AVIS / PARKING EYE CHARGE
Discussion
I know some of you posters on PH are extremely well equipped to deal with parking charge notices and I could really do with some help.
I had a letter today to inform me that I had received a parking charge whilst I had an AVIS car on hire. Avis are charging me £30 administration fee.
I collected and dropped the car off at a local hotel as per what was agreed on the rental booking.
I dropped the car at 10AM. The car remained at the hotel until 4.19PM where it was removed from the car park by AVIS.
As far as I'm concerned as soon as I dropped the car back, responsibility falls to AVIS.
Obviously I've got 2 different things to defend here, 1 is the parking charge, 2 is the administration fee from Avis.
Can I really be held responsible for these fees considering I just did what was contracted?
I had a letter today to inform me that I had received a parking charge whilst I had an AVIS car on hire. Avis are charging me £30 administration fee.
I collected and dropped the car off at a local hotel as per what was agreed on the rental booking.
I dropped the car at 10AM. The car remained at the hotel until 4.19PM where it was removed from the car park by AVIS.
As far as I'm concerned as soon as I dropped the car back, responsibility falls to AVIS.
Obviously I've got 2 different things to defend here, 1 is the parking charge, 2 is the administration fee from Avis.
Can I really be held responsible for these fees considering I just did what was contracted?
Presumably you’ve already pointed out that your contract with them ended at 10:00 on 10/9/18 and that you delivered the car to the agreed drop off point before that time. I really can’t see how you can be held responsible and suspect that they are just trying it on. I’m guessing they have your credit card details and are looking to charge to that, I would also speak to your credit card company.
I should probably add that Parking Eye are starting the contravention from the time I dropped the car off at 10AM through to 4.19PM.
I wasn’t made aware that I was required to pay for any parking at the hotel to cover the period of time between drop off and collection by the driver. I just assumed it was all fine because the hotel is where I was told it needed to be dropped too. If that makes sense?
I wasn’t made aware that I was required to pay for any parking at the hotel to cover the period of time between drop off and collection by the driver. I just assumed it was all fine because the hotel is where I was told it needed to be dropped too. If that makes sense?
eybic said:
Is it a barrier car park? I recently dropped a hire car off at Palma airport and had to get a ticket but leave it under the seat for them to pay. Do you have any pick up/ drop off instructions?
No barrier on the car park. Instructions were to leave the key at reception which I did, I didn't see anything about parking fees or tickets and looking through the paperwork now, there's no mention of anything specific. I plan to phone Avis to see what they have to say about it but wanted to get opinions on here first before making contact.
No letters from Parking Eye yet, only been able to see the evidence through the website using the traffic charge #.
kowalski655 said:
Was the car dropped off at EXACTLY 10? As the contravention is from 10. At 10 the car was in the custody of Avis. Your contract had ended
5 seconds past 10. Took me a while to find a space. I even asked at reception to make sure it was okay to put it in the underground and they said yes.
Edited by ashleyman on Thursday 29th November 12:56
I walk past this hotel everyday, there are quite a few notices of parking charges etc.. around the car park and on entry.
The hotel used to have a barrier system which was operated by the hotel but i guess they got fed up of answering the intercom to raise / lower it (not to mention monitor who was entitled to park) and employed the services of PE to take over control.
Personally i would have been wary of leaving it in that situation. However i'd say as the rental car company advised you to drop it off there and did not mention having to pay for parking then it is their responsibility!
The hotel used to have a barrier system which was operated by the hotel but i guess they got fed up of answering the intercom to raise / lower it (not to mention monitor who was entitled to park) and employed the services of PE to take over control.
Personally i would have been wary of leaving it in that situation. However i'd say as the rental car company advised you to drop it off there and did not mention having to pay for parking then it is their responsibility!
Jez m said:
I walk past this hotel everyday, there are quite a few notices of parking charges etc.. around the car park and on entry.
The hotel used to have a barrier system which was operated by the hotel but i guess they got fed up of answering the intercom to raise / lower it (not to mention monitor who was entitled to park) and employed the services of PE to take over control.
Personally i would have been wary of leaving it in that situation. However i'd say as the rental car company advised you to drop it off there and did not mention having to pay for parking then it is their responsibility!
Yeah, I saw all the signs, had just assumed that it was covered and organised by AVIS in the rental. The hotel used to have a barrier system which was operated by the hotel but i guess they got fed up of answering the intercom to raise / lower it (not to mention monitor who was entitled to park) and employed the services of PE to take over control.
Personally i would have been wary of leaving it in that situation. However i'd say as the rental car company advised you to drop it off there and did not mention having to pay for parking then it is their responsibility!
I'm not too far from the hotel today so will go and have a look at the signs and see how you're supposed to pay for it. Then I'll call Avis.
