To ask for a partial refund in these circumstances?

[doglikescheeseontoast]

If I am going to ask for a partial refund, I need to do it today, so I’d appreciate thoughts on whether or not I would be unreasonable to do so.

I am currently on holiday with friends - all 3 of us travelled to our holiday destination in one car. Yesterday there was an event I wanted to attend, and my friends wanted to go elsewhere, so I hired a car to enable me to drive to the event, which is a 45 minute drive from where my friends and I are staying.

So yesterday I set off, in the hire car, and about 10 minutes into the journey I became aware of a problem. Long story short, the front passenger tyre was flat. Just in front of me on the road where I pulled over was a van with 2 men and they offered to help me change it. Went to the boot - no spare tyre. I called the hire company and they sent the AA with an estimated arrival time of 2.5 hours. They actually arrived after about an hour and were able to sort of re-inflate the tyre sufficiently to drive, with them accompanying me, to the nearest KwikFit.

This is where it got REALLY frustrating. The AA person did the ‘handover’ to KwikFit and went on his way. KwikFit were unable to carry out the ‘works’ (change the tyre) without authorisation from the hire company, and the hire company did not respond. KwikFit put the call on speakerphone for part of it and I could hear the ‘all of our operatives are currently busy …. ‘ spiel from the other end. When they finally replied, they did authorise the change of tyre, specifying a particular brand, which KwikFit fortunately had in stock. Had they not, I was told I would have to wait again for the AA to return and convey me to the place I hired the car to change it for a new one.

By the time this was all resolved, just under 5 hours later, I had obviously missed the event I had hired the car for, due to the car being out of action.

I am returning the car to the hire place in a few hours and will express my frustration about (1) the lack of a spare, which would have meant I could have been on my way very speedily, and (2) the length of time it took for the hire car company to respond to KwikFit’s request for authorisation to do the necessary work. I hired the car for 48 hours and for 5 of those I couldn’t drive it due to points 1 and 2 above. I also missed the very event that was the whole reason I hired the car in the first place.

I have since learned that many newer cars don’t now routinely carry spares, so that in itself is perhaps not unusual.

The friends I am holidaying with have suggested that I might be entitled to a partial refund, since I wasn’t able to use the vehicle for part of the hire time. TBH this was something that hadn’t occurred to me, my intention was to express frustration but basically recognise that it was bad luck.

I’d appreciate thoughts about this. Thanks.

But OP can’t prove it was faulty when she took possession of the car. I’m not saying it would be right, but the hire company could say it was fine when they handed it over and OP must have hit or driven over something to cause the flat tire. That can’t excuse the long wait for a response though.

Did you check the car over before driving off? Don't you usually have to sign something to agree the condition the car is in prior to you accepting it?

Unless @doglikescheeseontoast yiu jad the add on hire company insurance, and I hope you did, you will get nothing. There may be something to cover the cost of the tickets and the tyre through your own holoday insurance. As a gesture of goodwill they might let you have the car for a day or two extra at no or heavily discounted cost.

Shit happens, move on and don't let it spoil your holiday. My car doesn't have a spare and there is no legal obligation to have one. New cars don't tend to.

The no spare thing these days is crazy, when I bought my car the first thing I did was buy a spare off ebay to keep in the boot.

Demand a full refund

Your helpful and timely reminder never to take the overpriced hire company insurance and always get your own, frequently better cover and always way cheaper, own insurance to cover a hire car.

Ok, an update.

I took the car back and asked to speak to someone about a refund. The woman initially told me she couldn’t authorise anything and I’d have to email customer services to discuss it, but I am blessed with quite a loud voice when required 😂 and went into greeeeat detail about the length of time it took for the hire company to authorise the new tyre, and the event I missed which had been the whole reason for the hire in the first place.

On the back of the form was a breakdown of how the daily rental fee had been calculated, and I had automatically been given the ‘premium’ protection rather than ‘basic’ or ‘medium’ (that was totally on me, I didn’t check), so there has been no mention of me having to pay for the tyre.

The woman eventually said she would record the car as having been returned yesterday, which would mean the amount taken in payment should be a day’s fee less than quoted. I’m waiting to see what amount actually goes out of my account before I feel the matter is closed - the full outgoing payment is still ‘pending’ in my account, including a £100 additional fee, so that needs to be reduced. The woman did, however, give me her name and direct number so if it isn’t resolved I do at least have a person rather than ‘customer services’ to liaise with.

You are fortunate they upsold you the roadside service part of the insurance or you would have had to pay the cost of the recovery and the breakdown. The first time it happened to me it cost me £700 most of which was the recovery.

In future if you rent a car I would recommend that you take out hire car excess insurance. It does the same thing but for a fraction of the cost of the policy the rental company will sell you.

That’s normally to confirm any existing external damage, bumps, scratches. Not really much more than that..

Who was the hire company OP?