hired a vito 9 seater and i noticed the rears were a bit low – i mentioned it to the person who was signing it out and she sent a knuckle dragger out to tell me they were ok, and the legal limit is 1.4mm all the way across the tyre. it didn’t even look like 1.4mm (the legal limit is 1.6mm as it happends)

when i got home, i crawled underneath and found this:

😯

frightening. we are about to drive to john o groats, and then lands end and them home again. i got the wife to call them as i would have started ranting – hopefully they will come and get some new tyres fitted. i’m not holding out hope on them fitting a decent brand as the fronts are dogshitefookyoudieyoungs.

i feel i should complain to someone

report it to BVRLA, they take a dim view of stuff like this..

was it a reputable company ?

it is a local company but it is affiliated with one of the big ones you see at the airport (big signs on the front of the building and so on). i think i should at least get some money off since the minibus has been unusable for over half a day already. i’ll see how they handle it first.

it is a 62 plate vito with 17k miles on it

Hmmm. They’ve been like that for a while then. They obviously don’t take too much care of the vehicles.

I’d see how they react and take it from there; mortified and rushing to sort you out with new tyres or a different van with good tyres, then I’d probably leave it at that. But, if they are a bit Meh about the whole thing I would take pics including one of the whole van with reg plate etc. or maybe a video and take it further.

Sounds a bit ‘could be a kid’s face’ but that could cause a serious accident on the motorway, which you presumably don’t want in a loaded minibus….?

initially i was more worried about the 2.5k fine per tyre and 3 points per tyre, but yes, i agree.

i will go and get some more pics. what pisses me off is i pointed the low tyres out to them and the knuckle dragger looked at me like i was stupid.

Just that pic could be a grand fine and points, for you not them. I’d be **** livid and wouldn’t trust them any further, you already brought it to their attention and they lied to you. Refund and go somewhere else.

Edit: just what you said but a bigger fine!

the legal limit is 1.6mm as it happends

i thinks it’s 1 mm for a 9 seater but that aside the tyre is dead.

Extremely dangerous and disgusting from a company hiring out vehicles. That is a basic safety check and there is no excuse. If they miss that then god knows what else is poorly maintained.

Do not use it and find another hirer. If you want to complain dial 101 and complain to the police.

Always problems, never solutions.

Give them some options. They can either bring a new van with decent tyres over immediately. Or have someone collect it from you and drive you and it to the nearest tyre place and get some new ones fitted, plus refund you for the time it’s been out of action.

Or they can meet you at the nearest police station where you’ll happily hand the keys back to them so they can drive it away; and then take your business elsewhere.

i thinks it’s 1 mm for a 9 seater but that aside the tyre is dead.

It’s not, it’s 1.6mm.

Personally, I’d refuse to drive that back to them, let alone take it on holiday. Tell them to either come and get it and bring you another one, or send Kwik Fit Mobile out.

Always problems, never solutions.

Give them some options.

It’s not his responsibility to be coming up with solutions, it’s theirs.

Always problems, never solutions.

Give them some options.didn’t he give them options on the forecourt when he said those tyres look a bit shagged and they said no they’re fine…?

i thinks it’s 1 mm for a 9 seater but that aside the tyre is dead.

I really do hope you’re not in the trade or drive one. 1mm is like a racing slick.

take photos – speak to head office of the company they are affiliated to.

It’s 1mm over 3/4 of the tread width for trucks.
It might sound odd allowing lower limits for bigger vehicles, but trucks are far less likely to aquaplane.
Anyway, whatever the limit is for minibuses, exposed wire (if that’s what it is in that picture) is an immediate prohibition.

The knuckle-dragger would have only looked at the outside edge and your pic shows the wear marker on the right looking deeper than the inside one so I’m guessing the tyre has worn differently over it’s width so it could look fine from the outside.

Not making excuses for them but if you’re not happy with the vehicle presented to you do not take it. I regularly rent cars and vans via work and the amount of times I’ve had to reject a vehicle is astounding considering we use the big companies. Bald tyres, knackered wipers, headlights not working etc are all common.

