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Hire Car Forced drivers Door Locks

Hire Car Forced drivers Door Locks

Old Nov 21st 2012, 9:25 am
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Default Hire Car Forced drivers Door Locks

Hi

As we all know and it happens worldwide, breaking into hire cars is a national pastime.

These days when hiring a car we always use the zapper to enter it and do not use the key via the lock.

It appears however that if the lock has been damaged on a previous hire and you do not observe or report it when you accept the car, you could be stung for its repair. Therefore try locking it and unlocking with the key before accepting it.

I know i'ts another ball ache to check / remember but on returning it to the airport when you only have a limited time to argue the toss or ask for all previous reports on the car is not an option.

By the way, the new arrangements for toll charges for hire cars seem to be working.

Kind regards

JohnB
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Old Nov 21st 2012, 9:52 am
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Default Re: Hire Car Forced drivers Door Locks

Originally Posted by 1711JohnB
Hi

As we all know and it happens worldwide, breaking into hire cars is a national pastime.

These days when hiring a car we always use the zapper to enter it and do not use the key via the lock.

It appears however that if the lock has been damaged on a previous hire and you do not observe or report it when you accept the car, you could be stung for its repair. Therefore try locking it and unlocking with the key before accepting it.

I know i'ts another ball ache to check / remember but on returning it to the airport when you only have a limited time to argue the toss or ask for all previous reports on the car is not an option.

By the way, the new arrangements for toll charges for hire cars seem to be working.

Kind regards

JohnB
Hi John, I'd be interested in what are the new arrangement for hire cars are, as we hire regularly and have not had any problems to date with the company we use?
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Old Nov 21st 2012, 10:10 am
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Default Re: Hire Car Forced drivers Door Locks

Hi.

For the last couple of hires, I have used Travel Rent booking direct and got very good prices.

They now have transponders in every car and ask you if you are going to use the motorway or not. Just in case, they charge you a Euro 20 deposit for the transponder and on returning the car I was asked to sign the rental agreement if I did not use the motorway and given back my Euro 20 and credit card slip. I must have an honest face.

How they charge it, is if you say yes they keep your euro 20 and if that covers the toll charges that's it you do not get anything back. So, if you only went between one junction it would have cost Euro 20.

If you use the motorway on a regular basis you are charged in Euro 5 increments so again if the total toll charges are Euro 20.05 you will be charged Euro 25 and I assume that this will be deducted from your credit card when they get the final bill so I would expect that they keep your credit card slip and Euro 20 in this instance and debit you later for the remainder.

Hope this makes sense.

Kind regards

John
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Old Nov 21st 2012, 11:07 am
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Default Re: Hire Car Forced drivers Door Locks

Originally Posted by 1711JohnB
Hi.

For the last couple of hires, I have used Travel Rent booking direct and got very good prices.

They now have transponders in every car and ask you if you are going to use the motorway or not. Just in case, they charge you a Euro 20 deposit for the transponder and on returning the car I was asked to sign the rental agreement if I did not use the motorway and given back my Euro 20 and credit card slip. I must have an honest face.

How they charge it, is if you say yes they keep your euro 20 and if that covers the toll charges that's it you do not get anything back. So, if you only went between one junction it would have cost Euro 20.

If you use the motorway on a regular basis you are charged in Euro 5 increments so again if the total toll charges are Euro 20.05 you will be charged Euro 25 and I assume that this will be deducted from your credit card when they get the final bill so I would expect that they keep your credit card slip and Euro 20 in this instance and debit you later for the remainder.

Hope this makes sense.

Kind regards

John
Thanks John.

On our last visit in September the tolls were dealt with by our company as before, in that they don't have transponders, so no 20€ charge. We just pay the company the tolls when we pay for the car on arrival and we pay by cash. As we only use the A22 from and to the airport we know in advance our charges. The company as far as I know, pay the post office but that's down to them, it's their car. Should we use the A22 during our stay, I pay these at a post office before we leave for the airport.

