YOU HAVE YOUR SAY
EVERY week Money Mail receives hundreds of your letters and emails about our stories. Here are some from our investigation into how car hire firms are charging drivers £8,000 for vehicle damage and £90 for returning a car with an empty tank… I’VE just been caught by this at Malaga airport. I returned the vehicle without any damage and a tank full of fuel, as agreed. I even washed it. But the next day I had an £81 charge to my credit card and no explanation given. N. F., Belfast. ONE major car rental firm charged me €65 for a tank of petrol when the tank wouldn’t even hold €50 worth. This was for a full tank when I returned it half full. I was also charged a €25 admin fee to process a refund for the half a tank I shouldn’t have paid for! B. R., Tewkesbury, Glos. LAST year a major hire firm in Lisbon told me I couldn’t hire a car without taking out insurance, even though I already had a valid policy. So I called the police and the staff members were arrested. Stand your ground. M.S., Guildford, Surrey. I WAS stung for €390 for a broken lock that was already broken when I received the car. It was noted on the paperwork, but the hire firm tried blaming me. A. B., Benidorm. I HIRED a car in Tasmania this year and had a good experience. The firm didn’t mind that there were a few minor scratches. This should be standard practice. S.M., Bradford, W. Yorks. TAKE photos with a time and date stamp before you drive away. Take a photo of everything, even minor scuffs and scrapes. Then point them out to the rental firm. They don’t like it, but it minimises the chance of being wrongly billed for something. O.M., London. THESE firms will find any reason to take money off you. Twice I’ve had cars signed off with no damage on return, and twice I was charged more than £500 for damage without any warning. D. B., London.