Thing is, IF I was responsible for the parking fees, if those are paid on exit, how am I supposed to know how much time to pay for, could be 1 hour, or in my case 6 hours. Seems unreasonable.
JPJPJP said:
As the hire period ending before the contravention time, I’m thinking the bill is Avis’s
That’s where I would start from with Avis
Pretty much this, but wait until Parking Eye contact you via a Notice to Hirer. Which will actually be a Notice to Keeper, and a POFA fail.That’s where I would start from with Avis
Your appeal will be as "the hirer", not the driver or keeper.
Your appeal will show that the hire agreement ended at 10am at a location in agreement with Avis.
Your appeal will also state that the fail to comply with paragraph 13 of POFA 2012 to hold the hirer liable for any charge, because once again after 6 years of practice, they can't get the basic process right.
Parking Eye are more likely to accept this as a first appeal, in which case go back to Avis and ask for your admin fee back.
There used to be an argument that the rental agreement could only hold you liable for driving offences and fines, private parking charges being neither of these, but the standard T&Cs were changed in summer 2016 to cover private parking charges.
S11Steve said:
Although if you were a guest of the hotel, it's also worth asking them if they can cancel it at source, it will save jumping through the appeal hoops.
Avis should still refund you the admin fee as no "offence" took place.
Thanks for the advice. I was a guest of the hotel on the 7th. I had a drink there whilst I waited for 2 hours for the car to show up!! Not sure that would work though. Avis should still refund you the admin fee as no "offence" took place.
I've spoken to Avis and they said to refer it back to them, they won't stop the admin fee though. I'll await paperwork from ParkingEye and phone my credit card people to ask their advice. They will probably tell me they can't help until a charge has been made.
Ask hotel to cancel it.
However your hire ended with Avis on the 10/9 @ 10:00 and the car was paid in the carpark up to that time.
Is the hotel and approved drop off collection point is this shown on your contract?
The fact they collect the car several hours later doesn't appear to be your fault.
Unless their terms are say you are responsible for the car for 24 hours after return during bust times as they can't always collect the car on time maybe?
However your hire ended with Avis on the 10/9 @ 10:00 and the car was paid in the carpark up to that time.
Is the hotel and approved drop off collection point is this shown on your contract?
The fact they collect the car several hours later doesn't appear to be your fault.
Unless their terms are say you are responsible for the car for 24 hours after return during bust times as they can't always collect the car on time maybe?
Edited by surveyor_101 on Thursday 29th November 16:31
I've rented a lot of cars off Avis in the UK.
My initial thought is this is completely automated and nobody at Avis has looked at it at all. Avis presumably has a contract with the hotel car park. Perhaps Avis has not notified the car park operator that this was one of their vehicles. The operator has sent an automated invoice to Avis, who are the registered keeper, without any automated check that it is or isn't an Avis vehicle. Then Avis also doesn't look at it and sends it on to you.
I've received a council parking ticket when Avis did not give me drop off instructions and I turned up to the depot after hours, after having booked an after hours drop off. With no drop off instructions and no instructions visible at the depot and nobody answering the phone and nobody inside, I just left it there and the council put a ticket on it. Avis wanted to pass the charge onto me, but I phoned the depot and they ate the FPN instead once I pointed out there were no instructions for where to leave the vehicle. I suspect you can get this cancelled, OP.
My initial thought is this is completely automated and nobody at Avis has looked at it at all. Avis presumably has a contract with the hotel car park. Perhaps Avis has not notified the car park operator that this was one of their vehicles. The operator has sent an automated invoice to Avis, who are the registered keeper, without any automated check that it is or isn't an Avis vehicle. Then Avis also doesn't look at it and sends it on to you.
I've received a council parking ticket when Avis did not give me drop off instructions and I turned up to the depot after hours, after having booked an after hours drop off. With no drop off instructions and no instructions visible at the depot and nobody answering the phone and nobody inside, I just left it there and the council put a ticket on it. Avis wanted to pass the charge onto me, but I phoned the depot and they ate the FPN instead once I pointed out there were no instructions for where to leave the vehicle. I suspect you can get this cancelled, OP.
ashleyman said:
I'm not too far from the hotel today so will go and have a look at the signs and see how you're supposed to pay for it.
They seem clear enough: see map links below.If you were a staying at the hotel you would surely have known the score.
If not, given that there is a tariff, it seems a daft location to pick for a hire car pick up/drop off point.
JPJPJP said:
Where abouts is Gibsob Road in Sutton anyway?
No wonder it took them so long to recover the car!
No wonder it took them so long to recover the car!
Finger trouble (B next to N on keyboard) 
https://goo.gl/maps/yBq2337R1yt
https://goo.gl/maps/TktY5gY9DNU2
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