I hired a car in Italy from a very well know company via a low-cost airline website in May and was charged approx. £230 immediately on my credit card.
When I collected the car at the airport I repeatedly asked the clerk if there would be any additional charges? He was adamant that if I returned it in the same condition and fully re-fuelled, then NO, there was not any additional cost, (he spoke perfect English). This I did at the end of August and guess what, I've just had a CC bill with a £46 payment to said hire car company in Italy! The cheeky so and so's have even made a Sterling transaction, (which makes it more expensive than a Euro one, even with the additional CC overseas transaction commission charge).
I don't fancy trying to contact anyone in Italy either by email or telephone with any modicum of success, so I've just spoken to the CC company instead and they were very helpful. They will raise a query with the merchant and apparently if they are not able to justify the transaction, I stand a reasonable chance of getting my £46 back!
Anyone had any similar experiences?
Edited by nick62 on 11/09/2008 at 22:56
|
I assume you don't know what the charge was for then. Are they claiming it was damaged? You could easily spend £46 phoning them - and they probably know this. Best of luck with the credit car company.
When I last hired a car in Italy, it was a walk to the car park to collect it and I spotted scrapes. I phoned them and they said all would be fine. So I got out the digital camera and took photos. Within 40 minutes it looked like this :-(
img177.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cardamagefy3.jpg
Surprising what an HGV can do.
|
|
|
Could it have been a speeding/parking/driving infringement? In a bus lane, driving thru a pedestrian zone or something like that? If they can't specify what it is for keep fighting!
|
We got charged a similar sum - in Italy, by one of the big name hire firms, after booking cheap deal through a money saving website - because we were billed a full rate extra days rental for returning the car 90 mins over the exact 7 day hire period.
Possibly an oversight on our part - the airline changed our flight time after we'd booked everything and we didn't notice that it had a knock on effect on the car hire. Nobody said anything when we dropped the car off - we did at least get an invoice/receipt through the post though.
|
Most car hire firms give you an hour 'over' on the return time, I think. After that it is a full day's worth, as you discovered.
|
Strange isn't it. I think I posted at the time about hiring a car in Sardinia a year or two back and having someone drive into the back of it on the motorway, which entirely dislodged the rear bumper etc.
Returning the car and telling the bloke, and fully expecting the forty two million pound excess, he shrugged, could barely be persuaded to come and look, shrugged again, looked at me as if I was bonkers for mentioning it and I never heard another word.
Edited by Dipstick on 12/09/2008 at 12:15
|
Strangest additional charge I've heard was from a mate in NZ. He had a full waiver, so when he rolled his hire car down an 3 m embankment while trying to get rid of a wasp he didn't expect anything but an embarrassing phone call.
A truck turned up and winched said car out of the ditch and took it away, still upside down. Another car was provided.
He got charged because he hadn't refuelled the totalled car before returning it :-).
|
I booked through a UK agent and got a voucher with PAID in FULL marked on it. Got to the AVIS desk and was told there was 22 Euros registration fee.
It's late, kids tired and a bit of a drive to the hotel so I signed and got charged on the return of the car
I have taken it up with the booking agent and await their reply.
|
|
when i went to sardinia I read it was worthwhile taking the damage waiver insurance 9 i think it was called).Have you seen those italian cars-they are ALL full of dents.
|
When I first hired a car in Italy I paid for the max protection available (it cost lots) and didn't need it. This was in Tuscany.
No doubt you've seen what happened to my Fiesta hire can in August 2006 soon after leaving Milan Malpensa. I took out the additional damage cover via Holiday Auto at the time of booking. It was pretty cheap per day - a no brainer. And whilst I paid the initial excess (?400? it was ?100 cheaper via Holiday Auto) I got the full amount back from Holiday Auto in a couple of months at most. Only loss due to a minor exchange rate change. So it worked and cover was better than Hertz local policy would have paid.
If I ever hire in Europe again (not made up my mind or more importantly my wife's after that accident - she is warey in the UK) then max cover a must.
The only silly bit was trying to tell Hertz whilst in Bellagio where the hire car was! You'd have thought they'd known about it because the accident closed the roads around the airport due to the multiple pile up (two HGVs hit us/each other).
|
I've just had the invoice through the post.
Lists a lot of taxes, etc. and comes to a total in Euro's, (no fuel or damage costs listed or insurance extras).
The total amount then has a deduction, which is the amount I paid back in May via the website. This leaves a balance which is the extra they have taken from my card.
Just one small problem. The invoice amount which is additional to the voucher value (the original amount paid previously) has been converted to Sterling at a rate of approx. 82p per Euro. The conversion rate used on my voucher (to convert the Sterling I originally paid in May when I booked to a Euro amount), is approx. 95p per Euro!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Robbing pink fluffy dice.
Just have to see what the CC company make of it?
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 20/09/2008 at 21:57
|
|
|
|
![2021 Lexus NX 300h 2.5 5dr CVT [8" Nav]](http://images.honestjohn.co.uk/imagecache/url/crop/90x60/https/assets.heycar.co.uk/t_default-export/f_auto/application_assets/vehicles/pictures/d1b959cb70a916c3aa16b9b838187b3f/2e5a96ddfd598bf95166e4edcbb4e8cd.jpg)
