I have been stung by the car hire rip off. I hired a car in Italy for two weeks from Perugia airport, and suddenly three weeks later they send me an extra bill for 1,000 euros. What’s more the money has already been charged to my credit card.
Most of it is a 900 Euro charge for alleged damage to the vehicle. Quite apart from the fact there was no damage – and there was no one at the airport to check it when it was returned – it is outrageous that Hertz should be able to charge such a huge amount of money without any explanation and to take the money straight away without the opportunity to challenge it. There was also a 30 Euro charge for petrol which I am also challenging since the car was filled up near the airport – you can never get it 100 per cent full unless you push it from the petrol station!I rang my credit card company who said write to their fraud department to advise them of the dispute but meanwhile I am in Hertz’s hands. This is not the first time this has happened to me and therefore this must be a very widespread scam. I do find the whole process of hiring cars stressful because of the ridiculous amounts which are at risk should there be any minor damage which, in any case, no one cares about. Oddly, the one time I did have a minor accident and admitted it, they let me off saying that the car was damaged anyway.
I bet other people reading this blog have had similar experiences!