Help: Who can help me? I'm a foreigner and I don't know the laws in Britain.

[eeoo]

I rented a car from Sixt UK via Booking.com on 29 October 2025 at Victoria Station.
The vehicle had a strong burning smell and unusually high fuel consumption shortly after pickup.
I contacted Sixt several times but received no timely assistance, losing three full days of my trip.
When I later went to the Battersea branch (as arranged by Sixt), staff spoke in a rude and dismissive tone, which made me feel racially discriminated against as a Chinese customer.
Sixt denied any issue, claiming it was “a new car smell,” and refused replacement or compensation.
All this is like a scam. I booked an Audi, but when I arrived at the store, I was told that it was only Volvo or I had to pay more to change cars. I checked Google's comments, and most of them accused this store of being a shameless liar. How can I defend my rights?I think maybe I don't buy insurance at the store, so give me a broken car on purpose?

So very much needed.

I want to ask you, what's good for me if I lie here? .

Nothing. That's why we don't know why you did.

@eeoo let’s try and make this simple. Did you book the car for three days or for longer?

So lying is meaningless to me. I just want to get useful advice and I am attacked by you. I am a liar.

The first day I found the problem, and the next day I planned to send it back to the store. The smell was so bad that I had to stop. Contacted the company's customer service trailer with the help of passers-by. Then the customer service called a taxi for me to change at the store, and as a result, I was sent to Gatwick airport (I was helpless, and this can also be called the wrong address), so I had to change at the store on the third day. As a result, on the third day, he didn't change my car and shirked the responsibility that the car was fine. .

So to summarise:
•You are surprised how much petrol you used
•You panicked at the smell and called the rental company who arranged to transport you back to their store for another car but sent you to the wrong store
•In the meantime they had collected the rental car, examined it, and found nothing wrong so refused to swap it (perhaps had nothing else available).
Did they pay for the taxi?
Did they pay for the car to be recovered?
How long was the car rental period meant to be for?
What did these 2 days of travelling to sort it all out mean you missed of your holiday?

No crime. It would be a civil case.

Criminal cases are prosecuted, nut sued.

I rented it for 10 days, but I actually only used it for one day. I sent it back the next day, but the smell was too strong to continue driving, so I wasted one day. Refused to give a replacement vehicle on the third day. Three days were wasted.

It seems to me that they don't want to pay for car rental and road rescue, because they tried to deduct 130 pounds from my credit card, but it didn't work.

I want to ask how you lost 3 days but none of your answers make sense so not sure it's worth the bother.

If you're going to complain you need to be able to outline the timeline and the problems. So far on this thread, and your other thread, you've struggled to do that.

Maybe stop calling people liars and put your efforts into articulating what's exactly happened that you have to complain about.

Or, maybe, move on from it and enjoy the rest of your trip.

🍿😁

Maybe there is something wrong with my translator.

I suspect there is, which would make sense if you didn't manage to explain to the company properly. Best to put it behind you and enjoy the rest of your trip.

Thank you. Sorry.

If there was nothing wrong with the car then they will charge you for the roadside collection and the taxi. If the car is very new then maybe the break pads were still tight and that was the smell? What have you driven for the rest of the 7 days of the hire?

No, on the third day, they refused to change my car.

I'm going to try to help:

• The vehicle had a strong burning smell and unusually high fuel consumption shortly after pickup.

Unusually high fuel consumption shortly after pick up implies contradiction - you can't notice high fuel consumption unless you've done enough miles for normal fuel consumption to register. How many miles had you done, and how much had the estimate gone down? City driving with frequent stop/start will burn more fuel.

• I contacted Sixt several times but received no timely assistance, losing three full days of my trip.

Do you have call logs?

• When I later went to the Battersea branch (as arranged by Sixt), staff spoke in a rude and dismissive tone, which made me feel racially discriminated against as a Chinese customer.

The reviews imply that everyone gets the same treatment, so I don't think being Chinese was important here.

• Sixt denied any issue, claiming it was “a new car smell,” and refused replacement or compensation.

Ok, so you disagree. This is your ground of complaint.

• All this is like a scam. I booked an Audi, but when I arrived at the store, I was told that it was only Volvo or I had to pay more to change cars.

You book a class of car, not a specific car.

• I checked Google's comments, and most of them accused this store of being a shameless liar.

This would have been wise to do before you rented a car from them.

• How can I defend my rights?I think maybe I don't buy insurance at the store, so give me a broken car on purpose?

You could use the Small Claims Court but you'd have to convince the court the car was faulty or that you had the right of return. As you haven't convinced anyone here, it might not bode well for you in court.

If it helps re the translation, my partner went to a bar armed with Google translate to ask the way to the toilets as they weren't obvious. I don't know what he said as I was outside with my drink, but apparently the women behind the bar laughed so hard they nearly cried. So the translation apps can let you down.

It may also be the smell of brake pad fastening, I'm not sure. Because I'm not familiar with vehicles, I only look at the remaining fuel mileage on the dashboard.

That will vary depending on what kind of driving you are doing, the speed, whether you are frequently stopping and starting at traffic lights, how fast you accelerate and how hard you brake.... You can't use that as an accurate report of how many miles you have left.

Thank you very much for your explanation. I have pictures to prove that the fuel consumption is extremely serious. But I can't prove the smell. . Thank you for your help.

Translators really can't be completely trusted.

A total of about 10 miles of road, dashboard fuel consumption used 180 miles. This is beyond the driving habit gap.