Car Hire/un-authorised credit card payment

[RayandJax]

Hi Guys,

Just thought that I would mention that after my recent 4 week car rental back in October, I just happened to check my bank statement when I got home and noticed that the car hire company had put through an un-authorised payment. It was for an odd amount (£63) and bore no relation to the car hire.

I had booked and paid for the car in the UK. I gave the ususal credit card details for the excess etc... at the office in Italy and I could understand it more if the payment had been put through at the time, by mistake, but it happened a few weeks after I had collected the car and 7 days before it was due to be returned.

I got onto the UK office immediately but it is still being sorted out and I have as yet, been offered no explantion as to why this money was taken. It has all been a bit frustrating and I feel strangely violated (!) Plus, for my trip this weekend (Yipee!) I have had to hire from a more expensive competitor as I feel that I can no longer trust this particular company (I will not name name's on the forum)

I am hoping that this has all been an innocent mistake with a simple explanation. The lead time for the dispute was always destined to be lengthy as we are talking about Italy! (piano, piano!!) But, I, like most of you I should imagine, have to rely on car hire for every visist and I am ashamed to admit that I do not generally check my statements that closely on my return to the UK, which makes me wonder if this has happened before? I do recall hearing of a case where a credit card was copied and used in one of the supermarkets which led to the dismissal of the culprit, but that is a global problem, I know.


Hopefully, this is an isolated incident but I would be interested to know if anyone else has had a similar experience but mostly, this is just a 'heads-up' to be vigillant.

Best wishes and season's greetings to you all.
Jax. XXX

[bobconners]

I also had a recent extra charge which I queried as soon as I noticed it on my bank statement. I was told that the extra was because I had exceeded the 800km mileage but my booking was for unlimited mileage. My money has now been refunded by the car hire company.

Bob

[bella_ciao]

Hi,
If you notice any extra charges on your credit card statement which are unexplained or unauthorised, you need to be persistent in getting to the bottom of the matter and, if it proves to be an error, or dubious, you will need to be persistent with the car hire company over the matter and put your credit card into dispute until the matter is resolved and you get your money back. Also, make sure they reimburse you fully for what they have taken and not at their own "exchange rate" - if they are a reputable company, they will put the matter straight with you swiftly and fairly.
Please let us know how you get on because this kind of information is very helpful to others who view this forum and who travel to the area on a regular basis.
BTW, there have been other threads on car hire, excess and various associated problems on this forum, which you may find helpful.
ATB with your negotiations with this company.
Ciao,
Frances.

[Helena&Jerry]

Hi

We also had something like £25 debited after our last rental. Actually this has happened twice and I will name the company, Auto Europe.

Now I think I will check it out .... I know it's not petrol as we filled up etc. etc.

Helena

[sabrina16]

lucky me, i have never this experience uptill now, i also use a rental company from UK malaga cars. but they have given me good service and also the petrol policy is reseonable.

but i think by reading your experience we have to be careful for the future.

[MarKel]

While I am aware that this reply is to quite an old thread, my recent experience may shed some light on the matter.
We have just returned after a four week stay in Scalea. We hired a car at Ciampino Airport through the agency Carhire 3000, who organised a car with Avis Car Rentals. We paid in full, had unlimited mileage, our own excess insurance, and returned the car on time, with a full tank of petrol. So far, so good.
I have noticed a charge for €37.37 on my credit card, in favour of Avis, which was levied after we returned the car (undamaged, I might add). I have just queried it with Carhire 3000, and was told the charge was for ROAD TAX. When I queried the matter further, I was told that this is a standard charge in Italy.
Has anybody else been asked to pay this? The train from Rome and the Petrosa bus service are becoming increasingly attractive as an alternative to carhire!
Markel

[brynithel3]

Hi Markel

Well they never cease to amaze me with these little extras. I have been hiring cars in Italy for many years and have never been charged road tax but I have never used AVIS. Hertz are another large international outfit and they don't charge for road tax.

Ciao

John

[bella_ciao]

Originally Posted by MarKel

While I am aware that this reply is to quite an old thread, my recent experience may shed some light on the matter.
We have just returned after a four week stay in Scalea. We hired a car at Ciampino Airport through the agency Carhire 3000, who organised a car with Avis Car Rentals. We paid in full, had unlimited mileage, our own excess insurance, and returned the car on time, with a full tank of petrol. So far, so good.
I have noticed a charge for €37.37 on my credit card, in favour of Avis, which was levied after we returned the car (undamaged, I might add). I have just queried it with Carhire 3000, and was told the charge was for ROAD TAX. When I queried the matter further, I was told that this is a standard charge in Italy.
Has anybody else been asked to pay this? The train from Rome and the Petrosa bus service are becoming increasingly attractive as an alternative to carhire!
Markel

