Europcar slow to refund excess

[sarlatcycles]

Hi

Just wondering if anyone has had problems with getting an excess refunded by a multinational car hire agency for a vehicle hired overseas.

My latest experience is with Europcar in France. We go to France 1 -2 times a year and hire a car for up to 5 weeks at a time. On our last visit we had parked our hire car in the street in front of our house in Sarlat. A DHL truck weaved between cars and clipped the wing mirror on the drivers side.

The driver stopped and we filled out the accident forms. I called the Europcar office in Brive (where we hired it from) and advised the damage had occurred and I dropped off the insurance papers 2 days later. They indicated that it should be no problem, they would take a 170 Euro payment on my credit card and after the claim was settled, they would refund it as it was clearly the other drivers fault.

5 months later and I'm still waiting....I emailed Europcar in Australia to see if they could contact the French agency to see what the delay is. They promised to follow this up. 2 emails later still no joy.

Do you think that because we are so far away, Car Hire firms in Europe think we would not follow up on the claim process therefore they don't make a concerted effort to refund THEIR customer what he is due?

It is not the 1st time this has happpened to me in Europe

 

[MelUser]

My relatives had a similar (although worse) Europcar experience in Europe.

I think they are like BestFlights and Low Cost Airlines:

- cheap and fine if everything goes to plan,

BUT nothing will save you when (a) something goes wrong or (b) you want a refund.

Unfortunately this appears to be an application fo the old saying "you get what you pay for".

 

[sarlatcycles]

I'm running out of Car Hire Companies in Brive. Europcar were 100m from the station and appears to be the only one in town. If I get no satisfaction I'm going to divert my train travel to Bordeaux where I can get a better selection of reputable companies at the train station.

It means a longer drive but I'll have a faster train trip (TGV) with a better selection of times to travel.

What Europcar don't seem to realise is that for the sake of a 170 Euro claim they will miss out on around 1000 Euros a year for many years to come.:evil:

 

[docjames]

What Europcar don't seem to realise is that for the sake of a 170 Euro claim they will miss out on around 1000 Euros a year for many years to come.:evil:

Sounds like a total PITA, but it seems endemic from car rental companies in europe, and France seems to be the worst.

I presume you have mentioned the above "quote" when corresponding with them?

 

[sarlatcycles]

I presume you have mentioned the above "quote" when corresponding with them?

Yes I have mentioned it but whether it helps or not, I don't know. As the car was hired in country France, my limited knowledge of French would preclude me from making a case next time I'm there. Therefore my only avenue is to ask the local arm of Europcar to help me

I'm not sure if the Europcar companies from each country have strong ties other than the brand name.

 

[serfty]

... . They indicated that it should be no problem, they would take a 170 Euro payment on my credit card and after the claim was settled, they would refund it as it was clearly the other drivers fault. ...

I'd be looking at disputing the transaction. If you do, you'd better get cracking as you may be running out of time ...

 

[Dave Noble]

Are you sure that they would refund the cost and are you sure that the claim has been settled by the other driver's company to cover it?

Istr from car rental agreements that the renter is liable for damage to the car regardless of fault

Dave