Car Hire Damages Racket

MrBigMistake

MrBigMistake

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So I hired a car from Europcar, the car was inspected for damage before it was handed over to me. The guy who inspected the car noted all the cosmetic scratches on my vehicle, and I drove off a happy chappy.

Got bored at work yesterday and decided to check Europcar's rating on Hello Peter, and I almost fell off of my chair. Apparently they're in the habit of charging exorbitant fees for damage that wasn't spotted when you return the car. I checked the inspection slip they gave me and compared it to the damage on the car, and I can confirm that there isn't any new damage. But I'm genuinely thinking of just returning the car early. I've read countless stories about people being charged close to R10K for scratches that were barely visible.

Has anyone experienced anything like what I described? How is Europcar allowed to get away with this?
 
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epah said:
All car hire companies do this. not just europcar. Always do your own inspection and take pictures
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Inspected the car as well before I took it. I'm just worried because a lot of people did that and we're still charged an arm and a leg for non existent damage.

Anyway, let's see what happens.
 
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epah said:
But like i said all car hire companies do this to fleece customers. Its always a lottery with them.
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Snap. I'll chalk this one up to my naivety. School fees I guess. Very expensive lesson to learn
 
Europcar are the worst. They got me once and I have not rented a vehicle from them since. Another scam which seems to affect all of them the same is refuelling.
 
R13... said:
Europcar are the worst. They got me once and I have not rented a vehicle from them since. Another scam which seems to affect all of them the same is refuelling.
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What did they charge you for? Scratches?
 
epah said:
How is it school fess or an expensive lesson to learn when they haven't charged you for anything? You seem a bit paranoid for some reason. Or have you damaged the vehicle. be honest now.
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100% honest. I can even send you the images of the pre inspection sheet plus the detailed video. It's just concerning to read about people being charged thousands retrospectively for damage that wasn't spotted when they returned the vehicle.

But I'll also admit I'm generally an anxious person
 
R13... said:
A scratch that wasn't visible on any photo, I should probably have told them to go sleep with themselves. But I paid to get them off my back which is a mistake but I didn't want to fly back to Durban to inspect a car.
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How much did they charge you for the scratch?
 
gregmcc said:
Next time take lots of pics before you drive off.
Wait until you return the car and see what happens before you panic.
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Cool. The particular branch I hired it from has glowing reviews, so I'm probably just worrying about nothing. The suspicious stuff seems to be a huge problem at OR Tambo though.
 
gregmcc said:
Stop reading reviews. I've given up on trusting review to check if the product is good or bad. Lots of them are fake and people generally only leave reviews when they have an issue. You don't know how many good experiences people have had vs the bad ones.
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Fair point. I think it's time to call the local weed dealer for a bit of grass. This entire thing is stressing me out and now I have a tension headache. Major thanks for your responses!
 
MrBigMistake said:
Fair point. I think it's time to call the local weed dealer for a bit of grass. This entire thing is stressing me out and now I have a tension headache. Major thanks for your responses!
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Nope, weed will make your paranoia even worse, you are already off the charts right now. Just wait until you return the car and take it as it comes.
 
epah said:
Nope, weed will make your paranoia even worse, you are already off the charts right now. Just wait until you return the car and take it as it comes.
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Cool. I'll settle for a few quarts of Black Label then
 
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