Nightmare car rental Sixt - any suggestions?

[LizzGo]

We rented a car from Sixt in Barcelona, pre-cruise. The first problem we encountered was upon returning home almost two weeks later and finding we had been charged two days for a one day rental. Long story short: I was able to successfully dispute their claim with photos from the cruise, showing we had somehow managed to return the car after we were on board our ship and afloat in the Mediterranean. 

 

Now, two months later they are claiming damage to our rental. They even said we declared the damage when we returned the car!  There was no damage. In fact, we only rented the car for 24 hrs and were not in the city. The only time we were away from the car was when it was parked and there was literally nothing around - no other cars - nothing. I think what happened was we dropped off the car and the employees drove it around for a couple of hours, got a scratch on it and tried to pin both the damage and overtime charge on us. The person who accepted our return said there was no need to inspect. 

 

Usually we do not purchase insurance as we have good insurance on our credit card plus a rider on our homeowners, but this time we did. We purchased third party liability - whatever that is. 

 

Anyway my question: What should we do? I have no intention of paying 270 Euros.  Should I cancel the credit car I used? I there someplace to report scams like this? 

 

Any and all suggestions appreciated.

[John Bull]

If credit card rules are the same in Canada as in the UK, you can't cancel a credit card charge, but you can dispute it with your card issuer. 

There's a time limit for disputing. But then there's surely also a time limit - or at least that long gap must go against SixT - for the merchant to make a claim. And their admitted error over when you returned the car will surely go against them too.

It's a wearisome exercise that takes ages, but worth pursuing. It's something we had to do with Avis in New Orleans, who charged for add-ons that were included in our car rental agreement with British Airways. 

 

We have an annual insurance against car rental excesses - stacks of insurance companies offer one-off or annual policies that cost a fraction of buying a zero-excess add-on from the rental operator. The only downside is that you pay whatever's charged & reclaim it from the insurers, who will decide for themselves whether they want to fight the claim on their own behalf. We've never put it to the test, but it gives us inexpensive peace-of-mind.

 

But even though we're covered I don't think I'd accept a "no need to inspect" from the check-in clerk, unless the car was rented with the hirer's own zero excess. That again must surely go against SixT

We've had to take that risk a few times when returning a car out-of-hours & dropping the key in a letterbox - we've taken photos, but it's a risk.

 

BTW, SixT as you may know are one of the major operators. Their reputation for such things worldwide is no worse than the average.

But it might be worth trawling SixT reviews for that particular location. 

 

Good luck

 

JB  

Edited December 20, 2018 by John Bull

[LizzGo]

Thanks for taking the time to read and respond.  Yes I know Sixt is a major operator. That was one of the factors in deciding to rent through them. They certainly were not one of the cheapest. Our 24 hour rental was around $200. 

 

it may be worth mentioning that they put a 300 Euro hold on our credit card against damages, and that was refunded Then, a month later they decided we were responsible.

 

Anyway, we are keeping a close eye on our credit card, although oddly enough they are requesting our credit card info to process payment. And I am quite positive  this IS coming from Sixt, not some hacker.

 

Needless to say we will never use Sixt again.

[John Bull]

The initial refund (or was it simply withdrawal of a hold ?) adds weight to your case.

But why are they asking for your credit card details again? To charge you the €270? Or to refund it?

 

btw, "third party insurance" is the mandatory part of car insurance. It covers millions of $$$$$, but only for damage or injury to other road users etc - they are the "third parties". 

It's always been included when we've rented, though I believe that US drivers' own car insurance (not sure about Canadians) extends to third-party cover for rented cars, at least to rentals in the States.. Depending on their policy, insurance for Brits' own cars covers either just the insured car, or also to cars loaned to them (but third party cover only, not own damage) by friends etc. But it doesn't cover rentals.

 

It's kinda illogical to avoid using a provider in the future because of an incident which is clearly a one-off local issue.

But I take exactly the same view with Avis because of my experience.

That's human nature.  

 

JB  

[LizzGo]

I would tend to agree with you last comment if not for one thing- Trip Advisor and all over the internet on various travel blogs I have been seeing stories about Sixt just like mine, Sixt overcharging after the fact, and pressing for damages long after the rental was returned. When I read negative reviews I try to read between the lines and try to determine if the complaint is warranted or just sour grapes. I now wish I had heeded those negative reviews. 

 

Btw - the refund was a 300 Euro hold against my card, not a charge, but was supposed to be for damages to the rental. So why release the hold if the vehicle was damaged?

[John Bull]

On 12/22/2018 at 3:39 PM, LizzGo said:

I would tend to agree with you last comment if not for one thing- Trip Advisor and all over the internet on various travel blogs I have been seeing stories about Sixt just like mine, Sixt overcharging after the fact, and pressing for damages long after the rental was returned. When I read negative reviews I try to read between the lines and try to determine if the complaint is warranted or just sour grapes. I now wish I had heeded those negative reviews. 

 

Btw - the refund was a 300 Euro hold against my card, not a charge, but was supposed to be for damages to the rental. So why release the hold if the vehicle was damaged?

 

 

Hi, Lizz

 

If you go to review sites like TrustPilot you'll find that all the major operators get awful reviews. Try it with Avis, Hertz, Dollar, and the rest of them - all the results are the same, one star.

It's enough to put a person off renting completely. 

And altho the little guys get better reviews, there are so few reviews of them that they can easily be skewed.

The only use for reviews is to see any general trend - eg gouging for pre-existing damage - for a specific depot, and that's difficult because for instance even including "Barcelona" in a search term results in complaints about everywhere from Neverland toTimbuktu.

 

Yes, releasing the hold has seriously weakened SixT's case - it implies that the client didn't cause any damage, and any later claim should only be for traffic violations, parking tickets and such.

 

My own watertight case was at first declined by my card issuer, clearly at that stage they hadn't bothered to check it through. I had to threaten to sue BA, Avis, the card issuer and Uncle Tom Cobley  before I was taken seriously.

And even then Avis said they'd only refund  if I first I'd dropped my dispute - no way was I going to do that so to break the impasse BA stepped in and refunded, and only after receiving that refund did I drop my dispute.

You gotta have resolve and patience, but you'll get there in the end. 

 

Christmas greeting to all.

Except, of course,  Sixt and Avis 

 

JB 

[Wookie01]

Always, ALWAYS! video and photograph the vehicle before you start and again on returning it.

1. If staff see you making a detailed record they are less likely to try the ‘damage scam’;

2. If they do make a later damage claim you will have comprehensive evidence with which to refute the claim.

[LizzGo]

Thanks both for response. Since December we have not received any further communication from Sixt, leading  us wonder if the claims were even from Sixt in the first place. They certainly looked legitimate; letterhead, photos of our rental car etc.  We thought it odd that they asked us to remit payment through  the mail and even asked for cc info if we preferred to pay by credit card. We have simply chosen to ignore even though we were given a Dec 31 deadline. Nothing yet this year. We rent cars often. This is the first time there has been an issue 

[Wookie01]

I will add that we rented from Sixt in Le Havre last year and found them to be excellent.
Didn't have any problems with the booking or after the event charges, and they even upgraded us from an average large sedan into a really nice Mercedes 4 door. 🙂

[John Bull]

On 2/11/2019 at 5:34 PM, LizzGo said:

Thanks both for response. Since December we have not received any further communication from Sixt, leading  us wonder if the claims were even from Sixt in the first place. They certainly looked legitimate; letterhead, photos of our rental car etc

 

Yes, that's an interesting thought.

Usually possible to tell if it's genuine by carefully checking the sender 's email address, and comparing it against any address on their official website or on your email correspondence with them.

 

JB