Fraud in the car hire industry (overcharging for repairs).

Fraud in the car hire industry (overcharging for repairs).

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Discussion

BlackLabel

Original Poster:

13,251 posts

122 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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French car hire firm Europcar has admitted that it may have to pay out as much as £30m to British motorists who were overcharged for car repairs. UK Trading Standards officers launched an investigation after its office in Leicester received complaints.

beeb said:
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is also planning to launch an inquiry, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The paper says more than half a million motorists could have been overcharged for repairs over many years.

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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Well I never. I'm amazed 😑

JuniorD

8,616 posts

222 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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BlackLabel said:
French car hire firm Europcar has admitted that it may have to pay out as much as £30m to British motorists who were overcharged for car repairs. UK Trading Standards officers launched an investigation after its office in Leicester received complaints.

beeb said:
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is also planning to launch an inquiry, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The paper says more than half a million motorists could have been overcharged for repairs over many years.
I use Europcar a lot. I think their excess is £1000, and I always get the feeling (instinct only) that should you have a wee scuff necessitating a corner painted, you'd get zero change from your grand's worth.

But it is always amusing when you tell them that you have the excess separately insured, or have taken full insurance when booking through the likes of rentalcars.com, the guys on the desk do the whole sucking through teeth, tut tut, the perils of that, routine

KTF

9,788 posts

149 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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My wife had a replacement car from one of the main rental places whilst her existing one was in for repair after someone rear ended it.

At some point it picked up a decent sized (but repairable) stone chip on the windscreen which was picked up upon off hiring it.

£149 was the number the computer decided this would cost to repair.

The other parties insurance said to decline all the extra insurance from the hire car company as they would pick up the tab. To their credit they did give us the money back after we had submitted the invoice but you can see why people tick all the extra insurance options as it wouldn't take much to run up a decent sized bill.

That must be why most of the rentals I have been given have been complete sheds as people on corporate rentals drive them into all sorts of stuff knowing they wont have to pay a penny upon return.

Rude-boy

22,227 posts

232 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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All i'll say is that i will not hire a car without every bit of cover on it as i have no desire to have to speak to them after handing back and no intention of paying a penny more than i did at hire.

It has been well known for longer than i have been alive that if the hire car company has a slightest chance to pick your pocket for some extra they will do so.

It is also, as another poster has mentioned, why hire cars tend to be treated like st. You treat the person who you are hiring it to like they are an animal then they will likely act like one. I know of many who have learnt basic skid control, J turns, hand brake turns and clutch less shifting in hire cars over the years.

FurtiveFreddy

8,577 posts

236 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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Rude-boy said:
All i'll say is that i will not hire a car without every bit of cover on it as i have no desire to have to speak to them after handing back and no intention of paying a penny more than i did at hire.

It has been well known for longer than i have been alive that if the hire car company has a slightest chance to pick your pocket for some extra they will do so.

It is also, as another poster has mentioned, why hire cars tend to be treated like st. You treat the person who you are hiring it to like they are an animal then they will likely act like one. I know of many who have learnt basic skid control, J turns, hand brake turns and clutch less shifting in hire cars over the years.
I've competed with hire cars in at least one championship sprint, a hill climb and some autotests from memory.

One trackday I went to at Goodwood several years ago had at least 2 hire cars written off. They ended up being towed out of the circuit and pushed into a ditch..

gtidriver

3,334 posts

186 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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I remember a chap on here saying how he was billed for a scuffed bumper only to hire the car a time later and it was the same car with the same scuff. Cant remember the out come, sure someone will find it smile

Ari

19,328 posts

214 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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gtidriver said:
I remember a chap on here saying how he was billed for a scuffed bumper only to hire the car a time later and it was the same car with the same scuff. Cant remember the out come, sure someone will find it smile
Why would that matter?

I borrow your car, I pull in too tight against a wall and do £500 worth of paint damage. I give you £500 to cover the cost of the damage, what right have I got to be offended if when you lend me the car 2 months later you've decided to live with the damage and bank the £500?

The hire company probably very sensibly decided to defer the repair till they'd finished hiring it, or not bother and accept they'd get a bit less for the car when they auction it at the end or whatever they do. Either way, irrelevant to the bloke that damaged the car and paid for the damage caused.

Otispunkmeyer

12,557 posts

154 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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gtidriver said:
I remember a chap on here saying how he was billed for a scuffed bumper only to hire the car a time later and it was the same car with the same scuff. Cant remember the out come, sure someone will find it smile
Well they aren't going to repair it while they still have it are they? They'll do that at the end and do it all at once.


Then again


I bought an ex-rental car and it did have a huge scrape on bumper. It was touched in, cack-handedly, with a paint match pot and flogged at auction. I bet Hertz charged the person who did it a small fortune, then handed it to the body shop intern to prep for sale.

