Ash UK/US

Just got home from a trip 'back home' (after numerous bacon butties and various other goodies) whilst I was there I rented a car from Europcar, well actually it was rented from Alamo via Rentalcars.com but Alamo do not maintain their own desk at Newcastle airport so they must have some deal with Europcar. My experience was not a good one!

I have an American Express credit card and pay their premium upgrade as it offers really good coverage for car rental insurance, all the info from Amex tells you to decline all the car company coverage and use the Amex insurance. So after my flight lands I head over to the desk to sign the paper work and collect the keys and this is where the 'fun' starts. The agents asks me what insurance I would like to purchase as I had not prebooked it, I explained I would not be buying it as I had insurance with my CC. I stood for probably 15 to 20 mins being given the hard sell, he was very persistent telling me CC companies hide stuff in the small print and do not offer the same level of coverage's, blah blah blah. He told me at least a dozen times that I would personally be liable for the full £18,000 replacement cost if something was to happen and the CC did not cover me... it went on and on. It finally came to a conclusion with him getting a piece of paper and him telling me that I need to write in my own hand writing that I was aware of my liability.

The time before this trip I rented from Hertz and that the time before that I rented from Alamo (off site from the airport) and both of these times I was asked to sign a form confirming I was declining coverage from the car companies and then sent on my merry way. No hassle at all.

Jerseygirl

Just got back from the UK...we also rented a car from Eurocar via Rentalcars.com at Manchester Airport. We didn't get any hassle at all re the extra insurance...they guy just said that if we weren't covered we would be liable for the extra cost if damaged or stolen.

Orangepants

Same thing happened to us in Dominican last year. We had prepaid for the car and OH refused to take out their insurance, they refused to let us take the car, so we hopped over to another desk and I think he is still trying get the refund from Europcar almost a year later.

mandpete

I prebooked a car with Europcar via Orbitz to be collected at Manchester Airport on Feb 16. On arrival at Europcar in the rental car village I was told they had no cars available for at least an hour, which explained the large amount of people waiting. After almost two hours I was told they had a car albeit not the one I had booked and it had a fair bit of damage. I was asked if I wanted insurance which I declined telling them I had full coverage on my American Visa card. This resulted in me being told I would be liable for the amount of $18,000 (exact same figure OP was given) if anything happened to the car as American credit card auto insurance is not valid outside of the USA. I knew this to be false and after much back and forth and the fact I was extremely tired I agreed to take their insurance of £20 per day. The cost rose from $100 to almost $500 for the week. I asked them to explain how they got to that figure and they couldnt give me a decent answer. I was getting more and more annoyed and in the end I told them to cancel the rental and I would take a cab to my destination. A couple of days later I noticed a pending charge of $846.50 on my credit card. I called the Manchester airport office and was told until I returned the car the charge would stay on my card, I tried explaining I didn't have a car and they told me to call central office the following day. I spoke with customer service the following morning who told me the same thing and after a lengthy conversation they told me they would fax the credit card company to get the pending charge canceled, the charge disappeared 4 days later. Every person I spoke with at Europcar seemed to give me the run around. A couple of days after I arrived in Manchester I called a local Enterprise office and they picked me up, took me to their office and didn't charge extra for insurance or dropping the car off at the airport.

Ash UK/US

Mine too... I am not talking about the expected door dings that are on most rentals, it literally looked like someone had scraped the full length of the left side of car.
That is exactly what they where trying to get me to pay too.
This is what my hubby said I should have done. He thought the desk guy was trying to get one over on me because I was a lone female traveler.

I paid $340 for an automatic car for a 15 day rental. If I had taken their insurance I would have paid an additional £300 (approx $450) on top of the actual rental cost.

Ash UK/US

That is how it was when I rented from Alamo and Hertz in the UK... this guy went on and on... I even went as far as pulling up my amex coverage on my Ipad before I left the airport (once I finally had the keys and left the desk). I am guessing the desk employees are on a commission of some sort to get the extra $$$ for insurance.

Jerseygirl

We arrived at Manchester Airport on the 19th and our experience was nothing like that. Although they did try to persuade us to upgrade the car for £130 per day! We said no and that was that.

Pulaski

Why didn't he take it up with the credit card company (assuming it was prepaid for with a credit card)?

It might be a bit late now, but failure to deliver the paid-for goods or services is always something I take up with the credit card company if I don't get immediate satisfaction from the business I had made the purchase from.

Per day? What were they trying to get you to rent? A Ferrari?

Jerseygirl

A Volvo.

Hubby's just checked our CC statement...they've charged us $25 for some reason. He filled the car up with petrol before dropping it back at the airport...but I bet that's what they are trying to charge us for. A quick call to the CC company has put the amount into dispute.

mwdake

This happened to me many years ago.
I made a reservation with one of the big rental companies via phone and got the rate etc, I told them I wished to decline extra coverage because my CC covered it and I also had auto insurance, they said I could do that.
When I got to Manchester the rental desk refused to allow me to decline extra coverage and after arguing with them for 20 minutes I had them write on the agreement that I wished to decline coverage but they refused to allow me.
When I got back to the US i called the rental company and demanded they refund the extra coverage; after hounding them for a while they finally refunded the amount I was charged for extra coverage.

Pulaski

You should have gone to your credit card company first too!

Jerseygirl

That's always our first port of call if we have a priboem with goods or services.

mwdake

I did, I should have said that.
I think the CC company were taking the rental company side though.

kins

Ah... I was planning on renting a car from Manchester Airport this June but maybe I'll pick it up elsewhere...

mwdake

I have rented at Manchester Airport dozens of times but only ever had that one problem.