Hi Markel,
I'm sorry to hear you've found this extra charge on your credit card. I have to say, if you hired your car through a UK company, all of the charges should have been stated on your itinerary and you should not need to pay any unauthorised charges.
However, it would be good to check the small print on your rental agreement and see whether it includes "all taxes". It should clearly state what your payment covers and what it doesn't. Many car hire companies cover these extra charges in their fees but some don't.
I just checked the Avis blog site "We Try Harder" and it is quite useful for tips and information - you can also post your complaint on there and get help from an advisor, at this link:
Avis Car Hire UK - We Try Harder Blog » Blog Archive » No nasty surprises
Since Avis is the company that charged your card, they are the ones you need to contact, which you can do by email through comments@avis.co.uk, or you can use the contact numbers and address found on at this link:
Avis Car Hire UK - Car Rental - Customer Service: Contact Avis
If you are persistent and the charge is found to be unwarranted, you will be refunded. It is worth a try but I guess the moral of this is to always "read the small print" - there seems to be so much of it on these forms nowadays! Sometimes what appears to be a "bargain" is simply the bare skeleton of what can amount to a much bigger price.
Anyway, it seems as though you already did your homework and made all the necessary arrangements through a reputable company, so I hope you manage to retrieve this irritating charge, which should really be included in the price you paid this company in the first place.
All the best and we look forward to hearing how you get on with this and hope you are able to get the problem solved.
Ciao,
Frances.

[Niamh]

Hi Merkel,
Exactly the same thing happened to us in July hiring Avis through Car 3000. We noticed an extra charge of approx €37. We thought they'd found a scrape or something but when we queried it and were told the same thing. Road Tax. It's a bit annoying when you think you've "Paid in Full" but if it's compulsory tax what can you do? We found them a fair bit cheaper than other companies so didn't mind too much. We are at their mercy til we can have our own little motor awaiting us over there..........some day !
Niamh

[forzascalea]

I have had this happen to me a few times by different car hire companies. One time they said we didn't leave it full of fuel, another time they say there was a scratch on the car, another time a "road tax". It seems that they have targets to meet and just try it on, as they know we are foreigners they mostly get away with it and most people can't be bothered to take it further.

When you do try and take it further you usually meet a wall of international red tape, the British office is usually very helpful but cannot intervene and the Italian office very unhelpful and couldn't care less!

We have learnt from these bad experiences to take dated photos of the car and fuel gage etc when finished clearly showing that the car is in their yard. That way if there are any disputes you have evidence. These companies do act unfairly and all you can do is complain until you become a major pain in their rear. In one instance our credit card company refunded us as a good will gesture even though it wasnt their problem.

[bella_ciao]

Hi,
Thanks for that advice. Taking photographs is something I forgot to mention - of course, the date is most important, too. I also believe that you can't beat writing a well-though-out letter to an actual address - not abusive but showing that you definitely do not expect this kind of treatment from a reputable company and that you expect them to live up to their promises. They will usually write back and apologise and, hopefully, offer to refund you. However, you still need to make sure that your rental agreement covered this "road tax" charge - to me, it seems very strange to say that there are "no nasty surprises" with this company if you suddenly find another charge on your credit card when you get home. Is that good business practice?
Another thing to remember is that, if you can, it is a really good idea to take the person who serves you at the desk when you are returning the car to actually see the car and inspect it with you. My husband did this last time (after one nasty experience) and made sure the gentleman saw that everything was as it should be, including the fuel guage showing the tank as "full". He even pointed out that he had given the car a wash (we had been parked near a particularly dusty area)! We had had a slight bump when someone backed into us in a car park - we pointed this out and were given a quote straight away for the damage and were told the exact amount that would be taken from our credit card. This turned out to be correct, with no extra charges being added. Make sure they tick each of these things off on their checklist as they go around the car. We have also done the same with car hire firms over here - they need to know you're 'on the ball'.
The only other thing you can do is to put your credit card into dispute while all of this is going on - it can take a couple of months or so to sort out but, unless people are willing to take action when these things happen, the problem will continue.
I really do hope you get this problem sorted out and it would be great if you could let us know the outcome.
ATB,
Ciao,
Frances.

[MarKel]

Hi,
Thanks for all the advice, but don't think I will be obtaining a refund anytime soon.
I have checked the voucher I obtained from Carhire 3000, which has "Paid In Full" stamped across it. However, upon checking the small print I found the following - under the heading "Your Rental Includes" it said local taxes would be included - but under the heading "Other Fees Payable Locally" it stated "Road Fee/Road Licence Fee €1.73 + tax per day to a maximum of €31.14 + tax". So with tax this must total €37.37 for the car we had.
While I realise it makes a nonsence of the statement "Paid In Full", the car would have cost me twice as much ( at least ) had I dealt directly with Avis, so things could be much worse. Carhire 3000 are still very reasonable when compared with most other firms. However, "Buyer Beware" as they say!

