I’ve just came across an interesting article about mis-selling car hire cover:
Conor Mills from East-London rented a car with big brand car hire company – Budget at Knock Airport, in Ireland. He was fully covered against excess charges but he picked up the car at the aiport the lady at the Budget desk told him that the insurance did not cover any accidents deemed my fault, or repair time.
He has already paid an extra £26 for an excess waiver, to avoid to pay the 1,200 Euro excess if he damaged the car and on top of that he had to pay 45 euros for Budget’s own excess waiver which was pretty unnecessary.
The problem is that Conor was misled by Budget because he paid for a second policy that did not offer any additional protection. Although Budget accepted that the policy that was sold by the car hire broker online (CarHire3000) was valid but they refused to comment on whether the Budget staff misled the customer and they did not offer any refund. Luckily the car hire broker refunded him although it wasn’t their fault.
Good advice: when you have a proble like this with a car hire company and they won’t help you please contact the Financial Ombudsman to solve the issue.
More information car hire excess insurance >>car hire excess insurance reviews
Source: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpressnews/279127/watchdog_misselling_car_hire_cover.html
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Yes same old story! Landed very late at Shannon last Tuesday with voucher and DCW from Argus car hire, told the guy at the budget desk we did not require insurance as we had our own. So had to have 1200 euros on our credit card held pending accident (fair enough) on return to Shannon discovered that we have also been charged 32 euro by budget for their DCW! On contacting budget claimed they will refer it to head office but down to us! Fortunately my cc company can prove the 1200 euro debit which should be in lieu of the 32 euro DCW. So they haven’t heard the last of it, not sure that in the absence of a satisfactory result if I should go the ombudsman or Guardee route (in the uk this would be fraud) shall wait and see.
Author
Hi Geoff,
I think the best option would be if you contact ArgusCarHire ASAP they will sort this out for you.
I hope you can get back your money soon.
Had similar problems with Europcar in both Dublin and Belfast, this company are operating these scams on a regular basis to improve profits at the customers expense; DO NOT USE EUROPCAR, I issued them with a County Court summons to get my money returned – you can do the same – they are attempting to defraud you, that is illegal – don’t let them get away with it!
Author
Hi Mike,
Sorry to hear your experience with Europcar. Unfortunatelly this is a “common” practice these days with some car hire companies. Here is story about why you can book a car cheaper for a day than what you pay for the SCDW at the desk:
https://excessinsuranceforcarhire.com/car-rental/car-hire-%e2%80%93-why-its-too-cheap/
One of my friend used to work for a leading car hire brand. He told me they were forced to sell lots of extra insurance at the desk if someone did or could not sell enough that agent could loose the job.
well, its really bad. But you should go for a best one car hire excess cover. You should compare on the web different policies and read reviews about those policies. Also, have a look on terms & conditions as well before paying for it.
Author
Yes, I agree. Read the policies and reviews before you buy and read the rental agreement before you sign!
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