Complaints about EU car hire on the rise
In order to try and help motorists from falling into the common pitfalls of renting a hire vehicle when abroad, the UK European Consumer Centre has produced a leaflet which contains information on a customer’s rights as well as helpful tips on how best to deal with the car rental process.
The publication of the new leaflet follows a dramatic rise in the number of people complaining about their car hire experiences whilst visiting other countries in the EU. Since the beginning of the year, the number of enquires and complaints made by British consumers about their rental problems has risen by 29 per cent, according to the UK ECC.
Manager of the UK ECC, Jed Mayatt, said although he had been aware that complaints about car hire abroad were on the rise he was stunned to see by how much. He added that although there were obviously stories about car hire in Europe which end happily, many customers needed to start wising up and taking some basic precautions.
Hiring a car is just like any other transaction, and consumers cannot let their guard down just because they are on holiday, said Mayatt. He added that the recent figures proved that more care needed to be taken when entering into a contract when abroad.
One of Mayatt’s top tips was always return the hire vehicle to a person. He said that the customer should make sure that a member of staff checks the returned vehicle thoroughly and signs it off as returned in the same condition it left in.