We would have a problem sorting out the 20€ on return as we leave the car on car park P4 with the keys inside as they pick it up after we have left. We've used them for 5 years now and haven't had any problems so far, but there's always a first time I suppose.
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Old Nov 21st 2012, 11:18 am
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Default Re: Hire Car Forced drivers Door Locks

Its is still a very chaotic situation regarding the tolls.
You may pay the hire company ( in cash ) but you have no way of knowing if they pay the tolls.
As the driver is responsible for payment who knows what could happen at a later date.
There was report on Algarve Daily News that the toll authorities are now taking steps to recover 100,000euros of unpaid tolls. !!!
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Old Nov 21st 2012, 11:53 am
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Default Re: Hire Car Forced drivers Door Locks

Originally Posted by EMR
Its is still a very chaotic situation regarding the tolls.
You may pay the hire company ( in cash ) but you have no way of knowing if they pay the tolls.
As the driver is responsible for payment who knows what could happen at a later date.
There was report on Algarve Daily News that the toll authorities are now taking steps to recover 100,000euros of unpaid tolls. !!!
I accept the driver may ultimately be responsible, but for 6.52€ will they chase me in the UK?
I've used this company for 5 years as I said and I believe we have a good relationship and until proved otherwise, have trust in them. Wouldn't feel the same about Hertz, Avis, Europcar etc. however.

I saw the paper reports about chasing the unpaid tolls, and confiscating vehicles for auction, but for hire cars this seems unlikely to happen, as the hire companies would not have a business and to try and identify the driver of a car at a certain time on a given day is possibly more than most hire companies could achieve.
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Old Nov 21st 2012, 12:07 pm
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Default Re: Hire Car Forced drivers Door Locks

When you now hire a car you are asked for your passport details and all this information is on the contract so identifying the hirers of a vehicle in any given period will not be that difficult.
Our hire company has been receiving up to 15 bills /day for tolls not paid and as they have your Credit card details they are charging the hirer.
We know of one who had 50Euros deducted .
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Old Nov 21st 2012, 12:14 pm
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Default Re: Hire Car Forced drivers Door Locks

Originally Posted by EMR
When you now hire a car you are asked for your passport details and all this information is on the contract so identifying the hirers of a vehicle in any given period will not be that difficult.
Our hire company has been receiving up to 15 bills /day for tolls not paid and as they have your Credit card details they are charging the hirer.
We know of one who had 50Euros deducted .
I've not encountered this yet. Is this a change since September?

They don't have my credit card details as I pay cash for the hire. The card details from 5 years ago are not the same as now.
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Old Nov 21st 2012, 12:27 pm
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Default Re: Hire Car Forced drivers Door Locks

It is new and they ask for CC details to cover the excess even if you have annual insurance as they obviously want payment if anything happens.
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Old Nov 21st 2012, 12:41 pm
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Default Re: Hire Car Forced drivers Door Locks

Originally Posted by EMR
It is new and they ask for CC details to cover the excess even if you have annual insurance as they obviously want payment if anything happens.
As we are coming to PT in December, it will be interesting to see what has changed in hiring a car.

The company we use has my card details, it's just not my current card. I'd pay any valid claim excess for damages based on what the hire form has on it, but I'd pay it from our PT bank account, not the credit card and have to pay the UK banks outrageous commission.

Not sure what relevance insurance has in hiring a car, as my UK car insurance doesn't cover a hire car anyway.
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Old Nov 21st 2012, 12:56 pm
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Default Re: Hire Car Forced drivers Door Locks

You can buy an annual insurance policy to cover hire cars. This avoids you having to take out the hire companies insurance.
They still need your CC details so that they can take the cost of any repairs from you. You then make a claim against the insurance company in the normal way.
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Old Nov 21st 2012, 1:06 pm
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Default Re: Hire Car Forced drivers Door Locks

Hi

I took out a policy with XS Waiver last year which covered glass, tyres locks etc as I knew that I would be travelling around quite a bit and visiting Jerez and Gib.

