So,
they quoted you 30 euros.
charged 23 for the day,
23 for the airport,
11 for surcharge
an additional
75 for fuel

How did they come to the original 30 euro quote? seems highly misleading to me.

That is a brand you think you could trust. We had a similiar turn when booking a car online from Cork airport to drive to Dublin. When we arrived via taxi to collect car they started pulling out hidden cost. Needless to say that didnt go down well!! In short they wanted to charge us E100 for returning car to Dublin which was part of our hire agreement.

I am not anyway surprised about this. Luckily you didnt have passengers!

@uberalex

i dont know mate? 30 euro yes. but when you cant [drive] nee sit in the car for less than [actually] 78 euro… then something is ‘not correct’ or slightly vague/ amiss from the information on the website/ phone?

many thanks mate
peter

@aido
nice to see you have a sense of humour after ‘that journey’. Was that with ‘budget’. It seems to be they’re not the only ones out there.

slán go foill
peter

[...] just read donegans post on Budget car in Cork Airport. [read it or the rest means shite to you]. I told you before Donegan. You didn’t listen. [...]

[...] Budget car hire. Arses. [...]

Something needs to be done about car rental companies
At least you can get to teh bottom of it as you speak the language and are irish.
I put a lot of the blame with the car rental companies for the massive drop in tourism to ireland this year.
Ask any of the inbound travel agents and they’ll tell you that over 905 of the complaints they get are in relation to unexpected charges on their credit cards by car rental companies.
by the way, Failte Ireland don’t care, they sell advertising to these guys so they will not act.

that 905 should read “90%”

I’m not sure I can see justification for your ire here. The quote clearly tells you what’s included and explicitly tells you to read the terms and conditions before booking.

Did you read the terms and conditions? Do they tell you about the other possible charges that may be incurred?

I also think your post is a bit disingenuous in that you don’t clarify that €75 of your estimated bill won’t actually be charged to you at all – it being the petrol holding deposit.

In fact, I believe that the terms and conditions are likely to state that if you don’t bring the car back full, you’ll be charged the full €75 petrol deposit rather than the €10 that you were charged.

We hired a car from Avis in Spain, brought it from Barcelona Airport, due to return in Figueres the following day. We were quoted 78 euro total (including under 25 surcharge, taxes and so on). Went to return the car the following day, to discover that the Avis in Figueres was closed (Sunday).

We decided to drop the car first thing the following morning. When we dropped it in on the Monday, the man with perfect English proceeded to tell us that we should have left the car on the street and put the keys in the letterbox, but because we hadn’t we were charged for an extra day, with the total somehow coming out at 176 euro. When we complained the guy suddenly lost his understanding of the English language, and when we threatened not to pay he arrogantly said that they had our credit card details and that it would be charged regardless.

Car hire companies are a bunch of cowboys.

Hi Anonymous,

it’s not so much an ire or an opinion. Please read it carefully. I did clarify the €75 petrol. But I cant even look at the car for 30 euro..?

I think its quite unopinionated myself and almost like a factual diary. However…

I have a link to the terms and condiions in my post, first paragraph. I did read them.

I can’t see 30 euro anywhere in my bill. As I said simply, if you got your garden done would you be happy to do business that way…. ?

many thanks for taking the time.
peter
_______________________________________________________________
A Chara James & Joe,

you should click comment no. 5. Thanks for taking the time. I do agree it can’t be doing tourism any good. And if people in the FOR campaign like ‘anoymous’ think its fair – well maybe I should stick to cutting grass. Truth is I had to call almost 10 days later to find out how much – after I had been charged… anyhow, sunny days. Lets see what the people say

Slán go foill
peter

[...] to my post [click here] regarding Budget car hire in Cork Airport. Here is my Qik update explaining. Please – read my post [...]

Hi Peter,

I just saw your virtual visit to Budget headquarters over there. Good for you.

There is far too much fine print in these agreements, and too many hidden charges, fees, etc. in the service arena, with surprise unhappy endings at the end of the day when the bill’s presented with crazy taxes added on, to boot.

I had a similar dispute with a UHaul (moving van) rental, which promoted guaranteed reservations they did not honor, and additionally illegally insisted on adding on insurance which was not required. A good back up for the consumer is a credit card that stands behind their cardholders in these battles.

Keep us posted.

Ann

A Chara Ann,

great to hear from you again! Been a while…

never thought about a credit card company in that way before… hmmm maybe thats another day! and sorry to hear of your tale of woe! but i do agree, seems a lot of people have been in this prediciment in some way or another.

many thanks for stopping by.
slán go foill
peter

I just had the SAME problem with Budget Car Rental in Killarney. I booked a two-day rental online and was quoted 61 Euro including taxes and fees. I called the Killarney office to confirm, and was told the only additional cost would be insurance at 19 Euro a day, for a total of 99 Euro.

