‘Local’ (bad!) Car Hire Companies

Last 2 holidays where I have hired a car and used an excess waiver policy of my own I have used smaller local companies, one in Romania and just now one in Italy. Both times they have in my opinion dishonestly come up with ways of getting money out of me instead of their extortionate excess waiver policies. In both instances I’m highly doubtful if they will actually spend any money on the cars. The second one I’m reasonably sure they just hide the shelf in a cupboard and have a good laugh about it afterwards.
First one was a tiny mark which I’m sure I didnt make on the paintwork, second one was a car supplied without the little removeable parcel shelf thing in the boot, which they then claimed we had somehow lost. Both times the amount charged was a little more than the cost of their zero excess option.
I can claim back the money but it’s really putting me off using anything but the bigger companies in future. Plus I’ll be taking detailed videos of a car that appears to be brand new, as this one was. Seems to me their zero excess policies are the main way of making a profit these days.
Wondering it’s just me, or if others have had similar experiences?

it wont be just you mate, theres thousands of horror stories regarding car hire abroad.  plenty of positive stories too, but you just got unlucky.

the only thing i can recommend is going on the relevant tripadvisor forum before you book and either ask yourself, or read the reviews already posted to get a feel for a company.  might just sway the odds in your favour.

seems to me their zero excess policies are the main way of making a profit these days

this has been the case for a long time, but video the car well at pickup and you’re covered

car hire companies need to make a certain amount of money to break even. If you’re paying less than this amount its unsurprising they need other income revenue streams to get it back

Agree – I would have taken a video but there wasn’t a mark on it and didn’t even consider the parcel shelf.
Yes I did read reviews and they were mostly positive. What I didn’t know was that the company I thought I was hiring from turned out to I assume have sold out to a different one, which has overwhelmingly much worse reviews than the one I thought I was using.

Like a dodgy car hire company, I like to bring my own policy into it:
1. Take their excess cover.
2. Get my money’s worth.

hire companies need to make a certain amount of money to break even. If you’re paying less than this amount its unsurprising they need other income revenue streams to get it back

Errrrr.. it’s not an “income revenue stream” it’s fraud.  Don’t try to paint it as something reasonable

I generally expect online reviews to be mostly fake or the work of idiots, but I recently submitted a factual negative TrustPilot review recently and watched with satisfaction as it was unsuccessfully challenged as defamatory.

zomg so I guess you’re suggesting insurance fraud?? Sounds like a great solution…!?
Sorry just realised you mean go banger racing with the hire car…

Errrrr.. it’s not an “income revenue stream” it’s fraud. Don’t try to paint it as something reasonable

I’ve never (in >100 hires) had a fraudulent claim against me. It doesn’t look like the OP definitely knows theirs is fraudulent either – they’re not claiming the paint/parcel shelf is not present, just that they didn’t check it before hand.

No – it 100% wasn’t there. Just only noticed after 2 days so was too late to take a video. Nobody else used the car or parked it for us.

I’ve had the same. Twice. I just get full cover now – they dgaf when you return it – stress free life is absolutely worth it

they’re not claiming the paint/parcel shelf is not present, just that they didn’t check it before hand.

Ah, you think it may have jumped out of the car when they weren’t looking?

Idle musings here…

Is it possible to disable your location settings, backdate the phone and then take pictures showing the lack of parcel shelf, should this ever happen to you again? Would the exif data show no location and the time and date you set?

Persuading the shysters that you were still in their garage might be a bit more troublesome though unless you do a bit of close up or cropping.

I feel your pain. I had to deal with some horrible sales staff in Lisbon last year. I/ we cracked and coughed up for the excess insurance in the end and divvied the cost up between us.

I’m very likely going to be able to claim back the cost using my own excess waiver insurance so eventually it won’t cost me anything. I just find it extremely annoying when they come up with something as crazy as claiming I somehow lost a parcel shelf once they fail to find any external damage. Their own insurance would have been double the cost of the actual hire.
When they hit you with it, of course it’s too late to try and reason with them and they have you over a barrel knowing you need to get to the airport pronto.
The company we ended up with (not the one we thought we had hired with have 91% 1 star reviews…?

I used my local Enterprise van rental place recently, call centre hire price was £170 so I popped in and got quoted £150, I said the place up the road was doing it for £70 and they said ok, have it for £65!

They also encouraged me to video the van before I took it.