Friend got stung with car rental company fuel policy

CiniO

Friend of mine, recently rented a car in Dublin for few days.
He booked it through a broker and got voucher for one of the big frenchise car rental companies operating at the airport.

Issue is, broker provided information that normal "full to full" fuel policy will apply - meaning that car will be provided with full tank, and should be returned same.

Rental company though, without informing my friend, put a fuel policy on contract as "fuel express". They failed to inform him what it meant.
My friend only found out after returning the car with full tank, that his credit card was charged for the tank of fuel, as apparently "fuel express" means that car needs to be returned with empty tank, and cost of full tank is being charged by rental company.

So effectively, my friend ended up paying twice for fuel.


Now.
Broker indicated fuel policy as "full to full" and provided following information in regards fuel policy in their t&c's:

Fuel Policy Options
Full to Full
The car’s fuel tank will be full or part-full at pick-up. At the end of the rental, it should be dropped off with the same amount of fuel.
If it is dropped off with less, the customer will be charged for the missing fuel. The charge for this fuel will depend on the size of the car's fuel tank and the car hire company’s pricing policy.
The customer will be required to leave a deposit for the fuel – usually in the form of an amount blocked on (rather than removed from) a credit card on signing the rental agreement.
The car hire company may allow or require the customer to pay for fuel at pick-up instead.
Fuel Policy Options
The customer will agree on one of the following fuel policies at pick-up:
pay for fuel at pick-up (the car hire company may agree to give a refund for any fuel left in the tank at drop-off), or
drop the car off with the same amount of fuel it had at pick-up, or
pay for fuel when dropping the car off.
Depending on the policy agreed on, the customer may be required to leave a deposit – usually in the form of an amount blocked on (rather than removed from) the main driver’s credit card on signing the rental agreement.

On rental company's website FAQ, we can see the following though:

Do I need to return the car with a full tank ?

"Most of the time, vehicles are supplied with a full tank of fuel. Unless you purchase a full-tank option when you check-out you should return the vehicle with a full-tank. Otherwise, Europcar will charge for missing fuel at the end of the rental. Europcar rates do not include fuel.

In some locations Europcar offers three options:

1) Return the car with the same level of fuel as when picked-up. No refuelling cost applies.

2) Return the car with less fuel than when picked-up and pay a refuelling service charge - higher rate than in service stations.

3) Purchase the refuelling service -option available at certain locations- for purchasing fuel at a competitive price. There is no credit given for fuel remaining in the tank at return time. This option must be selected at the time of the rental."

So the question is - what are the options now for my friend?
His credit card was already charged by rental company for a fuel tank.
He wasn't informed by rental company that he should return vehicle with empty tank, and that "fuel express" meant he was going to be charged for cost of full tank.
All t&c's and FAQ's indicated, he it should be normal full to full fuel policy.

Any advice?

Menas

Get your friend to look at what he signed when he was collecting the car. You know that form that you have to sign in three different places. If that states Fuel express and he did not read the detail then he has no comeback IMO.
In the estimated charges section on that form does it say anything about fuel? I am guessing it does and he signed it without reading it. Bad form that they did not say it to him..
Normally when collecting the car they tell you about their fuel policy...and if they dont you should always ask. Its a nice little earner for them.

JimsAlterEgo

did he ever agree to the brokers t&c,s. who did he pay money to?

L1011

Brokers are bad news for car hire, hotels, flights - arguably anything except insurance as that has very rigid structures in place.

The brokers T&Cs do seem to cover this option in a roundabout way - he did pay for fuel at pickup basically.

khamilto

Has he contacted Europcar? I hired a car with Hertz in Birmingham via a broker with full to full, but was charged full-to-empty. Contacted Hertz and they apologised and refunded me straight away.

CiniO

khamilto wrote: »

Has he contacted Europcar? I hired a car with Hertz in Birmingham via a broker with full to full, but was charged full-to-empty. Contacted Hertz and they apologised and refunded me straight away.

Yes, he has..
They've done the same - appologised and refunded.
We didn't think it was going to be that easy.

delahuntv

CiniO wrote: »

Yes, he has..
They've done the same - appologised and refunded.
We didn't think it was going to be that easy.

Usually its best to contact the company when you have an issue - THEN, if you find the issue is not sorted, ask for options.

Saves a lot of frustration as most companies value customers and will be reasonable.