Short story is I been charged £200 for additional insurance I didn’t ask for (on a £120 rental).

Please read if you can help or just to make yourself aware so you don’t get in the same situation.

Booked and pre-paid for rental via RentalCars.com using Mastercard.
Picked up car at Maggaorie desk in Italy.

‘Can i have your credit card sir’
‘Why?’
‘In case you have a accident – there is 2000euro excess’
‘I have 3rd party excess insurance’ Shows printed certificate
‘In that case you have to pay the excess to us and claim back yourself’
I give him the card and he asks be to sign a tablet.

I’m not presented any rental doc to read or initialise items on before signing. I get the keys, a copy of the rental doc (folded) and I’m on my way.

On getting back to UK, I find £200 charge for excess insurance. I have a look at the rental doc and I can see it listed in the corner – very small writing – half the words in Italian. My copy of the doc has the signature area blacked out completely i.e. there is no indication that it is a area where a signature should be required or present.

I feel scammed. I didn’t want or need their £200 insurance – I didn’t ask for it, I wasn’t offered it. But because they use of a tablet to capture my signature, they were able to sneak it on.

I contacted RentalCars.com – no joy.
I contacted HSBC Mastercard – they said the merchant rejected my claim.

What can I do? Can I go down the small claims route against a foreign company?

out of interest, who was the actual rental company?

been through every line of the T&C’s you have in the original contract?
Rental cars are only the booking agent as far as I can see, who was the actual provider? Some of the smaller ones have interesting T&C’s

You want to take a company in Italy to a small claims court in the UK?

Is this this ‘taking back control’ lark I’ve been hearing about?

Good luck with that

By the sounds of it I’d just suck it up. Because in the other direction lies being driven to almost certain madness, after wasting a serious chunk of your life.

I contacted HSBC Mastercard – they said the merchant rejected my claim

I’d go back to Mastercard, the whole point is that they are responsible, not the merchant.

I’ve been ripped off a couple of times. One time I did a chargeback and told the bank I’d expect a full explanation about why it had been rejected if indeed it was (i.e. not just saying “Oh, we tried, no go”. I wouldn’t accept a CC company just saying “No” to the chargeback, you’re their customer and you’ve been missold, in my experience they usually side with the customer. The other time I emailed Europcar first (I’d also emailed Enterprise, the first company but they told me to piss off) and explained the problem and they refunded me the disputed amount.

That said, if you had third party insurance, the usual mode is you pay for the damages IF they happen not give them the excess amount beforehand.

Unless you actually agreed to the charge. I can see why hire car companies are wary of 3rd party insurances as there is nothing to stop you cancelling it, not paying the excess or it not being worth the paper it’s printed on leaving them at risk again.
Is it a full charge or a deposit to be refunded within a month or so.

That said, if you had third party insurance, the usual mode is you pay for the damages IF they happen not give them the excess amount beforehand.

It is, but you have to hand the card over on car pick up so they can ‘block’ the max excess amount from your card.

The car rental company is Maggiore (sorry misspelt above)

https://www.maggiore.it

I contacted them first – no joy (obviously)

I can see why hire car companies are wary of 3rd party insurances as there is nothing to stop you cancelling it, not paying the excess or it not being worth the paper it’s printed on leaving them at risk again.

see above – they block the full excess amount on your card at pick up- it is unblocked if the car is returned without damage.

Have you gone through all the documents, did you have a copy when you booked originally? I’ve had the agree this to agree to the Standard T&C’s of the people who supply the car stuff – ie need to go read another layer.

Just to be clear I handed over card to pre-authorise the ‘up to 2000eur’ excess in case of a accident. I did not pre-pay 2000 eur.

The fact that the card was also used to pay for excess insurance i didn’t ask for is the problem.

Quite typical with car rental companies theses days, particularly at airports.

You have a £1000/$1000/E1000 damage excess on a hire care. You can take out an insurance policy with the rental company to cover that excess, typically for a few pounds/dollars/euros per day, or you can pay the excess up front and then claim it back when you return the car undamaged. No other options

To answer the question though is there mention of the excess insurance in any of the online docs you ticked to agree to when booking?
I know wicked campers down here in oz have a clause of mandatory fee per day if you use your own insurance. BS but it’s there in the T&C’s

I’ll re-read the t&c again.

i don’t rent cars much but the last time I rented from hertz in 2014, I signed a piece of paper and I had to put initials next to every feature of item on the document.

When the signature is on a tablet – whats stopping adding on anything they want?

When booking I didn’t choose to buy any excess insurance from them.

On the rentalcars.com voucher, it says any additional items are between the car rental company and myself.

I gave up on buying insurance from the broker. Now I only rent from mainstream companies with their own insurance. Not the cheapest option, but it makes for an easier life.

I’ve rented with maggiore in Sicily. Too small and I wouldn’t use again.

We were stung for a parking ticket last year, despite having a receipt from the local post office stating we had paid it on the day. The costs incurred by the chasing debt company and fine were refunded to our credit card eventually.

This is a very common practice. The rental company insisted you weren’t covered when you were so I suggest you complain on that basis. i.e. the desk staff’s ‘facts’ were wrong and you incurred costs as a result. They will definitely fob you off and dismiss the complaint but escalate beyond them to whichever body oversee them, they are obliged to tell you who you can escalate the complaint to.

