 Ryanair Car Rental
Hi,
While we're on the subject of car rental, I just thought I'd mention that, having initially sung the praises of Ryanair's cheap car rental via Hertz, I found that they charged an extra premium for the excess, which in itself amounted to more than the initial premium. So I took the advice of another forum poster and took out cover for the excess with Insurance4carhire, which came to just £49.00. Consequently, when we got to Lamezia airport in June and were offered the option of excess cover by Hertz, we of course told them that we had already covered for this and had the documents with us, though the guy who dealt with us said he didn't need to see them. However, while I was speaking to our Italian relatives who had met us at the airport, the same guy asked my husband to sign the car hire document, so I didn't see this taking place (incidentally, hubby doesn't speak Italian). When we arrived home afterwards, I found I was met with a large bill for the excess :shock: , so I immediately 'phoned Hertz Europe and was informed by a French guy that they couldn't do anything about it because he had my husband's signature on the document. :x Of course, I wouldn't accept that so he asked me to send copies of all the relevant documents so that they could make a decision on the matter. I also immediately 'phoned my credit card company, who put my card into dispute, and shortly afterwards I received an apologetic email from Hertz saying that they had refunded me for an amount in Euros, which was actualy over £32.00 short of the amount for which I was overcharged :roll: . I have since managed to retrieve this second amount through the credit card company, but it was a lot of unnecessary hassle and very time-consuming.
The moral of this story is that, if you decide to take out car hire with Ryanair and then cover for the excess with another company, make sure that the Italian representative at the other end understands fully that you do not require the excess option and then watch that you don't sign for it! I'm sure it was just a mistake as English is not spoken widely in Southern Italy and those who do speak it may still be trying to come to grips with it but it just shows that you can't take anything for granted.
Other than that, we didn't have too many hitches, except that one airport official misunderstood what I was saying and we found ourselves waiting in the wrong spot at the airport, wondering why we were the only ones in the queue! :? Happily, we soon found the right one!
I guess it's a matter of time before things start to run more smoothly but there's always a need to keep your wits about you in these situations.
ATB,
bella_ciao  | 
30-08-2007, 23:55
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