Rental Car Damage - Any Experiences?

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Batman

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#1286012 17-Apr-2015 08:34

2 hires. One with jucy one with apex. A pain when you want to be quick because they are off-site from airports.

floydbloke

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#1294907 1-May-2015 11:12

No refund yet, phoned the rental company yesterday. They advised that they hadn't processed it yet but would do so in 'the next couple of days', and it will then be another 7-10 business days because payments are processed off-shore. *Sigh.

I had a good bleat about incurring interest on my credit card and that they are very good and quick at taking your money, but quite the opposite when they need to pay you. I did get a verbal apology but I can't help but feel that it was said with rolling eyes and a "I don't really give a sh*t" attitude.

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MikeAqua

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#1297539 4-May-2015 12:04

A tip: Use a credit card with a low credit limit for any car/hotel bonds, pay for the actual service with eftpos/cash, and provide the low limit credit card for the bond.

They won't be able to charge thousands to it, and you are in a stronger position to argue repair costs from if they don't have your money yet.

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#1297547 4-May-2015 12:13

MikeAqua: A tip: Use a credit card with a low credit limit for any car/hotel bonds, pay for the actual service with eftpos/cash, and provide the low limit credit card for the bond.

They won't be able to charge thousands to it, and you are in a stronger position to argue repair costs from if they don't have your money yet.

Can you run into issues with this if there isn't enough available funds to add the intended credit hold?

We're going to the US in just over a month, and this was going to be my intended strategy for hotels & rental car hire. Would hate to be in a position where they can't accept the credit card because of this.

MikeAqua

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#1297575 4-May-2015 12:33

In my experience any 'hold' amount used is quite low. You can always contact them to inquire about this policy.

dclegg:
MikeAqua: A tip: Use a credit card with a low credit limit for any car/hotel bonds, pay for the actual service with eftpos/cash, and provide the low limit credit card for the bond.

They won't be able to charge thousands to it, and you are in a stronger position to argue repair costs from if they don't have your money yet.

Can you run into issues with this if there isn't enough available funds to add the intended credit hold?

We're going to the US in just over a month, and this was going to be my intended strategy for hotels & rental car hire. Would hate to be in a position where they can't accept the credit card because of this.

Mike

dclegg

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#1297580 4-May-2015 12:36

MikeAqua: In my experience any 'hold' amount used is quite low. You can always contact them to inquire about this policy.

I'm concerned it may soon add up. I'll be staying in five different hotels in our time there, and will be renting a car. If each of those add a USD $200 hold, that's USD $1000 we'll have to allow.

We first experienced the concept of credit holds during our first overseas trip as "adults". We used a credit card to check into a hotel in Hong Kong. Towards the end of the trip, we were ringing our bank back in Australia to complain why our credit card was short by a few hundred dollars.

I think your advice about contacting them about their policy is probably the best course of action.

keewee01

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#1297602 4-May-2015 12:48

dclegg:
MikeAqua: In my experience any 'hold' amount used is quite low. You can always contact them to inquire about this policy.

I'm concerned it may soon add up. I'll be staying in five different hotels in our time there, and will be renting a car. If each of those add a USD $200 hold, that's USD $1000 we'll have to allow.

We first experienced the concept of credit holds during our first overseas trip as "adults". We used a credit card to check into a hotel in Hong Kong. Towards the end of the trip, we were ringing our bank back in Australia to complain why our credit card was short by a few hundred dollars.

I think your advice about contacting them about their policy is probably the best course of action.

Definitely get in touch with them ahead of time as you are right - the cumulative holds will quickly add up.

I read a good article on credit card holds a while back but for the life of me I can't remember where, but there was some great info in it. If I remember will post a link.

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Jase2985

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#1297628 4-May-2015 13:24

it can take up to a week for the release of the hold to go through, we had this issue when we were over there.

floydbloke

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#1305028 14-May-2015 11:38

Update and close-out.

Phoned them again today and they stated that the refund had been processed, even though I hadn't seen it appear as a transaction line item on my internet banking. The rep suggested that the bank may 'date' the credit back to the original purchase date, so looking back through a couple of months of transactions and there it shows. I expressed my disapproval that I had received absolutely no paperwork from them (other than a confirmation email from their assurance assessor subcontractor that they should give me the refund). The rep has since emailed me a copy of the credit note

Edit: just phoned the bank out of curiosity, the refund came through on 5 May, so roughly 8 weeks in total.

Advise to fellow sufferers of situations like this - start following up early and follow up regularly. Not sure how things would have panned out if I hadn't taken the initiative.

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