Europcar damage claim
Discussion
I've just had a car (Fiat tip-o) with this lot booked in France for a few days, it was collected full of tonnes of defects and I duly photographed these upon collection.
I dropped it off today and the woman notices the left drivers side Rear left Fog light broken with no visible paint damage around it.
I'm adamant this has had absolutely nothing to do with me, unless someone did so while parked.
Trouble is I never saw this when I collected and wasn't even looking for this sort of thing, I'd hold my hands up but out of principle did not sign for the damages.
I've got Excess insurance so can just use this tbh out of principle but what happens from now with rental firms regarding the dispute?
I dropped it off today and the woman notices the left drivers side Rear left Fog light broken with no visible paint damage around it.
I'm adamant this has had absolutely nothing to do with me, unless someone did so while parked.
Trouble is I never saw this when I collected and wasn't even looking for this sort of thing, I'd hold my hands up but out of principle did not sign for the damages.
I've got Excess insurance so can just use this tbh out of principle but what happens from now with rental firms regarding the dispute?
fourstardan said:
I've just had a car (Fiat tip-o) with this lot booked in France for a few days, it was collected full of tonnes of defects and I duly photographed these upon collection.
I dropped it off today and the woman notices the left drivers side Rear left Fog light broken with no visible paint damage around it.
I'm adamant this has had absolutely nothing to do with me, unless someone did so while parked.
Trouble is I never saw this when I collected and wasn't even looking for this sort of thing, I'd hold my hands up but out of principle did not sign for the damages.
I've got Excess insurance so can just use this tbh out of principle but what happens from now with rental firms regarding the dispute?
I dropped it off today and the woman notices the left drivers side Rear left Fog light broken with no visible paint damage around it.
I'm adamant this has had absolutely nothing to do with me, unless someone did so while parked.
Trouble is I never saw this when I collected and wasn't even looking for this sort of thing, I'd hold my hands up but out of principle did not sign for the damages.
I've got Excess insurance so can just use this tbh out of principle but what happens from now with rental firms regarding the dispute?
fourstardan said:
it was collected full of tonnes of defects and I duly photographed these upon collection.
5lab said:
I normally film a walkround of the car which will catch everything.
As the OP has stated he has done. As he has done this, there can be no dispute.5lab said:
He only said he took photos of defects he spotted. Walking round filming the whole time allows you to capture things you might not have spotted
I know you are all saying about filming a car but Europcar didn't provide any damage indications before the rental started. All I got was the invoice! So I'll continue to dispute it based on;
1. No evidence provided before
2. Damage they've not indicated when I got given the car that I've got the photo evidence.
I have filmed a rental vehicle before tbh on other rentals but after having a delayed journey and hour onwards after to our stay, trying to get a car seat in with the two year old going in the carseat running around riot it wasn't my top thought this time round.
You could argue why don't Europcar just film it when you pay at the rates you pay? Or would that maybe be too moral for said firms?
I just can't understand how the light broke regardless to be honest.
These rental firms really are the low of the low now days, I had the car seat chucked at me in reception after paying 40 quid for the 5 days and had to get it in myself, you talk about hire car shortages but in reality they are just out on the take since covid, I saw dozens of cars parked on multiple floors in Nice airport.
I hired a "Citroen C3 Aircross" in Bordeaux recently....I had to give up on 'recording damage' on my walk around because the entire car was battered. And filthy. I went back into the office to call the woman out to discuss the issue and her ipad record showed barely 2 or 3 scratches on the entire car. I can't help but think they were setting me up for a massive fall on return in terms of 'new damage'....?
Nonetheless, I kicked up a stink by pointing out how a) this is pretty much fraud and b) how long this 'new damage' data entry process would take and I was provided a brand spanking new Q2 instead.
Stand your ground if the car you being given is a heap, because when you return a few days later and it's all new people, you'll almost certainly get nailed for something.
Nonetheless, I kicked up a stink by pointing out how a) this is pretty much fraud and b) how long this 'new damage' data entry process would take and I was provided a brand spanking new Q2 instead.
Stand your ground if the car you being given is a heap, because when you return a few days later and it's all new people, you'll almost certainly get nailed for something.
Funnily enough i'm having the same problem but with Enterprise in the UK, we have had 2 XC90's over the past 6 months, to the tune of about £9k in rental fees (being paid for by Land Rover luckily) They came to collect the last one yesterday, and then billed my card for £1000 in damage, saying we had damaged the tyre (the alloy was extensively damaged when we picked it up, they noted it, but must have missed the tyre damage) and for a tiny chip in the windscreen which i would argue over 2k miles is fair wear and tear. They have no pictures to back up the claims and the pre delivery inspection consisted of getting the car out of the lot covered in snow and then saying .. here sign. My wife is understandably upset at being accused of doing the damge especially when she spent 2 hours cleanig the car inside and out before giving it back.
The irony is we liked the car so much we have sold our discovery and bought an XC90.
The irony is we liked the car so much we have sold our discovery and bought an XC90.
nordboy said:
Wasn't it Europcar that has been pinged for many dodgy damage claims previously?
If you do a search, there's absolutely loads of examples. Maybe all the car hire companies are at it, but I specifically remembered Europcar as one of the worst.
