Last week we went on holiday to Spain, renting a car through Europcar, easyJet’s rental partner. When we picked up the car at Gibraltar, we were given a document to sign (in Spanish only). On top of the basic rental of £151 there was also an additional charge of over £300, with no explanation as to what this was for. We queried this with the man from Europcar, and he told me that if I didn’t have “protection” on my credit card, I needed to pay this.
When I asked what it was, he seemed suddenly unable to understand English. My husband asked if it was refundable and the man nodded. We signed and took the car. When we dropped it off a week later, I wanted to reconfirm that the money would be put back on my card. The same gentleman was in the office but on his phone. Despite waiting 15 minutes he didn’t end the call, and we had to leave to catch our plane.
A day after we got home I received an invoice showing we paid more than £300 for damage and theft protection. Not only did we not ask for this, but at no point was it even mentioned!
My attempts to contact them have so far been unsuccessful. Having spoken to a few people about this, it seems I am far from the only person this has happened to. ES, Bath
Indeed, you are not the first car hirer to fall victim to this kind of behaviour at a foreign car rental desk – our postbag suggests this happens routinely. Commission-driven local staff can be desperate to flog their overpriced extra insurance, and will often tell you anything to make you buy it. This is where car hire firms make their money.
Our policy is simple: always buy car hire insurance from one of the specialist providers. We like Insurance4carhire, but there are others. Its annual European policy costs £39.99, or you can pay £4 a day, and the cover is far better than offered by the car hirers. Just remember to stand firm at the desk and agree to be liable for the excess, which you claim back if there is an accident.
With that warning out of the way, we asked Europcar about your case, and it has now agreed to refund you the £300. Unusually, it has claimed that when you made the booking you said you were a US citizen, and this was the reason you were charged the extra insurance to meet “the company’s terms and conditions of the rental”.
“Without the CDW (collision damage waiver), ES would have been driving without insurance, and if the vehicle was damaged she could have been liable for the full cost of the car,” it said.
“Europcar acknowledges the customer is not a US citizen, and for that reason will refund the difference between the original charge and the charge she should have paid for the waiver, as a gesture of goodwill.”
You have expressed incredulity at this response but are delighted to have been reunited with your £300.
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