Unfortunately, I was in a hurry when I picked up the car. I read over the agreement quickly, and told the rental agent the numbers did not match. They charged me in U.S. dollars, which automatically added to the confusion of seeing the real cost.

I later discovered the agent had completely ignored my reserved rate and added all of the extra unnecessary insurances to the bill… My two-day rental came out to $226 — a $70 overcharge. I brought this up to the agent when I returned the car, and he said there was nothing he could do about it and to contact Budget directly. He couldn’t get me out of his office fast enough…

I contacted Budget and received and e-mail saying they would refund the overcharge — but the next day I received another e-mail from the same woman saying the charges were correct and no refund would be issued.

I’m a journalist who travels extensively — almost 100,000 miles last year — and the overcharge won’t break me either, but I DON’T LIKE GETTING RIPPED OFF.

In doing some research — and finding this blog — I discovered that this practice — a bait and switch — is common with Budget Car Rentals.

As a dual citizen of the U.S. and the EU, I can complain on both sides of the Atlantic, and will pursue direct contact with Budget’s Board of Directors. In the meantime, I plan on exposing and highlighting Budget’s business practices via every media possible.

How STUPID can the Budget Car Rental people be? They give the Irish a bad name…

Thanks,

JT

A Chara James,

and I thought I had it bad!

I do agree it does give the irish / or the island of ireland a bad name and if this is happening to you and me can you imagine what ‘tourists’ must feel?

Good luck with getting in touch with the board of directors and you might keep me posted on any updates you might have.

I look forward to hearing from you soon
slán agus beannacht
peter

[ps. james had posted his comment on my old weblog site where this post still exists - so i had to transfer it across]

Peter -

Car Hire complaints are in the Irish Times this morning, you started a revolution!

The ECC received 117 complaints against car rental companies last year.

A Chara David,

thanks so much – a much needed revolution me thinks. I thought I was on my own there for a little…

lets see if it causes something to change…. ??
[should I cross my fingers and toes?]

go raibh míle maith agat arís
slán go foill
peter

yes it seems this has been taken on by a higher power – that being Messr Pope and his Irish Times price watch [every Monday] articles – this can be viewed here http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/pricewatch/2008/07/14/dont-count-your-chickens/

bulaidh bós Conor agus go raibh míle maith agat
peter

[...] The deal is as long as it’s relevant to the business it can go in the blog. Sounds fair. Budget Car hire got mentioned for poor service, no manners & not being able to read the title in an email. That [...]

If you think you have it bad. I dropped a car back to Budget after 2 days hire with no damage and a full tank. Nobody would come out with me to inspect it, even when i insisted. I would have been late for my flight so had to leave after 20 mins of waiting for a member of staff to come with me to inspect the car.

4 weeks later i got a charge for €246 on my credit card from Budget for a scratch on the car. There was no scratch on the car when i returned it.

And the worst part is they just took the money and i can do nothing. Reading around it seems im not the only victim of this sharp practice. I believe if these guys dont inspect he car on return then they waive any right to charge for damage, just as the customer should check for damage before they leave the lot on hiring the car.

Something seriously needs to be done about companies who have the power to add additional to charges someones credit card, long after the transaction is complete.

Its like letting them leave their hand in your pocket as long as they want.

Daithi, you are responsible for the car until you have signed the car back over to the car rental company. If you had your return documents signed before you left the car park, you are not responsible for that scratch, if you didn’t, I don’t think there is anything you can do. I wouldn’t even bother getting people to come out and look over the car next time. Just get them to sign the car back without damage and the responsibility is theirs then.

I am going through a nightmare at the moment with Murray’s Europcar…I used Autoeurope-online company to book the car. I came back to the states and discovered a $5000 charge on my credit card. My car BROKE DOWN on Aug 1st, 2008 and I got a replacement. When I rented the car, I used my Mastercard to cover the car insurance…which it does for 31 days. My rental agreement was for 33 days and so I had to renew the contract towards the end of my stay and pay the rental company for two days of their insurance.
Apparently, when you renew a contract, you are to leave the car at the airport for 24hrs before you can rent it again. I was unaware of this and so I basically was driving around uninsured for 31 days!
Anyway, I was sent on the damage estimate and when I inspected the estimate, my replacement car was on the invoice. How could this happen? How would the repair dealers know anything about my replacement car? Fraudulent invoices?
I disputed the charge on my credit card and Mastercard is investigating the issue. Europcar are sending me threats about contacting the US Collection Agency.
I have talked to so many unhappy people who have rented cars in Ireland and have come home to discover extra charges on their credit cards. This has got to stop!