Purely anecdotal I know, but I was charged by Europcar for damage I didn't do. This was 20+ years ago, at the time I think they were the only company to rent to under-25s, the charge was over £300 which was a lot of money to a poor student at the time. I have never had any issues with other rental companies over the subsequent years, but still refuse to use Europcar after that.If you do a search, there's absolutely loads of examples. Maybe all the car hire companies are at it, but I specifically remembered Europcar as one of the worst.
I've never had issues tbh with Rental firms either, I've had fuel challenges when the car wasn't full up originally etc. I never realised this as well but Europcar run Goldcar it appears so I may as well just gone with Goldcar and been more on the ball videoing the whole thing.
I've rented cars in the balearics, canaries and the US before and they have always provided damage reports before, also, the main desk in Spain tends to be near the cars themselves, that was another reason I never went back to raise damage I'd seen.
The whole system is a mess and never fair to consumers of the service. Plus, the work never gets done anyway, it's like BCA when they take a lease away, that's clear based on the quality of the thing I picked up.
Also It's quite funny as the whole few days in France I was in an exceptionally petite dark dingy apartment car park and took absolutely every step necessary to park without the obvious happening, including shoving the missus out as I didn't trust the parking sensors.
The thing also had parking sensors all around it and rear camera so I am absolutely adamant it wasn't my fault.
I've rented cars in the balearics, canaries and the US before and they have always provided damage reports before, also, the main desk in Spain tends to be near the cars themselves, that was another reason I never went back to raise damage I'd seen.
The whole system is a mess and never fair to consumers of the service. Plus, the work never gets done anyway, it's like BCA when they take a lease away, that's clear based on the quality of the thing I picked up.
Also It's quite funny as the whole few days in France I was in an exceptionally petite dark dingy apartment car park and took absolutely every step necessary to park without the obvious happening, including shoving the missus out as I didn't trust the parking sensors.
The thing also had parking sensors all around it and rear camera so I am absolutely adamant it wasn't my fault.
Could quite conceivably have a situation like this:
No damage at time of hire.
Hire car is parked somewhere, someone knowingly or not causes damage/breaks tail light etc. and disappears.
If there is no CCTV proving otherwise then I guess you must be considered liable for the repair?
Anyway, that's what the insurance is for surely. Whether you choose to reduce your excess is down to you or get one of those excess cover policies and claim it back subsequently.
No damage at time of hire.
Hire car is parked somewhere, someone knowingly or not causes damage/breaks tail light etc. and disappears.
If there is no CCTV proving otherwise then I guess you must be considered liable for the repair?
Anyway, that's what the insurance is for surely. Whether you choose to reduce your excess is down to you or get one of those excess cover policies and claim it back subsequently.
I think you are stuck if you haven't noticed the damage before leaving with the car.
Checking a car is really hard. It is very easy to miss things on a check you notice later or only after someone else points it out. Equally the camera doesn't pick up things.
The last few cars I've hired have had more damage than the company had noted prior to releasing the car. Some don't even come out to the car for a walk around anymore.
Checking a car is really hard. It is very easy to miss things on a check you notice later or only after someone else points it out. Equally the camera doesn't pick up things.
The last few cars I've hired have had more damage than the company had noted prior to releasing the car. Some don't even come out to the car for a walk around anymore.
recordman said:
Europcar own Goldcar.
Goldcar!I had some fun with them a few years back. They seemed very relaxed about noting damage as we picked up the car but I still made a note of each scratch and dent. In hindsight the car seemed to have been handed over filthy intentionally.
I made a record of a huge scratch on the drivers door, but failed to note the 2" of scratch where it clearly carried over into the rear door.
Of course, on return, a big deal was made out of this by the Goldcar member of staff. I refused to sign the paperwork, through the keys at the guy and left.
Received a £400 invoice a few days later but also managed to locate the email of some senior members of staff. They backed down after a couple of emails.
Not sure why people think it's good practice to reward bad behaviour!
recordman said:
Europcar own Goldcar.
They did buy them long after Goldcar had achieved a terrible reputation, but perhaps it was to learn from how they did it!One tip always check under the front bumper, many reports are where the rental person comes out and immediately looks under the bumper and notes scrapes/scratches there.
MattyD803 said:
I hired a "Citroen C3 Aircross" in Bordeaux recently....I had to give up on 'recording damage' on my walk around because the entire car was battered. And filthy. I went back into the office to call the woman out to discuss the issue and her ipad record showed barely 2 or 3 scratches on the entire car. I can't help but think they were setting me up for a massive fall on return in terms of 'new damage'....?
Nonetheless, I kicked up a stink by pointing out how a) this is pretty much fraud and b) how long this 'new damage' data entry process would take and I was provided a brand spanking new Q2 instead.
Stand your ground if the car you being given is a heap, because when you return a few days later and it's all new people, you'll almost certainly get nailed for something.
To be honest I prefer being given a ‘wreck’ rather than a brand new car. Nonetheless, I kicked up a stink by pointing out how a) this is pretty much fraud and b) how long this 'new damage' data entry process would take and I was provided a brand spanking new Q2 instead.
Stand your ground if the car you being given is a heap, because when you return a few days later and it's all new people, you'll almost certainly get nailed for something.
With a ‘wreck’, after I have forced them to record *all* the damage the check out sheet usually looks like they have just shaded the whole thing in biro so it would be impossible for them to claim that anything wasn’t there on checkout when I return it.
Whereas with a new car and a perfectly clean and blank checkout sheet… now that makes me nervous.
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