I am going through a similar problem with Holiday Autos and Irish Car Rentals. I purchased the service in the UK and paid extra to have full insurance in case of any accidents/excesses being payable. Had no problems whilst in Ireland with the car until I returned home to find that they had charged an additional £150 to my credit card! I complained about this unauthorised charge and was told that it was an additional insurance that I had agreed (by signing the rental agreement) to pay for. When I collected the car in Ireland, I was not asked or informed that this extra insurance would be charged or else I would never had agreed to it. Because I signed the rental agreement (which I assumed was to say that I was taking the car for the hire period), they are saying I have to pay this charge - even though they didn't disclose it to me when I collected the car! As far as I was aware, the items ticked on the agreement form was as per agreed with Holiday Autos and I wasn't made aware that the figures quoted were additional charges. In my opinion, they are trying it on and it's completely unacceptable that they can get away with this! I also don't get any help from Holiday Autos, every time I email or call them to find out what is happening, I don't get replies for days and just seem to be going around in circles! I wouldn't ever use these two companies again and it has put me off hiring a car in the future! Also, I disputed this payment with my credit card company who have put this on hold for now but from what I was told by the advisor, issues with car hire companies are complex and they don't like to get involved - so not much hope there either!

i booked via economy car rentals for belfast city airport - Budget were their supplier. When i arrived that had no record of the booking and had never heard of Economy. So was done out of my deposit and had to get a whole new booking. AVOID!

Thanks for the advice. I already purchased a policy from carhireexcess.com and it appears to be good value.

Most car hire companies have the excess in the small print. I used seasoncars, they explained to me the excess before I hired the car, and given me a personal service but I had a credit check they done which cover over half of the excess (depends on your credit rating :-) ), the excess is given back, if you dont hurt the car :-) and also you can takeout insurence provided by some insurance companies which also covers you

Check out carhireexcess.com as they have great prices on car rental excess or car hire excess!

Hi

Do you have a claim outstanding? I work for insurance4carhire so may be able to help

Hello

I work for Insurance4carhire and we sell products that cover any excess payable on car hire. We will insure you on the excess CDW and Theft portions of your car rental up to £2000 in any one incident and £3000 in any one year.

We will also cover damage to windows, tyres, roof and undercarriage of the car. It's worth looking at for the next time you go at insurance4carhire.com. Prices start at just £49 for cover in Europe.

Dan

Just out of interest has anyone had a sucessful claim paid from "insurance4carhire" ?

Smala01

Hi Fairperson,

I read your post with interest as I use Holiday Auto very regularly as i find they have the cheapest price.

The thing to remember is that they are a broker, so they do not supply cars themselves. The cars will be supplied by one of the major rental car companies. I usually get AVIS / EUROPCAR etc

On the voucher they send for you to redeem at the destination it states who is supplying the vehicle so there should be no need to run from one desk to the next.

They also give you the option to take out "Excess" insurance for £1 a day, so if you damage the car and the rental company charges you an excess you can claim this back from Holiday Auto`s. Like it says elsewhere on this thread always decline any additional insurance the car rental firm will try to push onto you - but make sure you have arranged some before you go!.

The only extra charges you should pay are if you do not return the car with a full tank of fuel, you have taken optional insurance or if you damage the vehicle. (make sure you do a good walk around before and after returning the car. make sure all damage is recorded on the sheet). I also got a speeding fine through the post, but that was definitely my fault!

What EXACTLY was the charge for? Maybe we can help you to understand if it was fair or not.

Smala01

Hello,

I booked a week's car hire over the net with Holiday Autos as they had been highly recommended to me. I arrived at Bergerac airport in S.W.France expecting to see one of those characters waving a board around with my name on it or an option to go to Holiday Autos office at the airport. Wrong ! No boards & no office. Instead I had to run the gauntlet of calling in virtually all the offices on site to find out which company I had been allocated. Last office visited was Europcar, who informed me eventually that my hire car was with them. After the usual sign up routine I was handed some keys & documents & told "your car is somewhere over there" pointing to an overfull car parking lot. Ten minutes later the car was found & was impossible to move as it was totally boxed in by other vehicles. An hour later the keys were changed & roughly 2 hours from leaving the departure lounge we were underway. On returning to UK a few weeks later I was stunned to receive my credit card bill with an additional £65 taken by Europcar, who had informed me on returning the vehicle that there would be no additional charges. Visa have refused to refund as have Holiday Autos and Europcars are pretending they are within their rights. My advice to all is do not book with Holiday Autos and certainly don't touch Europcars. A colleague books regularly with Hertz car rentals & has had no problems & no additional fraudulent charges. I shall be doing the same next visit,

I have hired cars (4x4) on line from Economy Car Rentals twice a year for the last three years for holidays in Cyprus. They have always been excellent and much cheaper than anything else I could find - including a free additional driver. The insurance cover is total and I have never been asked to pay any additional excess or supplement on collection. They have always been waiting for me on time and the collection procedure is simple. I have been driving away within minutes. Likewise the drop off procedure is absolutely painless. The cars have alwayss been virtually new and as specified. Perhaps I've just been lucky

I am sure this must be a problem with the Italian rental partner company. I have hired a car in Malta 3 times now with economy car rentals and have had excellent service with no problems. I will continue to use them as I get a really good deal and a decent car too.

From my experience with Economy, it looks like they are ok, you just need to get to know their policy. I booked a car with them in Portugal. They write on their web page that Full Damage Waiver (no excess) is included in the rates and that it is refundable from EconomyCarRentals.com. As I wasn't sure what it meant in practice, I called them and they explained that: when I go to Portugal, the local company will offer me an additional insurance - FDW, but I actually don't have to take it, because I already have it. The difference is that if I take it additionaly, I am free from the formalities. If I don't take it, in case of a damage to the car, I will be charged locally and refunded by Economy (so it will take a bit longer). In order to get my money back, I need to send them some documents they require, which are: "Theft/ damage report and police report. Copy of the rental contract. Receipts of payment, to prove what you have paid, and your credit card statement where we can see which amount that was taken from your credit card." It is a fair deal, becasue it works and the rates they offer are reall and as good as they seem. You just need to know what the deal is. I recommend it, cause it does save you money!!

Greenman:Why don't you go with a broker and take the excess refund? I did with Auto Europe and I am sure all the car hire brokers do. You don't take any insurances locally and if you do have an accident and a supplier like Europcar take the excess from your CC then you just claim it back off the broker. Didn't crash myself but for the extra £10 it was nice to have peace of mind!

I have just booked car hire through Auto Europe for a holiday in Cyprus in November. Car hire is with Europcar. There is no mention of "excess refund" and Europcar UK can't tell us what EDW is likely to be in Cyprus. Insurance4carhire.com offers Excess Reimbursement Insurance at £3.30 plus insurance premium tax per day which covers rentals with all companies. Ever heard of them, good or bad? Thanks.

Hi Zenita You have been fortunate! In my case economycarrentals have refused point blank to entertain my complaint. I think their problem is that if they advertise the full cost of thier insurance they will turn out to be more expensive than their competitors. and they know that ,as they are based in Greece ,they are unlikely to be taken to task. I hope in the next few weeks to lodge a complaint to the European Commission in an effort to stamp out this sharp practice. Mike