Hi Steph,

I have read your comment with interest. Did the damage happen while you were on the mastercard cover of during the additional days? If the damage occurred while you were being insured by mastercard why have you been charged for the damage instead of the credit card company? Did the car break down or did you incur damage on the vehicle?

Why were you charged $5,000 when the excess is €2,000 unless you were negligent in some way?

“Murrays Europcar offer a complete range of covers for our rental customers, to ensure complete “Peace of Mind” while renting a car from us.

Collision Damage Waiver: – covers against loss / damage to rental vehicle subject to an excess of between €800 – €2000 which can be waived by taking our Excess Waiver.”

[...] Car rental is never ending at this stage if you haven’t read Peter’s original post its here Basically it was a Ryanair type issue, hide it all in the small print. Rather than apologize and [...]

had a similar experience with EuropCar. Advertised rate from ArgusCarHire was 148 euro, but with petrol, NI insurance and vat that added another 130 euro or so.

This is a generic scam perpetrated by all irish car rental companies.

Fair play for bringing this to everyones attention. Certainly i won’t be using them in the future. I think a policy like the airlines where one cost must cover all obvious rates (parking, fuel surcharges etc) so everyone can compare like with like.

When someone gets ripped off by a company it affects them far more than the $ amount.

[...] Peter decided that Budget Car Rental were, well, taking the piss claiming that you could rent a Toyota Avensis for 34 EURO when the minimum you HAD to pay to drive the car out of the lot was 78 [...]

[...] guy writes a post complaining about the bill he got from Budget Car Rental Ireland and some gobshite calls him up [...]

Had the same problem with another car hire company in Cork Airport,hidden costs,but was lucky enough to have copy of agreement with the booking agency,which saved me my €60 but had to wait as car hire company took then €60 out of my account,without my permission.The agency refunded my money as a customer service and also not wanting to lose a customer…No wonder less and less people want to come to Ireland….oh yeah Car hire company IRISH….Booking agency ENGLISH…..Figures

[...] got screwed by Budget Rent a Car and didn’t lie down and take [...]

[...] wrote about this here, a full year ago.  And then, a few days ago, he received a very intimidating call from [...]

Thats shocking, I hope you get it sorted out.

Hi,
I rented a car from budget a few years ago to travel from cork to galway and I had a very similar experience. I got charged 25 euro for ‘prime location’ as the ofice was in eyre square in galway, so this charge does not just apply to airports.

I then had to walk in the rain from eyre square to the 4th floor of the merchants road car park in galway. At a guess 500-600 metres.
I was seriously p***** off that I had to walk in the rain to the car then when I recieved the invoice I could not believe they charged me for ‘prime location’. I cant remember the details exactly but I was told 30 euro and my bill was close to €100.

I will never, ever use this company again.

I was the one that posted something last Decmeber…charge of over $5000 on the credit card when I got back to the states. I disputed the charges and MasterCard investigated the matter and I won!!!

and no Menton…I was not negligent. The car broke down and Murray’s Europcar tried to fool me with fraudulent invoices and threaten me via phone and email. Shame on them.

I have talked to so many unhappy customers here since the incident. Keep copies of your contract and know what the charges should be in Euros and dollars…if originating from the US…when you sign the receipt and pick up the rental car. They like to add on charges and after coming off the plane, tired, etc., what better time to fool the people!

Peter,

Did you ever hear back from Mr. Mernock?

Hi Peter – I had left a comment about my problem with Budget. Although you didn’t post it, I wanted to let you know that it is resolved. ~ Mary

@Mary T

it may have been the computer holding a first time commenter where it can often be held as spam for no apparent reason. My sincerest apologies for that.

I am also glad to hear your a happier chappy

best wishes
peter

Thanks Peter

Here is an interesting news write-up about car rental surcharges on CNN today. These guys are ruthless. I will never rent from Budget again because of how they treated me and you, and apparently many others as well. :p

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/traveltips/05/05/rental.car.fees/index.html

Cheers and have a wonderful day!
MaryT

Hi Paul, I understand your problem, same happened to me. It seems like most of the car rental companies do not make it clear what the actual price is. They are all fighting on price and think hiding the real price will get them orders. I have personally used one company who has always quoted me correctly, actually thats not exactly true, once I arrived to collect the car and it was actually cheaper than they quoted by 5 pounds. if its any help i use okreserved dot com The good thing also about them is they are a registered PLC so they have standards they must comply with