We used online broker Holiday Autos to hire a car in Corsica, through Sixt, for a week’s trip in July. Unfortunately, on the last day, we pranged the back while parking. The excess of €1,200 was fully charged by Sixt on our credit card at drop-off in the airport. We had taken out Holiday Autos’ expensive insurance, provided by Allianz (it cost £70 for the week), and we were reassured by Sixt and Holiday Autos that this would all be refunded.
On return to the UK, Allianz said it would not return the full amount until the damage cost was determined. This came through three weeks later and was €726, which Allianz refunded minus a £50 excess.
The difference has still not been returned, despite multiple emails to all parties, and communication with the head of Sixt in the UK. We have it in writing that the money is owed but have spent more than 15 hours and £100 in phone calls and cannot reclaim the money. TH, Burgess Hill, West Sussex
Every year around this time our email runs hot with complaints from readers struggling to get money they are owed by foreign car hire firms. This is a classic example of what consumers are experiencing. If you had read the many articles we have written on car hire you would have bought the basic car hire from Holiday Autos – or another online broker – and car hire excess cover from Insurance4Carhire.com.
Insurance4Carhire will sell you an annual policy for Europe for £39 or £3 a day (much less than the Alliance cover you bought) and it is better. It covers up to €4,000 and includes towing costs; there is no excess to pay if you claim.
Interestingly, there is no mention of the £50 excess on the Alliance cover sold on the Holiday Autos site, although it is probably buried in the small print.
With that warning out the way, we got on to your case. We asked Holiday Autos to step in. Having not been overly helpful in the first place, it did jump into action and arranged for Sixt to refund the money owed – £374.58. You will also receive an additional £100 from Holiday Autos for the inconvenience caused.
“Holiday Autos takes cases such as these very seriously and always feed back to suppliers and the customer services team, based on the individual complaints and issues our customers face. Unfortunately, the service TH received did not meet our high standards of customer service. We hold customer service in the highest regard and are now investigating the details of your case internally as a matter of urgency,” a spokesman said.
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