Still, £220 had a mobile paint repair guy sort it all out good as new and the car is otherwise in excellent shape, just above average miles for only being a year old (plenty of life on the brakes, alignment spot on, clutch fine, not been smoked in...though there was a biro mark in the head lining for some reason. Not bothered though, it was cheap).


KTF

9,788 posts

149 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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gtidriver said:
I remember a chap on here saying how he was billed for a scuffed bumper only to hire the car a time later and it was the same car with the same scuff. Cant remember the out come, sure someone will find it smile
As above, they collect the money then either repair the damage before its sold - why bother fixing it when the next renter will probably do it again - and/or use it to offset the reduced price it gets when its sold with the damage still there.

S11Steve

6,374 posts

183 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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KTF said:
gtidriver said:
I remember a chap on here saying how he was billed for a scuffed bumper only to hire the car a time later and it was the same car with the same scuff. Cant remember the out come, sure someone will find it smile
As above, they collect the money then either repair the damage before its sold - why bother fixing it when the next renter will probably do it again - and/or use it to offset the reduced price it gets when its sold with the damage still there.
Disclosure - I've worked in the rental industry for 20+ years, and I currently work for one of the largest wholesale fleet suppliers in the industry.

Charging for incomplete repairs has gone on for years - it's pointless repairing a bumper when the chances are it will be chipped or dinged again at some point in the future. However, many companies may "forget" to mark that existing damage on the checksheet, and it ends up being charged twice.

A huge proportion of ex rental vehicles will go back to the manufacturers on buyback programmes - the dealer gets volume new vehicle sales, and also has a guaranteed supply of nearly new vehicles 6-12 months down the line. These buyback deals are notoriusly tight on condition though, so all repairs will be done prior to the rental company disposing of it.
If the vehicle is over mileage or excessive damage, then it will be auctioned off as is - no point spending time and money when the auction price is often better than the buyback price.


It doesn't surprise me that Europcar have been hit with this - they are renowned for cheap up front rates, with punitive end of hire charges, and untold "insurance waivers" mid life, and they have been for many years. They have always said it is their business model, it works, and they continue to grow, so why change. I can see their point, but it has also been a bubble waiting to burst for a long time.


anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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I use them through work quite a lot. In fact I am waiting for one now. I refuse to sign for them on delivery and as I am never around when they collect them, I don't sign then either. I have had numerous issues over the years, the best being when they dropped a car off while I was out. On the list of faults was "puncture", so I assumed the spare was flat. Nope, it was one of the tyres on the car and it had no spare ....

Driver101

14,376 posts

120 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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I don't trust them at all.

I've rented cars a few times where they've claimed zero damage and that's turned out to be far from the truth.

AyBee

10,522 posts

201 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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So client A damages the front bumper requiring a respray but the hiring company decides only to repair the car when they hand it back so don't get it repaired immediately. Client B then hires the car and damages the bumper in a different area requiring a respray...is the hiring company supposed to refund A, refund B, refund each 50% or keep the extra?

FN2TypeR

7,091 posts

92 months

Monday 24th July 2017
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Grahamdub said:
I use them through work quite a lot. In fact I am waiting for one now. I refuse to sign for them on delivery and as I am never around when they collect them, I don't sign then either. I have had numerous issues over the years, the best being when they dropped a car off while I was out. On the list of faults was "puncture", so I assumed the spare was flat. Nope, it was one of the tyres on the car and it had no spare ....
rofl

Joedarkness

105 posts

133 months

Monday 24th July 2017
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I used Europcar then I return back to Scotland to see the family I never just drop the keys off and get them to check and sign off before I leave ..

The last time I used them they charged me 55 pounds for a scruff on the bumper that was already there
Europcar cars in Glasgow are old sheds and are covered in dents so it was the last time I used them

Last time I used Enterprise they were miles better and the cars were brand new

As for the damage waver I use a third party insurer and it cost 38 pounds a year not the 7.99 a day that they charge


ymwoods

2,177 posts

176 months

Monday 24th July 2017
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had a rental from enterprise once, when it came to me it had a very small scratch on the bonnet.

"Don't worry about that sir, we don't mark very light damage on the sheet and we know about it."

In a rush so stupidly just said ok and signed. Car goes back and suddenly this scratch is new and apparently required a whole new bonnet and most of the front half of the car sprayed for the paint to match...the scratch was not even through the laquer! Took months of arguing so now i try to only get from places where they have no damage excesses. They are a bit more expensive to hire from, cheaper in the long term though!

JuniorD

8,616 posts

222 months

Monday 24th July 2017
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Was booking hire cars online over the weekend, strangely Europcar's prices seem to have jumped at least three-fold on the regular route I travel. All the usual competitors still charging the same as they ever did.

Otispunkmeyer

12,557 posts

154 months

Monday 24th July 2017
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
My experience of US hire places is that they don't seem to care much!

Most of the cars I have hired over there tend to have something scuffed, dented or bent. No one seems to worry about it.