Which? Holiday Urges To Tread Carefully When Hiring a Car
Helen YoungAccording to a Which? Holiday report, holiday car rental can be a real minefield.
Which?, a product-testing and campaigning charity magazine claimed that some vehicle hire firms have contracts which may contain potentially “unfair” terms while others’ websites give little or no information on terms and conditions.
The magazine said three companies – namely Europcar, Enterprise and Hertz – had a dubious clause which said that if a car was stolen and the customer couldn’t produce the keys, he or she would be liable for the entire value of the vehicle.
Researchers at Which? Holiday also discovered that the car rental firms Avis and Enterprise provided absolutely no information concerning the terms and conditions of hire on their websites. This leaves all customers at these two car hire companies unable to get acquainted with any contractual information prior to booking online. The researchers said that some but not all of their terms and conditions was provided online by the companies Alamo, Budget and National.
The magazine said it was difficult to compare the various care hire firms in terms of costs since several of the websites of the companies investigated did not list the full costs of waivers and extras.
Which? Holiday Chief Researcher Rochelle Turner said that renting a vehicle for a holiday may be a minefield despite its initial appearance as a good idea.
She said that a customer attempting to make sense of all the information such as the real price to pay, the insurance needed and what is or isn’t included can appear confusing to a point that people are tempted to simply sign the agreement, pay for the car rental fees and pray for the best.
However, she added that it is extremely important to read everything on the contract and understand the full implications, such as having a rented car stolen at some companies will end up costing dearly.
The researchers at Which? compared eight companies – Alamo, Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Europcar, Hertz, National and Sixt. They looked the terms and conditions for hiring a car at all these companies for renting a vehicle at both Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and Heathrow airport in London.
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Filed under Europe News, Travel News, UK News, World News