Two in three pay inflated price for car-hire repairs

TWO thirds of car-hire customers billed for repairs are being overcharged, a Which? investigation has found.

Bills are typically three times the actual cost of the repair, the consumer watchdog established in the study, which looked at car firms across Europe. In some cases, the fee was as high as 30 times the true cost, it found.

The revelations come after a Daily Telegraph investigation found that Europcar UK was grossly inflating the charge for repair work by up to 300 per cent through secret deals with repair firms, which lawyers described as “fraudulent”.

It is understood that an official investigation of the firm was passed from Trading Standards to the Serious Fraud office last year due to its huge scale.

The Which? findings raise questions over whether such rebate systems may be in place to boost profits at customers’ expense in other car firms across the world.

In eight out of 12 cases Which? investigated, independent garages asked for a quote for the same work said they would charge less than the car-hire companies for the repair.

In four of these cases, the car-hire company charged more than double the average cost suggested by Which? Trusted Traders mechanics.

Of the 36 quotes received from the Which? Trusted Traders garages, only eight were equal to or higher than the rental firm’s charge. In one case, Europcar billed a customer renting a car in France £1,154 for a windscreen chip that could have been fixed for as little as £35. Europcar said the charge was a mistake and has now refunded the customer.

Some drivers said they suspected carhire firms may have been charging multiple customers for the same minor damage to a vehicle. Many major carhire firms – including Avis, Budget and Hertz – admitted to Which? that they often do not carry out repairs, even when customers pay for them. Instead, they said they may delay work until a later date, allowing them to fix several problems at once, or leave the damage – taking a hit on the vehicle’s resale value.

The bill a customer receives may be purely theoretical. It is based on what is known as a “damage matrix” of charges – essentially an estimate.

Rory Boland, Which? travel editor, said: “It’s outrageous that car-hire customers are being made to pay extortionate amounts for repairs that never take place. If repairs are required, customers should be sent clear evidence of how costs were calculated.”

“Car-hire firms now need to clean up their act and be up-front about the real cost of renting a car instead of offering too-good-to-be-true prices, then clawing back profits via ridiculous repair bills.”

‘Car-hire firms now need to clean up their act and be up-front about the real cost of renting a car’