Rental car customers find added costs everywhere

After he returned his rental car late in the evening at an airport rental facility in Spain, in what he believed to be excellent condition, a customer was surprised when an employee of the rental company started looking underneath the vehicle with his torch.

A dent was found underneath the car, and the customer was billed a few hundred euro for repairs.

The customer thought it strange that the employee knew exactly where to look for the damage, and was suspicious that the dent had been there all along – before he had rented the vehicle, in fact.

Although he insisted that the damage didn’t occur during the time he rented the car, the employee simply referred him to the contract that he had signed, indicating that he would cover any damage to the vehicle. There was nothing he could do to stop the debit to his credit card account for the amount of the estimated repairs.

He isn’t the only person who’s been complaining about rental car company practices recently, however. Another customer booked a car online for use in Cork, at what seemed to be a good rate of €34 per day. In all, he drove the vehicle the 50kms to his destination, parked it and later returned it to the rental location – and was billed for more than twice the amount he had expected, once all the ‘extra’ charges were added on.

Another incident was reported by a tourist in Italy, who had been charged more than €70 for the use of a child’s safety seat, which was around the same amount it cost to rent the vehicle. And yet another person reported being outraged when he returned his rental vehicle at an Italian airport 10 minutes late, and was charged for another full day’s rental.

Numerous others have complained about the common practice of charging ridiculously-high rates for refuelling when you return a car that isn’t completely topped up.

www.irishtimes.com