My girlfriend took her car for a main dealer service yesterday. As the staff were processing her details to let her have a courtesy car, she presented her old paper driving licence and was told, "Ah, sorry there is a £6 admin charge if you do not have a photocard licence."
When she queried it she was told that, "its because there is some information on a photocard licence that is not on a paper licence."
Has anyone else been charged in similar circumstances? I've never heard of it before.
Six quid is an insignificant amount, but in terms of the principle of it it struck me as strange. All I can think of is a card licence has a photo on it, or is it the barcode?
The garage does car and van hire too so I presume they take this £6 off people hiring vehicles too. Is this a common practice, or are they just extracting that little bit extra from (some of) their customers?
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Sounds very dubious practice to me.
I've never heard of this practice before either.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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The last time I hired a van I took my passport with me, since I "only" have a paper licence. I presented both items together to the hire company.
They were quite happy with this and certainly didn't charge me any additional costs relating to my paper licence.
I had thought, beforehand, that the paper licence might possibly have been a problem, that's why I took this step.
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I have only ever, once, and unexpectedly, had a courtesy car, and there were no formalities at all. The manager just indicated a row of nice cars out in the yard and said help yourself. As each was probably worth at least a hundred times mine, I picked the one that looked the least expensive, and cautiously drove off, scared stiff of denting it.
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Under the Data protection Act I believe you have a right to know what information the garage is taking from you. I would ask them what additional information they glean from the photo licence that isn't on the paper one. Maybe it's just the photo they want to see.
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i came across something similar when i last hired a van. When i booked the van, i checked to see what they needed, as i knew my paper part was "filed" somewhere and would not be able to access it easily. Without the paper part they need to check with dvla for points etc., which involves a call, for which they make a small admin charge (about £5)
When i went along, they called dvla, i had to confirm i was happy for them to give the info and they told them i had no points.
Oh, and they waived the fee because i had the car for a couple of days.
Sounds like the same thing, but not sure if they checked with the dvla!
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ahh, helps if i read the OP properly.
The paper licence has all the info on, so i think they may be a bit confused about policy. I think my post covers what should happen i they dont have the paper part, not the same as your situation.
im going back to sleep now......
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Last had a car from Enterprize and they had no problem with my paper licence. My son (19) was also using the car and they neither met him nor actually saw his photo licence - they just wanted me to send them a scan of it for their files.
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I recently hired a mini bus from "united rentals" and they wanted both parts - they wouldn't just accept the photo card which meant a 50 mile extra round trip !!
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It really just illustrates the poor scheme whereby we have a photocard + a paper licence. I am loathe to change to the new style licence but suspect I will have to at some stage - still hanker after my little red book!! I would imagine the problem in this post is that the employee at the dealership could not differentiate between a new two part licence and an old fashioned one with all the info. Yet another piece of poorly thought out paperwork.
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Maybe it's just the photo they want to see.
I guess that must be it. It could be company policy to have a copy of photo i.d., so going on what ablandy says, without it they phone DVLA to check authenticity of the licence. And they have an admin charge for the phone call, where other companies do not..
My g.f. didnt quiz them any further as she just wanted a car to get to work in.
;o)
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I have only ever once and unexpectedly had a courtesy car and there were no formalities at all.
Yes I had mine serviced the other day, the 5th time I've had it serviced at the same independant; and as always they just gave me a set of keys to a courtesy car and said, "its the green one, see you later." There are never any formalities.
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i would have refused to pay
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Then you would have to walk to work.
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Then you would have to walk to work.
no, i would find a dealer marque that doesnt pull my pants down
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The problem here is people EXPECT a courtesy car these days. When choosing a garage to work on my car I factor in the distance from work/home, as well as their quality of work. Basically I aim for a garage within walking distance, or if that is not possible, on a frequent bus route. Makes life simpler, and cheaper. What, you thought the courtesy car was free? You'll be paying for it somehow, don't fret.
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VW collected her car yesterday for some warranty work- as she has just had shoulder surgery and can't drive I had said no courtesy car was required.
09:00 yesterday man from VW turned up for it and left an 07 Jetta - "Use it if you want, normally a £10 charge for the CDW but we won't bother with that", no licence checks at all - I did check that it was on their insurance and not ours.
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I guess that the garage wants sight of the 'paper' part as that is the one which has a record of points and convictions. The photocard proves who you are = photo ID but doesn't tell them anything about your driving history
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