Repair Bills For Holiday Hire Cars Reach Outrageous Levels

There has been more news of bad practice regarding holiday hire cars as an investigation by consumer group Which? found that many of the hire companies were charging over 30 times what is the going rate for basic repairs to hire cars that have suffered a bang, dent or have some other issue. This follows on from the scandal uncovered a few months ago that we covered where it was claimed that car rental companies were charging customers hundreds of pounds to repair vehicles that never actually get fixed! This sort of behaviour is totally unacceptable and should be clamped down on immediately to prevent any more people getting ripped off by these unscrupulous companies.

Extortionate Charges For A Tiny Windscreen Chip

The big car hire company Europcar have been caught up in the latest scandal, it is believed they charged a customer who rented a vehicle in France £1,154 to repair a tiny windscreen chip when it could have easily been fixed for around £35, which you have to admit is pretty terrible behaviour by the car hire giant. There were also instances of firms charging administration fees when a car needs repairing upwards of £120. 

The Which! consumer group’s travel editor was quoted in a Sunday Times Driving Article as saying: “It’s outrageous that car hire customers are being made to pay extortionate amounts for repairs that never take place. If repairs are required, customers should be sent clear evidence of how the costs were calculated.”

44% Hit With An Excessive Charge

Unsurprisingly Europcar when asked to comment declined, saying that as an investigation was ongoing they could not make a statement on the matter. The article in Sunday Times Driving went on to say that: `A separate survey of 153 motorists found that 44 per cent had been hit with an excessive charge and almost a fifth said that they had been charged for damage they knew nothing about. It emerged that 59 per cent who had been charged for damage never received any evidence of how the charge was calculated from their car hire company.` 

Shocking business practices by all I am sure you will agree, the companies involved should hang their heads in shame! The good news is that if you have a dent or scratch on your own car and you want to get it fixed we can sort this out for you with the minimum of fuss and for a very reasonable price. For more information on our dent repair services here in Northern Ireland please give us a call on 0800 083 5270