Thanks again,
Markel

[bella_ciao]

Hi Markel,
I'm glad to hear that you are reasonably satisfied with the price you paid for your car hire, even with the extra charge. However, it does underline the fact that there is a need to read the small print and make sure from the start whether or not there will be extra charges added to your credit card after the fact. This does seem to contradict the claims some of these companies make when they promise "no nasty surprises", etc. Most of us would like to be given an "up front", no nonsense price when we get the quote - finding an unexpected extra charge on your credit card leaves a nasty taste and makes you question that company's integrity.
Anyway, it's all a learning curve and it's always useful to know about other people's experiences because, as they say, 'forewarned is forearmed'.
Tante grazie for your reply and I for one will certainly take this on board the next time we look into hiring a car.
ATB.
Ciao,
Frances.

[falcon]

I always hired a car till last year. In two separate instances, I seem to have committed a traffic offence (presumably speeding) and while I accept the fine if I know about it, all I had was 15Euro charge on the credit card for Avis to give my details to the police and then the following month a 100 Euro charge which I could only presume was the actual fine. However I never had any correspondence about it from the Police or anybody. What I don't like about the credit card is that they can legally stop any payments and you have no recourse.

One bit of advise though. Always use your phone to photograph the car before you hand it in. At least you might have something to argue with if they say the charge is for some scratch or anything similar.

I am pleased to say that now I am retired, I just drive down there and when you take the car hire into consideration even for a couple of weeks, it is no more expensive and a lot less hassle without the waiting at the airport for the security checks etc.

Francis

[Mrs Teapot]

That is a good tip about photographing the car before you take the keys in to the office - didn't think of that one before.

How long does the journey take to you to drive? How many stay-overs do you make? What countries do you go through on your route?

Mrs T

[falcon]

Well this was the first year I tried it in my car with my adult son as a pre-run for me and my wife in our Motorhome later this month; at least that is the plan.

We planned this so that we spent two nights in hotels with both of us driving. We left Sufflolk where my son lives and got the 11.00 Sea France ferry. We drove as much as we could on the first day and we stopped about 60km from the Swiss border about 7pm. Next day we headed straight down through Basle and into Italy and made it to Firenze by 8pm. Stopped the night in a good Motorway hotel as Firenze itself was very expensive and on the last day we headed down south and got to Scalea by about 6pm I think.

We used mostly motorways all the way down at a cost of about 100Euros all together including the Swiss road tax. My C5 behaved very well and I filled up as I left my son's house and twice again on the way down but had fuel for another week in Scalea. Fuel in France and Italy is now more expensive than in the UK.

Hotels cost us 350 Euros for a total of 5 nights. These varied from good clean family run hotels at 50Euros in France to 4 star chain like hotels in Italy and France for about 90 Euros.

We travelled 1660 miles on the way down (shortest route, pretty well using google earth's suggested route). We used no Satnav's and only got lost for a short while in Swizerland but that was really a matter of a couple of miles picking up the wrong route. Otherwise it was very straightforward.

We spent 3 nights going back (intentionally) as we came back via the Alps stopping outside Rome and in Genova and then one stop in France. We purposely stayed off the motorway on the way back and went up the coast as much as possible which was much more relaxing.

In summary, two nights via the motorway is just about comfortable with two driving. On the way back with an extra 500km to drive but stopping for three nights, was a good holiday as we got time to stop in Pisa for half a day and even lingered on in Genova and a border town near Swizerland before we stopped again for half a day in Milau to look at the new bridge.

So I am very much looking forward to my next trip when I will be the sole driver but planning a 10 day trip down and hopefully returning late November. If you get the time to drive, I would highly recommend it.

This thought came about after we tried to buy a car to leave in scalea and like all, we could not due to the residency criteria. It also occurred to me that if I had a car in Scalea with tax and insurance to pay, I could use that money to travel through Europe. The alternative of hiring a car for longer stays now that I am retired was not an option.

[bella_ciao]

Hi Francis,
Thank you for that excellent account of your drive through Europe to get to Calabria. That is exactly the kind of information we other forum users/ viewers need to know because it is much less daunting for anyone who is yet to embark on such a venture if they know something about what to expect in advance. It sounds as though you had a great time and kept to a budget, while also spending some time "seeing the sights" and touring. It will be really interesting to know how you get on when you do it in your motorhome - I guess the accommodation issue will be less of a problem for you and, even though you will be the sole driver, it should be more relaxing as you will be able to make the journey at your own pace. Do let us know how you get on.
We have relatives who have actually hired a car to go as far as Switzerland - I wonder if any of the forum members have done the journey to Calabria in a hire car? The furthest we've ever been in one is Cornwall, which we did this year and found it both swift, convenient and economical, compared to our gas-guzzling vintage 4 x 4, so it would be good to know if anyone has an experience to relate about taking a hire car as far as Calabria. I guess you'd have to shop around for the best deal, as always.
Anyway, thanks again for sharing your experience and all the best with your next trip.
Ciao,
Frances. (with an "e"!)