialDave on Friday 15th December 22:59

[Sa Calobra]

XDA said:

So the agent picked a corner of the car and found damage underneath the dirt?

Why would he do that unless he knew there was previous damage?

That's probably the same damage they've been charging every customer for.

My immediate thought when seeing the level of dirt.

[4rephill]

Since the stone chip incident, I go over every part of a hire car and pick out every little mark/scratch/blemish etc., etc., with the hire company's representative. Quite a few times I have noted something that the rep either: "hadn't spotted!", or: "doesn't really matter!", and made them note it on the inspection form, just in case!

TBF, the stone chip incident was the only time a car rental company has tried to pull a fast one on Me, but you never know!

[SVTRick]

What about the damage to the roof for turning it upside down?

Tell them to do one and make sure your card is cancelled with your bank.
Sounds like a scam, looks like acceptable wear and tear but to scrape it with a shoe FFS
Let them take you to court bunch of fking chancers.

[Blue Oval84]

SVTRick said:

What about the damage to the roof for turning it upside down?

I was going to say much the same thing, you can't go taking a car back on the roof and not expect them to get shirty with you.

That said, I think you're bang to rights OP, the charge is ridiculous for a corner scuff that will cost no more than about £70 to spray, but if it wasn't noted on your check out sheet, and it's on the car now...

[Vee]

Scam
Why pick that specific corner and nowhere else on the car ?
I’d argue that he did it when rubbing his shoe down the car.
I’d then talk directly to the site and say that coincidentally I knew one if the previous hirers who had been contacted about the same damage. Would someone like to see if it polishes out as it doesn’t look that bad ?
They’re trying it on, give them a way out and it they’ll take it. I had very similar with Enterprise.

[01samuelr]

I have had the same but with audi. Had to give them my credit card as guarante for charges. Then they charge me £80 for fuel and £300 ish for a scrape to the bumper. They soon changed their tune when I mentioned they were committing fraud as I had pictures showing the damage before sign over and their driver picked the car up from my address so had to drive the car back 30 miles thus using fuel.
Will never buy a Audi product again.
The whole hire car business is a massive piss take and full of scammers.

[Sa Calobra]

Ah yes, hiring abroad is even more fraudulent. I remember taking pics of every aspect of a Panda in Majorca which really annoyed the staff for some reason.

[RDMcG]

Either take the insurance or inspect and photograph the car if there is damage on pickup have them note it.

This is not complicated.

[jkh112]

Sa Calobra said:

Ah yes, hiring abroad is even more fraudulent. I remember taking pics of every aspect of a Panda in Majorca which really annoyed the staff for some reason.

I hired a car in Australia for an extended period but only for short trips around the city so booked a basic category. Was given a hyundai Getz which was quite disappointing (but that is a different story).
The hirer just handed me the keys and looked surprised when I asked about damage. He had a big grin on his face when he told me that every panel on the car had a scratch or minor dent and as long as he got it back in one piece he would be happy. He actually drew a big circle around the whole car on the sign out damage sheet.
It was quite refreshing to have a hire car that I could park anywhere and not worry about picking up damage.

[anonymous-user]

Book another car with them next week, pay for the full damage cover, then thrash the engine to within an inch of its life and drive it through a few hedges. Not only will you get revenge on this pile of *******s but you'll also be generating business for a local bodyshop and possibly garage, win win all round

[Gareth79]

One main area of damage that people miss (but the car hire returns people don't) is the underside of the bumpers. If you are taking photos/video then make sure you get that bit. The main company in Spain that gets us claims/bad reviews is Goldcar.

[cat with a hat]

HantsRat said:

Whenever I hire a car, I simply record a 360 video of the car on my phone to counter act scams like these.

This.. even if you don't spot something, the video will usually capture something.

[CoolHands]

Go back at night with a face mask, a hammer and give it some real damage.

[eniacs]

Jinkster;

That is ridiculous damage. Probably polish it out etc. If the car was cleaned you could probably find many of those sort of tiny marks on it.

I've had similar experience of hiring cars and not noticing tiny damage on them. My previous job used to see me hiring 20+ cars a year.

Try not to be charged, cancel credit cards etc. That way they have to take you to court, which for that they will certainly not bother.
Then check their terms, im sure they should check the car over with a representative, which they probably didnt bother with. Have you had previous rentals with them, or future ones? Photograph the cars and compare the damage to their damage sheets. Probably you will be given more cars with unmarked damage. Just find a couple of these to prove that they send out cars without marking damage.

Dont let them win at this fraud!

[Oakey]

Rude-boy said:

I find that paying a few extra pounds for the full insurance cover save even more agro.

I will never understand that constant need for people to save a few £'s at the risk to costing them many 100's £'s.

I really do wonder when people hire a car for £19per day or similar how they think that the shiny suited 'customer assistant', yard and stock are paid for...

I'll second this, that extra £13 I spent the other week saved me from losing my entire deposit!