I’d always go with one of the big names, IME, having used a broker site in the past to find that no, despite having had the booking for three months, they hadn’t actually bothered to get us a car.

That slight more expense offsets the sort of hassle IME.

Buy the hirers own insurance so their can be no charge to your card. Its more expensive but less hassle when it goes wrong. (It will!)

Unlike one or two on here – you have my sympathy, you’ve essentially been mugged for £200.

I had an issue with Europcar whereby they added £100 valet charge to my cc after declaring that there would be no charges when I dropped it off. This valet charge was due to sand in the boot – bucket and spade type residue rather than a ton bag from Wickes!

Chargeback via Santander intially met with the same repsonse that you have received – they say no so we can’t be arsed. Go back as advised above and insist. FO would be the follow up I think if they dig their heels in.

Remember, most people will simply give up at first refusal so keep at them.

Doing my own research … doesnt look good for you OP … sorry

8. Once the contract is issued read it carefully before leaving the office. If there are charges you don’t understand ask about them. If the total shown is more than that printed on your voucher you may, unwittingly, have signed up for optional insurances you do not need. You must dispute these items immediately otherwise you will have to pay for them.

taken from here … http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/advice/Holiday-car-hire-an-essential-guide-to-save-you-money/

Obviously, I would rather give £200 to any charity than let the thieving rental car company have it.

In fact its only £185 but if i get it back I’ll happily stick £200 in a donation box.

After being shafted in various ways by car hire over the years, I vowed only to ever use Enterprise (who are excellent btw)…. but I’ve just used rentalcars.com to book a two week rental in Manchester. You do have to be a bit selective with them – lots of the attractive headline rates are from Fred-in-his-shed type operations which often come with loads of hidden charges.

To the OP: I think your beef is with your CC company. “Merchant rejected my claim” is a non-response designed to get you to drop it. You made no claim to the merchant, they did – your claim is with the CC company. If the merchant isn’t cooperating with the CC company, then thats their problem, not yours. Your protection against fraud with the CC company is not contingent on whatever happens between them and the agent.

I’ve had similar in the UK when not wanting the (about the same amount again as the hire itself) collision waiver insurance. They tried to add it on after me repeatedly stating I didn’t want it -when booking, and in front of them. I only got to reject it as the amount on the card reader was incorrect when they asked me to enter the PIN.

This was a mainstream UK hire place. They’re all at it, but get onto your bank and get it reversed, or escalate as necessary.

Reading what Rosie has found.. grr…

They have effectually opted me in for the extra insurance and its up to me to OPT-OUT by reading the contract which I received after it has been issued and signed (digitally).

Surely there has got to be a legal way out of this? it must happen all the time.

point taken batfink.

Another reason to rise it here is I want this detail on the internet so it might help someone else one day… grr…

Enterprise being “excellent” is something id have to disagree with. We had a different but shocking experience with them and a rental supplied whilst our car was off the road!! Caused stress and nearly a court date as they tried to rip off the other drivers insurance for our costs. Doubling the usual hire charge to try and fleece them..

Theyre all shite and right up there with estate agents!!

I have nothing of value to add apart from rental stations within a car rental company can act very differently. Some are wholly owned, some franchised and the quality can differ massively.

So one Enterprise/Europcar/Hertz local office can be great, and the other one down the road rubbish.

I also say dispute the charge with HSBC (assuming it was a *credit* card).

Sounds like you’ve been had by the agent at the rental station sadly- I don’t think they’ll suddenly admit “oh yes, true, we added it without you noticing”.

The guy at the desk is likely on commission and tries this trick on everyone.

Sorry the above sounds harsh, I actually have sympathy.

It’s not just at pickup when you should check paperwork. Europcar once gave me a return receipt with the wrong time on and charged me an extra day as a result! Unfortunately for them I had plenty of evidence like tickets etc and got the money back. Unfortunately you just need OCD (or better still outright paranoia!) at pickup and collection. Leave plenty of time if possible.

All the best with it.

Sorry to hear about your difficulties OP. It does sound like you have been mis-sold an opt out or misunderstood the explanation. Either way it is a difficult case to argue on a charge back. Have Maggiore actually said this amount is for excess insurance. Did you read theirFAQ before raising a dispute https://www.maggiore.it/en/faq/faq.html They state a refund time which is already long. If you are already disputing before this period you will have confused a possible refund.

We have always booked through a third party online and gone with an annual excess policy. I have never heard the question about excess framed as you put it though we tend to go for a mid price on the rental options. Maybe they are better I don’t know. At the end of the day these are businesses trying to attract customers not have scam against every review.

If you don’t take their insurance you still need to hand over your card and they retain the full excess amount, ie you need enough credit on the card to cover the full excess. It is only charged if they claim damage and you have to then reclaim from insurer. If you don’t take their insurance and something goes wrong there is going to be hassle somewhere along the line.

Indeed with Avis, Europcar and the like the experience (bar queues) is very slick. We recently returned from Portugal and cannot be happier with Europcar drop off at Porto. We read all the “scam” reviews on Portugal and realise how few people do any research before going abroad.

That said they will always try to upsell – special upgrade price/ excess/ satnav etc but have never had any hassle turning it down.

One thing I would say is the annual insurance is worth it even if you take the hire companies insurance – or at least insurance4carhire if not just for the Text HELP for English assistance option 🙂 also for any bits you discover even the car hire still don’t cover,

If you’re giving it to charity anyhow, I suggest you just buy a cheapo flight back to Italy and burn their office down. Far more satisfying.*

*possibly