My Gallardo hire experience

[nickz32]

I had contacted a company called Company A for the hire of a Gallardo spyder for a few days either side of my Wedding. The original hire was wednesday at 10am till saturday at 10am. Around 3 months before the wedding, i changed the booking to wednesday at 3pm till sat 3pm as we had been messed around with our honeymoon, and i had booked a suprise couple of nights away for us at Amberley Castle in Sussex ( VERY VERY nice btw).

When i rang up 2 weeks before the collection, to pay for the lambo. Thats where i found the first mistake, that the booking was still shown as 10am til 10am. Problem with this was the secret booking id made for the night after the wedding (amberley castle) and i wanted to be able to not have to rush back. The mistake was down to a change in computer system, and i was compensated for this by being allowed the car for an extra half day free of charge. I was to pick up the car at 7pm on tuesday.

Now this is where it gets complicated. It transpires that Company A only deals with Astons, but if they have requests (as per their website they have listings for most top end cars) they use other companies to source the cars, in this case Company B.

Now luckily just as i was about to leave to get the car, i got a phone call from the rep of Company B, who said the lamb was not in his possession and that the previous customer was late and bringing it back. As i was determined to make the most of my compensated extra half day, i said i was free till half 10 to pick it up. funily enough, the car was ready at half ten.

So i was conducting the damage check on the car, to find the rear tyres were VERY VERY LOW as below.






Now initially the rep wanted to keep the car, but he made a phonecall infront of me to his tyre supplier who confirmed he didnt have any tyres for the car (its a pirelli only car). I said that i would take the car if he could promise me that he could get tyres tomorrow, i would take the car whereever to get them fitted, aslong as the distance was subtracted from the milage allowance. This was agreed and i took the car.

Now on the way home, i got stopped by the police. Not an issue for me, im a young lad in a hoody driving a lambo late at night, id stop me to check if i was legit.

It transpires that the car was not registered to a company, but to a person that id never heard of and the insurance was a SDP personal police... NOT a "for hire and reward" business policy!!!! Its only because im insured to drive ANYTHING on my policy TP only, that the car wasnt seized and i didnt get 6 point and 200 pound fine.

To say i was miffed was an understatement. The following morning i spoke to the rep of Company B, can calmly expressed my displeasure. All he could say was "it has insurance". I said prove it, to which he said he would email me a copy of a cover note. To this day, i have still not recieved a copy of it! I asked about the tyres. He said he would source them and promised to have the fitted the morning of the wedding (thursday). I was not happy with this.

I spoke to my rep from Company A and he was also ****ed at company B. He told me to go to my nearest tyre place and get some tyres ordered and he'd make sure they got paid for. So i went to merityre and ordered the correct tyres

I then got a message from the Company B rep, that he had called merityre and cancelled the tyres as they were to expensive. I asked how he was going to have a set of tyres ready on the car BEFORE i got married he said "Nick at the moment im trying to sort things out. Once i find out when i can get the tyres, we can sort fitting them anywhere. Even if i have to drop them to you"

Thursday came and went and NOTHING. No new tyres, no text or voicemail of phone call. Nothing!

I text him asking when these tyres were getting fitted. I then got a phonecall from the Company B rep. He basically informed me that the reason why i had no tyres is because i had taken the car when he hadnt had chance to sort it. He said it was my fault that no tyres were available, and that if i had left the car with him, he would have had tyres fitted on the wednesday, even tho i have numerous text messages giving excuses as to why he cant get tyres because his supplier doesnt have them.

I told him that due to the fact the tyres were not fit for purpose, i had no proof of insurance, he had broken his contract and that i had left the car in a secure carpark with keys available to him and him only at reception.

