When Kristopher Blacklock arrived in Spain for his family holiday, he would not be allowed to collect the prepaid car he had originally hired to drive his partner and three young children from Girona airport. Nor was he to be allowed a refund. Blacklock’s mistake was to take advantage of a budget deal from rental firm Goldcar.

A month after booking and more than two months before the trip, he informed Goldcar that the airline had changed the flight departure time and he would be landing 11 hours later than planned. Goldcar said he could not amend his booking, the hire would be cancelled and the £150 payment withheld.

“I accept the booking is non-refundable if customers choose to change the arrangements, but this time it was out of my control,” he says. “I would still be collecting the car that day and to lose my booking and money seems unfair.”

Many car hire companies cancel if a customer arrives late. Some turn customers away if they are delayed by as little as an hour, even if they have prepaid. But Goldcar’s stance is in a class of its own.

Extraordinarily, it stood by its decision when the Observer questioned it. “Goldcar offers customers a number of rates when booking, each with certain benefits and exclusions,” it says. “Mr Blacklock chose a rate that does not allow for cancellations or modifications, something that is common in the travel and tourism industry. We understand the frustration this can cause, and we are actively working to improve our policies and customer service, particularly around the clarity of our rental agreements.”

The policy implies that anyone who books a Goldcar vehicle at an airport risks losing their money and their car if their flight is delayed or cancelled, regardless of whether they forewarned the rental desk. Moreover, the customer would be unaware of the risk, since the Ts&Cs make no mention of the fact that contracts cannot be amended. When challenged, Goldcar admitted that amendments weren’t mentioned in the small print but insisted that it was still entitled to enforce its policy.

“Whilst it is stated at the time of booking that the reservation cannot be modified, this is not expressly stated within the booking Ts&Cs,” it says. “We recognise that our existing Ts&Cs do not adequately deal with Mr Blacklock’s rare situation. We will be clarifying this as part of our ongoing review and change programme.”

Only when the Observer pointed out that flight delays are not a “rare situation”, and that the company would not be able to rely on a nonexistent clause did it change tack and claim that bookings are honoured provided passengers advise of delays, although this isn’t mentioned in the Ts&Cs, either. Blacklock did this. Goldcar has now conceded his case was mismanaged.

Three weeks after the Observer first contacted its press office it announced that it had reinstated the booking with the new collection time. That was news to Blacklock, who was not told and who had since booked a car with another company.

Pressure from the Observer has now finally secured a refund. “We know that there is a way to go, but we are committed to making the operational and cultural changes needed to deliver for both our existing and new customers,” it says.

These are long overdue. Goldcar, taken over by Europcar last year, is Europe’s largest budget car rental provider with 100 offices in 17 countries and an annual turnover of more than €200m. Since 2017 it’s been fined €2.68m by the Italian competition authority AGCM for “aggressive commercial practices”, including pressuring customers to buy overpriced and unnecessary insurance, charging unexplained sums for alleged damage and hidden fees.

Despite this, Goldcar remains the most popular budget hire firm in Spain and Italy as customers are lured by bargain prices. The cost of Blacklock’s three-week hire was a remarkably cheap £150.

A recent survey by campaign group Which? showed nearly a third of Goldcar customers reported problems with their rental.

Those, like Blacklock, have no voice in such circumstances. Although the firm is a member of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association, which says that it expects hire contracts to be amended if a flight is delayed, the association can’t handle complaints about overseas rentals and Goldcar is not signed up to the European Car Rental Conciliation Service, which can. However, they could claim a refund of unfair charges from their bank if they paid by credit card or request a chargeback if they used a debit card.

According to Martyn James of complaints website Resolver, Blacklock’s experience shows an industry in urgent need of regulation. “I thought that the behaviour of car-hire firms couldn’t get any worse, then along comes this example of ludicrously unfair terms and conditions. There is no justification for not allowing bookings to be modified, changed or cancelled – and even if there was an actual cost to the business, it has an obligation to make charges clear and upfront before you book,” he says.

Holiday driving headache-free

In March, the British competition authorities took cross-border action against two Spanish firms to change the way they tell customers about charges after consumers complained that they were being misled. So how do you make sure you can drive on holiday without any headaches?

• Shop around. Don’t confine yourself to one broker.

• Beware of extras such as “car hire company fee” which may inflate the cost.

• Stay close. Aim to rent from an outlet inside an airport as schlepping to an industrial estate, while probably cheaper, can be a hassle.

• Choose to cancel. Ideally, find an offer which you can cancel up to 24 or 48 hours before you take up the car, allowing you to search for last-minute deals.

• Insist on four doors. As companies run out of these in the cheapest categories quicker, they may be obliged to upgrade you without having to charge.

• Bring your own car seat. You may save significant amounts on the often high fees that companies charge for rental.

Shane Hickey