Oh and do not drive it now you know the defect is there. It is your responsibility to ensure the vehicle is roadworthy so you get the fine, points or worse.

EDIT: Vitos are under 3.5T so the limit will be 1.6mm. It’s only 1mm for vehicles that are over 3.5T and are limited to 56mph. The only exception is coaches.

It is 1.6mm, as a 9 seater minibus can be driven under a normal license with D1
http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@motor/documents/digitalasset/dg_4011275.pdf

As for the offence, YOU the driver take responsibility once it has been signed over to you. It is up to the driver to check the vehicle once it has been delivered (well done OP for doing this) and note/report any faults. If not and the driver uses the vehicle and you get stopped, the points go on your license. The hire company(s) have a legal obligation to provide a road worthy vehicle to the driver, so they will have to either replace vehicle or the tyres.

I am glad the OP has done his checks.

I was being tongue in cheek when i said give them options. They’re ultimatums, either fix it, now, or come and collect it from the police station.

It’s 1mm over 3/4 of the tread width for trucks.

Yup but a minibus is a LGV class.

1mm, 1.4mm or 1.6mm is all irrelevant. that tyre is illegal and they should never have hired out that vehicle.

As others have said I wouldn’t be driving that to the end of the street never mind JoG.

It would make me question how well the vehicles are maintained, whether they have MOT’s etc as that should have be picked up by a diligent vehicle hire place who should check things like tyres, bulbs, wipers etc every time a car comes in and goes out.

Bad enough on a car where you may well be the only driver but on one where you are going to be responsible for number of passengers as well its truly shocking.

I would phone them up and tell them to come get and issue a refund. Take lots of pics as evidence and I would report that anyway. Really not acceptable at all

MOTs

I was being tongue in cheek when i said give them options.

Sorry, yes, I see that now. Hard to get that sort of thing in text sometimes.

frightening. we are about to drive to john o groats, and then lands end and them home again. i got the wife to call them as i would have started ranting

You absolute coward .

probably true!

Surely a scoop of stan’s sealant will fix the problem? 😉

Can’t you just get the wife to change the tyre?

JUST PERHAPS AS THE DRIVER YOU WILL SLEEP OK IF YOU HAVE A CRASH OR A BLOW OUT AND PEOPLE GET KILLED AND INJURED, BECAUSE YOU ACEPTED THE VEHICLE AND DROVE IT KNOWING IT TO BE DANGEROUS, PERHAPS WITH THE SAME LUCK CHOOSE 6 NUMBERS FOR SATURDAYS LOTTERY , YOURE SURE TO BE A WINNER.

Google coach crash due to old dodgy tyres, the owners went to prison.

Also report the vehicle to vosa and the bvla and dont drive the thing.

Other van hire companies are available.

Well?

Project. STOP SHOUTING

They eventually came and took it away and fitted some new hankooks. Lost 6 hours use.

You need a refund for the loss of use
They should refund the entire day as it was their fault. Report them anyway to BVRLA

thats really bad, surely they havent got that bad in 17,000 miles

ive done 40,000 hard miles on my van tyres

A slight digression, I saw a Golf R32 parked at Tesco’s with a tyre down to the wire. Wondered if I slashed it or removed the valve core, would I get in trouble?

cozz – Member
thats really bad, surely they havent got that bad in 17,000 miles

ive done 40,000 hard miles on my van tyres

number of options I’d guess

hire co’ swopped the newer tyres/wheels onto another higher mileage vehicle v. possible if they sell them directly

renter swopped the tyres/wheels and rental co didn’t spot it (unlikely)

employee swopped out the tyres for personal use or personal gain or allowed someone else to do it for personal gain

Another option, although i don’t know the two vans so could be wrong, is that one is front wheel drive and one is rear wheel drive.

I used to work at a Mercedes Commercial dealer and one of the salesman’s jobs was to find the intended use of the van and pass the information on to the service department, so that during the PDI check, they could set not just the tyre pressures, but the tracking as well, depending on the weight it was likely to carry.
A hire van will have both set for the best compromise, so could well wear out tyres quicker.