I spoke to Company A, and they have been very good at making apologies but ive not seen alot of action. As it stands the car is having a report on the tyres to see if they are road worthy or not, and if they are how many miles they are safe for..... i think i know the outcome of that report. I also have photos of the tyres serial numbers, so theyll be no funny business going passed me!

further to this, once i took the photos, I only cottoned on that the offside tyre is the Lambo approved Pzero Corsa, and the nearside is a Michelin Pilot Sport 2. Now seeing that Lambo ONLY approve Pirelli tyres, and state in their manuals fitting any other tyre will invalidate the warranty, and in some cases, insurance (think fitting non N-spec tyres to a porsche, your insurance will 100% use that as a reason not to pay out if you were to crash) then i think this adds to the weight of my issue

That is, in short, what happened with the lambo. As you can tell, i was LESS than happy.

As much as i will take any sympathy that comes my way, im not looking for it. If the world was different, id happily put the names of the company up, however, i dont want to leave myself as liable.

If anyone wants to know the name of the companys involved, email me on [e-mail] and i shall let you know.

Nick

[alfa daley]

That's not good. Can you claim a full refund on this? I dare say there are sites where you can review their service and name and shame. A little something for the search rankings.

[hewlett]

I've seen a similar experience with a lesser car (Audi TT) on Police-Camera-Action or similar the other night. That car had to be towed as it was only covered on the hirer's personal policy. Looks like they're an unprofessional outfit cutting corners to keep the costs lower than the professional businesses renting out similar cars. I hope it gets sorted out for you, the main thing though is getting married - to be highly recommended dont't let it spoil your day whatever happens, the most important thing is that your OH enjoys the whole experience and she'll probably not be bothered if you don't turn up in a Lambo in the end.

[J500ANT]

Hope the rest of the wedding went well though?

[RobM77]

Gosh, sorry to hear that. It's a shame in situations like this that we have the naming and shaming rules. I've considered hiring a car like this in the future - could you possibly message me quickly with the name of the hiring company?

Were the tyres illegal at the time you were pulled over by the police? They look marginal to me.

[agent006]

nickz32 said:

his tyre supplier who confirmed he didnt have any tyres for the car (its a pirelli only car).

But that's a Michelin in your last couple of photos.

[nickz32]

Yeah it did thanks..... However, this has left a foul taste in my mouth. Its something that is pretty much a once in a lifetime experience, as should be a wedding, add the suprise trip afterward and having that special feeling of turning up to an exclusive hotel in a lambo is something im VERY unlikely to be able to do again.

But yeah, the wedding was fantastic... thanks

[Blue Meanie]

Rental company obviously dodgy, but why on earth did you drive it knowing the tyres were on the way out? You knowingly drove it in that condition, therefore you should accept the police fine. As for the hire company and their insurance I would take the feckers to rule on it.

[RobM77]

agent006 said:

nickz32 said:

his tyre supplier who confirmed he didnt have any tyres for the car (its a pirelli only car).

But that's a Michelin in your last couple of photos.

The OP covers that in his post if you read it carefully. This was another dodgy point, the car was fitted with incorrect tyres!

[nickz32]

Blue Meanie said:

Rental company obviously dodgy, but why on earth did you drive it knowing the tyres were on the way out? You knowingly drove it in that condition, therefore you should accept the police fine. As for the hire company and their insurance I would take the feckers to rule on it.

The only reason i took the car is because i was assured id have new replacements before the wedding
, ive got 4 different text messages corroborating this from the hire company, but it never happened

[Blue Meanie]

nickz32 said:

Blue Meanie said:

Rental company obviously dodgy, but why on earth did you drive it knowing the tyres were on the way out? You knowingly drove it in that condition, therefore you should accept the police fine. As for the hire company and their insurance I would take the feckers to rule on it.

The only reason i took the car is because i was assured id have new replacements before the wedding
, ive got 4 different text messages corroborating this from the hire company, but it never happened

Yeah, but you still drove it knowing the tyres were crud. That's my point.