EDIT – having read your latest reply it looks like you turned down the extra cover initially then changed your mind at check-in. They really are a bunch of shits, the extra cover should cost much less than you paid at the desk.

Nope – didn’t change my mind at check in. I never wanted ‘their’ extra cover – I didn’t ask for it – they did not ask if I wanted it – they just stuck it on hoping i wouldn’t notice.

Extra cover is not mandatory. If i don’t buy it from the car rental company then if there is a accident/damage then I am liable up to 2000 euro.

The whole problem with rental car industry is that they have your credit card and in many ways it feels like your writing them a blank cheque. In this case its a rental out of country so they think they can get away with a lot more.

In some ways I am careful – on the drop off I bought the daily paper – videoed the date then videoing the condition of the car inside and out inc the full fuel gauge.

Basically if they get away with it, the £120 car rental is going to cost me £320. Complete sh1t!

hey – if anyone can help me get the money back from this I’ll happy give the £200 to the charity of their choice.

Go back to Mastercard, say they are jointly responsible and you are disputing that you signed for the service that you were charged for. Say that it’s irrelevant what the merchant says and that you want a chargeback made.

I think the booking company haven’t explained what you are booking properly in advance.

I had something similar with doyouspain a few years ago. The website suggested when booking you should take their insurance and that if you didn’t the local hire company insurance would be much more expensive. They also didn’t explain that you would have to put down a credit card that would be blocked for a large figure with the hire company in case you had an accident. You’d then have to cover the cost of that claim, then try and get it back from doyou.

When I went to collect the car the local company were really funny about the 3rd party cover, and their local insurance actually wouldn’t have been any more expensive. It was really awkward.

THey gave me the choice of blocking my card or taking their insurance and made it very clear what the 2 options were.

Sounds like your local company weren’t honest and just whacked you for the insurance they wanted to sell you.

Chargeback seems your only option.

I’ve just been through the chargeback process with HSBC Mastercard over the last 4 months- they said the merchant has rejected my claim and that the £200 charge on my card would remain.

That’s why I’m asking for advice here.

Have you thought about chalking it down to experience and getting on with your life?

There are lots of airport rental scams, I got done by Goldencar at Bordeaux Airport(again arranged through Rentalcars.com). I think that the only way to avoid it is to hire through the big agencies like Avis.

they said the merchant has rejected my claim

As I said, you need to remind MasterCard that they are jointly responsible and that they can’t just say ‘the people who ripped you off have said tough’.

Write to Mastercard with a letter before action.

They all do this in my experience, it’s a common tactic.

enfht – Member
They all do this in my experience, it’s a common tactic.

Renting once a month from one of the big guys no issues, no dodgy charges, no small print clauses. The small companies are cheap for a reason, they make up the difference with extras like the insurance, charges and that selling you the tank of fuel.

On the chargeback if you signed up for something and they can prove it then can they actually chargeback?

Got conned myself. Goldcar wanted €250 for a tiny mark (in reality almost invisble) on a very scuffed Yaris. I had personal XS insurance. Took loads of pictures.

Was ransomed by the car check in that I had to accept / sign for the damage before they would sign the return. If they did not sign the return, then the car was effectively ‘stolen’. They knew I had a plane to catch!

Went to claim on my insurance that and was told my my insurance that there was no actual damage was present and wouldn’t pay up.

Go back to Mastercard, show them all your contact trails and show them your copy of your excess insurance, showing that you did not need or require this. They are jointly liable and need to understand that you specifically didn’t ask for this product and have been charged for it without your consent.

I had similar with my bank a couple of years ago, they said no at first and in the end I just kept escalating it up the chain of command until someone listened and looked at my evidence properly.

Earl – Member
hey – if anyone can help me get the money back from this I’ll happy give the £200 to the charity of their choice.

I do sympathise with your predicament, but if, when you get the money back, you’re going to give it to charity anyway, why bother? ❓

Afraid it happens all the time in spain with the cheapest quotes. I looked on the local inde operator and thought his prices were q expensive, but include 2nd driver, full full fuel and ability to take out your own fuly comp ins.

Avoid the cheapies you will pay more and feel ripped off.

Sorry btw i hate being ripped off.

We got ripped off by Hertz in Italy so it isn’t just the little guys. Sorted by the credit card company mostly due to hertz not replying to requests for more information

you’re going to give it to charity anyway, why bother?

principal… and a charity gets £200 at a guess?!

Re the chargeback…

My company takes online payments and when we get chargebacks (invariably as we offer installments and the customer has forgot they set it up!) our merchant bank basically writes to us and says we’ve had a chargeback we will honor it unless you prove otherwise. We have to send documentation proving the transaction is valid

Not sure if its the same with overseas operators (or its just our merchant bank being shisters ) but if it is, sounds like they think they can prove the charge.

Sorry that doesn’t help you much but as said before i’d keep pressing the credit card company.

Booking a rental car out of Alicante next week.

It’s a mine field and shouldn’t be.

Any tips please ?

Any tips please ?

http://www.carjet.com

Buy their top up insurance

Could you ask Dave to bring it up as part of the Brexit negotiations? This is exactly the sort of thing that forced us out in the first place. Johnny bloody foreigner and his small Euro-print.

Just look at his chubby little patriotic face. He’ll definitely get it sorted for you…

Ro5ey use an inde like edi, what day you flying i m flying 11 jul my cars at the airport if it helps.