ARE YOU BEING OVERCHARGED FOR CAR RENTAL REPAIRS?

Car hire customers in Europe are being regularly overcharged for repairs, according to an investigation that found that one customer had been billed over Dh5,000 for a windscreen chip that could have been repaired for just Dh178.

The investigation, by the consumer rights group Which?, found that customers are regularly charged for damage they believe they didn’t cause, and that the cost of repairs is at times greatly inflated. Sometimes the repairs may not even take place.

Which? collected photographic evidence from car hire users across Europe who believed they had been overcharged. The photos were then sent to Which? Trusted Trader garages, who were asked to quote how much they would charge for the repair.

In 8 out of 12 cases, the car hire company was judged to be overcharging for the repairs, and in four of these cases charged more than double the average quote given by the Trusted Trader garages.

In the most extreme case, a customer was fined £1,154 (Dh5,849) by Europcar for a small windscreen chip that could have been repaired for an estimated £35 (Dh178).

In a survey of 150 readers, Which? found nearly 44 per cent felt they had been hit with an excessive charge and 18 per cent for damage they knew nothing about. Nearly three in five received no evidence from the car hire company of how the charge was calculated.

Car hire firms including Avis, Budget and Hertz admitted to Which? that often the repairs are not carried out, or they may delay repairs until a later date when several problems can be fixed at once. The bill customers receive is an estimate based on a “damage matrix” of charges.

According to Which?, industry insiders have pointed to a drop in profit margins in the car hire industry, which is driving more companies to find new ways to make extra money out of customers.