[Nano2nd]

Blue Meanie said:

Rental company obviously dodgy, but why on earth did you drive it knowing the tyres were on the way out? You knowingly drove it in that condition, therefore you should accept the police fine. As for the hire company and their insurance I would take the feckers to rule on it.

what police fine? did you even read the post? perhaps he drove it because it was legal, he'd paid for it and it was his wedding!

to the OP, sounds like a nightmare few days on what should of been a wonderfull experience! glad to hear the wedding went well though

[Blue Meanie]

Nano2nd said:

Blue Meanie said:

Rental company obviously dodgy, but why on earth did you drive it knowing the tyres were on the way out? You knowingly drove it in that condition, therefore you should accept the police fine. As for the hire company and their insurance I would take the feckers to rule on it.

what police fine? did you even read the post? perhaps he drove it because it was legal, he'd paid for it and it was his wedding!
)

Well, he said he was stopped by the police. I presumed he got a fixed penalty?

[jains15]

I wonder if apossible moral to this story would be that if in a similar situation, demand a cover note proving insurance on delivery of vehicle, and reject if not. May give you more piece of mind that everything's legit...

[glazbagun]

Blue Meanie said:

Nano2nd said:

Blue Meanie said:

Rental company obviously dodgy, but why on earth did you drive it knowing the tyres were on the way out? You knowingly drove it in that condition, therefore you should accept the police fine. As for the hire company and their insurance I would take the feckers to rule on it.

what police fine? did you even read the post? perhaps he drove it because it was legal, he'd paid for it and it was his wedding!
)

Well, he said he was stopped by the police. I presumed he got a fixed penalty?

He specifically says that he didn't in his post.

[Deva Link]

nickz32 said:

Its only because im insured to drive ANYTHING on my policy TP only, that the car wasnt seized and i didnt get 6 point and 200 pound fine.

DOC never covers hired cars.

nickz32 said:

Now seeing that Lambo ONLY approve Pirelli tyres, and state in their manuals fitting any other tyre will invalidate the warranty, and in some cases, insurance (think fitting non N-spec tyres to a porsche, your insurance will 100% use that as a reason not to pay out if you were to crash) then i think this adds to the weight of my issue

The insurance company wouldn't be able to evade paying out due to non-approved tyres.

However it seems unlikely that the car had any insurance anyway.

[Blue Meanie]

glazbagun said:

Blue Meanie said:

Nano2nd said:

Blue Meanie said:

Rental company obviously dodgy, but why on earth did you drive it knowing the tyres were on the way out? You knowingly drove it in that condition, therefore you should accept the police fine. As for the hire company and their insurance I would take the feckers to rule on it.

what police fine? did you even read the post? perhaps he drove it because it was legal, he'd paid for it and it was his wedding!
)

Well, he said he was stopped by the police. I presumed he got a fixed penalty?

He specifically says that he didn't in his post.

I took it that he didn't get 6 points, and a fine for the insurance, not for the tyres. he didn't mention anything about the tyres and the police. Looking at the pics, I can;t see how the police didn't notice them.

[TheEnd]

nickz32 said:

I spoke to Company A, and they have been very good at making apologies but ive not seen alot of action. As it stands the car is having a report on the tyres to see if they are road worthy or not, and if they are how many miles they are safe for..... i think i know the outcome of that report. I also have photos of the tyres serial numbers, so theyll be no funny business going passed me!

roadworthy isn't a lot, and i'm pretty sure the wear indicator bars are above this by quite a bit for other markets that have deeper minimum tread requirements.
obviously, worn as low as that will be reducing performance, and especially when you take into account loaning the car to people who've never driven one for something to swan around in for a few days, if anything, i'd expect the owner to be keeping all the tyres with as much meat on them as possible.

even more so if you've only got the ghost of an insurance policy which is unlikely to pay out.

the tyres probably will be above the 1.6mm legal minimum, on the flipside, any tyre fitter will say they are scrap and need changing ASAP.

your best defence is the insurance. with no proof of insurance, even after requested, you'd (probably -not a legal guy!) have shown enough to let it know you had more than a reasonable cause to believe you were about to be committing an offence

[MPowerMark]

Blue Meanie, no offence but you sound like such a tool.

Op, sorry to hear about your misfortune, the whole thing like you say should of been a dream come true but unfortunatly alot of these rental companies are corrupt.

[barefoot]

Blue Meanie in your last post you say " he didn't mention anything about the tyres and the police" so you just assumed he got a fine for the tyres and post it was his own fault????