It cost about £65 which is less expensive than you pay at a car hire company for 18 days plus it lasted for a year.

Unfortunately, I clipped the kerb and ripped a hole in the tyre and claimed the full amount back from XS so in this case, I won. First time that I had a claim for over 10 years on a hire car. Funny old world.
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Old Nov 21st 2012, 6:12 pm
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Default Re: Hire Car Forced drivers Door Locks

Originally Posted by bejaboz
I accept the driver may ultimately be responsible, but for 6.52€ will they chase me in the UK?
[snip]

I saw the paper reports about chasing the unpaid tolls, and confiscating vehicles for auction, but for hire cars this seems unlikely to happen, as the hire companies would not have a business and to try and identify the driver of a car at a certain time on a given day is possibly more than most hire companies could achieve.
The trouble is it wouldn't be €6,30 it will have incurred a penalty of 5 x the amount (to a maximum of €125,00) which is doubled if not paid within a time limit.
It would be simplicity itself to identify the hirer on any particular date from the audit information they must keep by law. If you have left your CC details then I guess that the rentco is paying the penalty on the hirer's behalf (which is why charges of €50,00 etc are appearing) - or the rentco will charge an 'admin' fee to your CC to provide the toll operator with the hirer's details. (Europcar charged me €30,00 for doing exactly that in Italy - I was then faced with a redoubled penalty charge sent by registered mail to my home address)

So, unless the cars are fitted with a transponder then I would be quite worried about ad-hoc arrangements with the rentcos.

Last edited by MikeJ; Nov 21st 2012 at 6:15 pm.
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Old Nov 22nd 2012, 7:31 am
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Default Re: Hire Car Forced drivers Door Locks

Originally Posted by MikeJ
The trouble is it wouldn't be €6,30 it will have incurred a penalty of 5 x the amount (to a maximum of €125,00) which is doubled if not paid within a time limit.
It would be simplicity itself to identify the hirer on any particular date from the audit information they must keep by law. If you have left your CC details then I guess that the rentco is paying the penalty on the hirer's behalf (which is why charges of €50,00 etc are appearing) - or the rentco will charge an 'admin' fee to your CC to provide the toll operator with the hirer's details. (Europcar charged me €30,00 for doing exactly that in Italy - I was then faced with a redoubled penalty charge sent by registered mail to my home address)

So, unless the cars are fitted with a transponder then I would be quite worried about ad-hoc arrangements with the rentcos.
Mike,

Thanks for the further information and I will follow this up when we are next out. However, the company we use and have done for a number of years, (have been to date anyway), trustworthy and are not in anyway like the large companies such as you mentioned, who I'd agree are only interested in how much they can get out of their customers. Customer care is not on their agenda based on our past experience of Europcar and Avis.

Unless it's too soon, to date nothing has hit our credit card in the UK and we've been paying the hire company our tolls in cash since they came into being earlier this year.

However, it's worth a conversation when we next pick up a car early next month.
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Old Nov 23rd 2012, 6:02 am
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Default Re: Hire Car Forced drivers Door Locks

Originally Posted by EMR
When you now hire a car you are asked for your passport details and all this information is on the contract so identifying the hirers of a vehicle in any given period will not be that difficult.
Our hire company has been receiving up to 15 bills /day for tolls not paid and as they have your Credit card details they are charging the hirer.
We know of one who had 50Euros deducted .
not sure what is new about being asked for passport details - the first thing i am ever asked for every car i have hired in the last 15 years of coming over to PT (6 times a year) is my passport, followed by driving licence then credit card. what i do know is that every hire company is different and has different policies re the tolls. we have had a full range of them from nothing at all to deposits of various amounts either in cash or on a credit card. we have our own anonymous transponder which none of the hire companies seem to believe is possible so i usually end up avoiding the A22 on the trip up to the house then slide the companies transponder out of its holder and fit ours instead. reverse process for the trip back to the airport.

jeff
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