Damage to hire car from Marseille airport

[user1497225361]

Hope someone can give advice although I don't think there's anything we can do now.

Last week we hired a car from enterprise car rental at Marseille airport. We booked the car many months ago, husband had booked a Vauxhall Astra sized car. Arriving at the enterprise service desk, all they had left to take was a ford galaxy people carrier; a much larger car than we wanted. Husband is a very confident driver and is happy to drive any sized car so we proceeded with the alternative, it was early evening and we had our 10 month old with us and just wanted to get to our destination and settle in and get baby fed. Extra insurance was briefly mentioned to us, possibly before they told us which car we were to take, but it was £20 a day and with husband being a very confident driver we decided to risk it rather than paying an extra £140. Thinking they must have asked this before mentioning about the larger car otherwise I would possibly have been more tempted to take them up on he offer due to driving on the wrong side of roads in a massive car. Had a lovely week on holiday then it came to taking the car back. Parked up at enterprise, the staff were checking over car and noticed them shaking their heads and pointing.

Turns out there was a massive scratch down the full length of car, only very shallow scratch but the couldn't polish it off.

We hadn't done this ourselves and think it may have been done when we parked up at a shopping mall nearby on route to the airport. It looks like someone had gone along the car with a bag scratching it maybe.

We paid the 850 euro insurance excess but were very disappointed but felt like there was nothing we could do. It put a real downer on our holiday.

The other couple we went on holiday hired a car with a different agent and same thing had happened to there car, lots of small scratches. They refused to pay and later received an email saying hey wouldn't be charged.

Only speculation, but I worry a little that it might be some sort of scam, big coincidence that both cars were scratched, they weren't parked next to each other at any time. Obviously can't prove this.

Would love to know your opinion and if you think there anything we can do to try and get some money back. 850 euros is a lot of money to us at the minute. Will definately change how we travel in future.

Thanks for reading, Jenna

I'm not sure if there's much you can do now but next time you are due to travel look at insurance4hire, it costs about £40 for whole year and gives cover for any excess charged
We go to Europe 3 or 4 times a year and luckily we've never had a problem but we know that if we do we are covered
( promise I don't work for them)

Thanks hoppinggreen, we will definately do this next time. I don't think we can do anything about it this time, it's just a lesson learned.

We've hired lots of cars in the last few years and have never had an issue. We make sure we examine the car really well on pick up and any damage get noted on the paperwork.
Like the previous poster we also have an annual policy to cover any excess, paid about £35 for it this year, we've never needed to claim on it but it gives us peace of mind.
I think you were unlucky rather than scammed.

I agree we were probably just unlucky and a coincidence that both cars were scratched. I've found a handful of similar reviews online for enterprise Marseille airport - so must be a common problem. We have travel insurance with our bank account, I assumed this is just health insurance but think I'll double check to see if this is covered.

The damage to cars will not be covered by your travel insurance. The car hire insurance is a separate specific policy. We always have an annual policy as it is £40 so much cheaper than buying the rental company's insurance. One thing to note however is that you have to pay the excess and then claim it back from the insurance.
Last year we acquired a scratch on our wing mirror that we didn't know about, probably from car park and it cost £115 to the car hire company but we were able to claim that back off the insurance.

Wait a minute, you booked an Astra, but when you turned up to pick it up they gave you a Galaxy AND then tried to charge you a higher insurance rate?

The Astra's insurance rate would have been all over your premade booking (or you could go back and check it now), but it sounds like they were trying to charge you a higher rate for the higher spec car?

If that is the case, given you had budgeted (for argument's sake) £10/day for the Astra insurance, I can't see how they can try and charge you double because of their cock up with the actual vehicles available.

I say this as someone who has had two hire cars abroad recently and both have been upgraded at pick up and not once have we had to pay extra for any aspect of it.

@HolidayTimeAgain We make sure we examine the car really well on pick up and any damage get noted on the paperwork

Us too. In fact I am like a bloody paparazzi taking pictures of every single angle inside and out, and having the rep mark up every single scuff and dent going, even if they say it doesn't matter.

£850 seems like a bit of a scam. I wouldn't cost anywhere near as much to repair that-they probably won't and will just charge the next gullible person who comes along. Not sure how the French law stands on this point. I think it may be a kit late for you now that you have already paid.

They're entitled to change the vehicle as long as it fulfils the same purpose it is required for, without making adjustments to the waiver price.

If you haven't got completed paperwork that says this damage was pre-existing, and it doesn't sound like you did an inspection before leaving the airport, they've got you by the contract.

I don't work for enterprise, but worked in this industry for many years.

If you do want to contest, it's going to be a long, and almost certainly fruitless, process.

And the price will be quoted on a damage matrix, I imagine. Which will be in your contract. Each area of every vehicle is charged at a set price to replace the entire panel. It's not the cost to fix it, but the amount the vehicle is devalued by. You get the same valuations for damage in an insurance claim, hence why a car can be financially written off when the damage is not too bad.

Just to mention, the damaged was done whilst we were hiring the car - looks like it was keyed in a supermarket car park. There was no pre-existing damage, both of us checked over the car, thoroughly! We have a natwest gold account and the website does mention something about 'rental car loss damage waiver'. Will need to get husband to phone up when he returns home, as the account is in his name. I have my fingers crossed

That could work! Make sure you submit a claim as soon as possible. You'll need:

A professional estimation of the damage costs/damage matrix showing evaluations
Your rental agreement
Invoice that shows the cost of the damage (as sometimes this is separate to the main invoice)

Make sure you don't just send the ordinary invoice as sometimes they tell you that's all they need and then come back and say they need more documents!

Next time pay for car hire excess insurance.
We used carhireexcess.com and it cost us £30 in France for a fortnight's rental.

Unfortunately car hire is so competitive these days that the only way companies make money is by charging huge excesses and/or big premiums to bring them down.

HOWEVER a few years ago we damaged a van rented from enterprise to move house, 100% our fault. Like you we were forced to pay a massive excess, around £1200. However we had a bit of a wrangle with them because no chance the damage would cost that much to repair.
Although they did charge us the whole amount, they later agreed to reduce it to the actual cost of the repair plus an "admin fee" -
Came to about £300-
And they refunded the rest.
Appreciate it's not as easy if you were in France and you're now home but worth asking.

Have always bought the extra insurance since then.

They are legally obliged to do that frazzled, so you shouldn't have had to wrangle!

I've used direct-carexcess.co.uk a few times and once I had to claim for a damaged ally wheel after clipping a kerb. As the claim process was OK and they are competitively priced, I am still using them.

The rule is always take out the extra insurance, or organize your own. I know someone who works for a car rental firm in Spain who said that they are ordered to forensically examine the returned vehicles that don't have the extra cover and they always manage to find something! It is such a competitive market that they try to make money where they can.