Europcar in UK in September. Two small scrapes on a door, each maybe half an inch long and no denting, probably made by someone opening a door against the car whilst parked. They initially wanted to charge me £400 which is obviously based on a ‘formula’. They then advised me over a month later that they would be charging my CC with £280 which they did.
I claimed on my annual policy and the refund was in my account before the debit even hit it. Impressive.
Last month I rented a car from Hertz CPT and had a blowout on a minor road. I changed the wheel – luckily the car had a proper spare and I was able to get the damaged wheel off, which is sometimes impossible, and proceed. When I called Hertz they told me to replace it myself at their preferred supplier in GRJ. It cost R915 (£50) and again I’ve claimed this from my annual policy.
As an aside, within 3 minutes of having the blowout, 3 lots of people stopped to see if we needed help, one couple even offering us overnight accommodation and dinner as it was getting towards dusk. South Africa may have its problems but hospitality and generosity are ever present.
On the same rental, Hertz have today sent me a bill for R295 for a ‘fine handling fee’, with no mention of whether the fee includes the actual fine or not. For the time being I’m ignoring it to see what happens, presumably they will charge my CC.
