Our car scraped the bumper of a hire-car in December 2008 in a car park.
The damage caused was a scuff on the bumper of the size of a 50p.
Having caused this damage we talked to the person (a colleague) who currently had this car and apologised.
The hire car company have now contacted us this week claiming for £300 worth of damage.
We received a bill today for £250 labour and £50 parts - for a repair done in August quoted as 'moderate impact' ( ie 8 months on from the actual damage with the car being used over those 8 months by other people ).
How is the best way to dispute this ??
Any advice gratefully received.
{company name removed}
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 18/09/2009 at 19:35
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Usually these types of places leave such damage unprepared until they come to sell the car, at which time they get the repairs done in bulk.
Is that the first contact you have had with them in 9 months?
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 18/09/2009 at 19:35
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Our first contact with them was an answerphone message left this Tuesday.
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You seem to say you talked to the person who hired the car. Unless they paid for any excess then the damage needs to be paid by the person who caused it - and you admit to this?
What is there to dispute? You admit to causing damage to a car.
If you thought you'd got away with it and now want to dispute - these things take time and you clearly admit here you caused damage.
So pay-up, move-on and life's too short to worry.
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£300 seems excessive for the damage described. If there was a scuff the size of a 50p coin where does £50 worth of materials come from?
Edited by Armitage Shanks {p} on 18/09/2009 at 20:05
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where does £50 worth of materials come from?
Not owning up and now they fleece you later?
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He did own up. It took them 9 months to contact him during which further superficial damage could have been caused, for which he is perhaps being 'fleeced'.
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He did own up
Indeed he did and may be fleeced!
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If there was a scuff the size of a 50p coin where does £50 worth of materials come from?
Paint has to be bought in a quantity which is sometimes much greater than what is actually required, and paint is expensive. There's no refund on the excess.
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Paint has to be bought in a quantity which is sometimes much greater than what is actually required and paint is expensive. There's no refund on the excess.
Paint in bodyshops is normally mixed, for the job in hand, thus not an awful amount is excess.
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Yes we scuffed the bumper - we dispute the amount that they are now claiming. Perhaps more damage was caused during the 8 months following the scuff.
How do we know that the bumper was not damaged further during the 8 months following?
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What did your colleague agree when the other car went back? They must have declared the damage and given your details?
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Ok - having had a look at their enclosed damage report it indicates damage to passenger side rear bumper. We scuffed driver side rear bumper ( yes we should have taken a photo but it was so minor ... Next time!! )
Can we just dispute this claim?
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Of course you can dispute it - and admit to the other damage as defence?
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Of course you can dispute it - and admit to the other damage as defence?
>>
>>>>>> yes the side that now has the rippled rear wing smashed rear light and gouges in the tailgate
in hindsight as already been said you really should have taken a photo of your damage, or eaten the evidence of the damage
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Can we just dispute this claim? >>
This is how I would deal with such a false claim:
They claim you damaged passenger side rear bumper.
You are telling us that that is untrue.
So you write back stating that you deny their claim absolutely, and request the evidence on which they have based their claim, and ask them to justify why they are submitting this false claim so late after the alleged damage took place.
Knowing how this firm seems to be out to fleece you, you do not admit to any other damage that you think you may have caused.
You then wait for further information from them.
Edited by jbif on 18/09/2009 at 22:17
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Yes we scuffed the bumper .........
We?
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What is there to dispute? You admit to causing damage to a car.
Hire companies appear to be playing this game at the moment.
I hired a van back in April, I caused some damage to the side loading door which I owned up to on returning the vehicle. Photographs were taken and I was told nothing more needed to be done at the time.
In August I received a bill for 1.834? and told to pay within seven days. The reason given was I had not completed an accident report form when returning the vehicle.
My wife damaged a Mercedes C class last year, causing more damage to the front bumper, wing and passenger door and was charged a reasonable 450?. I have no problem paying for damage done but almost 2k? for a dent in a loading door is taking the Michael.
Edited by gmac on 18/09/2009 at 22:20
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to be fair gmac the merc damage sounds like they looked after you inhouse
the side loading door sounds like it went to a bodyshop and had a new door fitted plus labour plus paint
so swings and roundabouts as dougal would say
what happened to cdw?im sure ive asked this before having not hired a car for years,is this not available anymore then
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There was a lot of damage on the side of the van before I hired it including the door.
I have the pink sheet showing before and after damage. I admitted to the dent I had made.
The insurance CDW should have covered it but they are arguing the fact I did not complete an accident form I was being charged the full amount covering themselves should a third party come along and claim.
I explained the damage was caused by my own gates and that no 3rd party would make a claim and wrote a statement to that effect.
It looks like they want me to pay for the respray/repair of the whole side...
Edited by gmac on 18/09/2009 at 22:28
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I think the most notorious scams currently being inflicted on customers are where minor damage occurs, the excess is nicked off your credit card, but the damage left on the car. They often have a sliding scale for scuffs and scratches etc so they can instantly calculate how much to take off you. Then they get all the bits and pieces done in one go before selling on. A nice earner.
I hired a panda the other weekend for £44 + vat from a local place. They were totally relaxed about the condition of the car and didnt even note the mileage before i drove it away! Made a change to hire a car and not be in a paranoid panic about being stung when returning it. In WN7 if I'm allowed to say.
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Bananastand, there's a similarly relaxed attitude at the local car hire place that I use (Leafield Self-Drive in Bradford, www.leafieldgarage.com )
But that may be because they have a very difft business model to the big firms. Instead of buying new cars at a discount and selling them on as nearly-new, these guys buy cars and vans a few years old and maintain them in their own garage. Their mechanical maintenance seems to be great (all their vehicles run very sweetly, despite clocking up high mileages), and I presume they do their own bodywork touchups as needed, because they too are not paranoid about little scratches.
Like you I find that it's a much more relaxed experience than the big hire companies. Since I discovered these guys I avoid the big hire firms like the plague.
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