We were charged £175 for this tiny bumper mark ...
WAYNE Mott was stung with a £175 charge for an 8millimetre black mark on the Seat Leon he hired from Goldcar in Spain last year.
The 48-year-old airline pilot was on holiday in Majorca with his wife, Laura, 44, and their three children: Amelia, nine, Eleanor, eight, and William, two.
‘We hire cars regularly and I like to think I am quite savvy,’ says Wayne, who booked via a broker. ‘I felt I had got a decent deal at £147 to hire the car for 11 days.’
When picking up the vehicle, Wayne, from Horsham, West Sussex, was keen to check it carefully for scratches and scuffs. ‘I always take photos – and get staff to sign the paperwork showing any damage,’ he says. ‘But the Goldcar employee said that we could ignore any mark less than 50 millimetres.’
When the Motts returned their car at the end of their holiday, staff did not have time to check the car.
But Wayne says: ‘A week later, I got a £175 bill which Goldcar said was for “damage” on the rear bumper.’ He adds that it was ‘no bigger than a screw head.’
He immediately complained. This turned into an email saga lasting two months. Meanwhile, his credit card provider, Halifax Clarity, agreed to refund the money under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.
On Friday, Goldcar told The Mail on Sunday that the charge had been ‘applied correctly’.