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DISCO4.COM > Off Topic - Humour, Rants & Pointless Posts

New (to me) hire car scam
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Famousfive
 


Member Since: 12 Aug 2014
Location: Southampton
Posts: 1806

Ukraine 2013 Discovery 4 3.0 TDV6 GS Auto Loire BlueDiscovery 4
New (to me) hire car scam

Booked a villa with friends to Spain when the airbridges opened early July* and arrived on a 90% full easyJet flight yesterday (Saturday). As an aside on the the cv-19 front everything felt very safe.

When we booked the villa we debated whether we actually needed car hire as 20 mins from airport and everything in walking distance of the villa but we decided as they were so cheap to book a couple of cars from a site recommended on here in the past https://www.doyouspain.com/. We used them as a broker to find us a couple of really cheap ford focus type motors (£48 /week) supplied by https://www.delpasocarhire.com/. Oh how I wish i'd read the reviews first Evil or Very Mad

We know the drill that its a hard sell for the insurance - that's part of the gig - and with a £40 annual hire car policy from the UK i'm always happy to have the large security deposit blocked on my my credit card:
Click image to enlarge


This is where it gets a bit dark. My credit card has my surname and initial on only - and according to both delpaso and doyouspain this means I cannot use it to block a security deposit but (and here is the rub) I could use that same cc to pay their €147 optional insurance coverage Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad
Their T&C's were of course woolly - cc in drivers name - note not Full Name but still nothing budging and no escalation available by either parties.

So we decided we'd rather the €147 go to taxis and the like. Also with the villa being so near we can cope with just our friends car. But if any of you ever get out of the UK again then make sure you have a cc in your full name!

While we we on hold with doyouspain we looked at the reviews for both companies and it showed a lot of people were being hit by the same scam and there were at least 2 customers in the reception who had no choice but to cough up the extra dosh whilst we were there. I took it surprisingly calmly but dug my heels in when they happy to use the CC for their insurance ... maybe I should have done that and used chargeback!

So is this a scam or new policy that I should know about Question The days of getting a cheap hire car for me might be over - its too stressful.


Anyway rant over and lesson learnt 8) Thumbs Up


*Yes I know we'll now be in a 14 day quarantine on return  Stolen - D4 Loire Blue
D4 Bali Blue  
Post #216345926th Jul 2020 8:51 am
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kajtzu
 


Member Since: 11 Aug 2017
Location: Helsinki
Posts: 6563

Finland 2005 Discovery 3 4.4 V8 HSE Auto Cairns BlueDiscovery 3

Sounds indeed like some kind of tourist scam.

I’ve rented vehicles plenty of times with corporate cards that do not bear my full name but instead initials and the company name. Also, at least American Express allows you to select what you want written as the name on private cards (or allowed at the time mine was issued), extra cards say “AC” at the end, etc.

Usually nobody even cares what the card says as long as it is approved.... Whistle  
Post #216347226th Jul 2020 9:48 am
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mick_n3
 


Member Since: 19 May 2017
Location: Kettering
Posts: 421

United Kingdom 2008 Discovery 3 TDV6 HSE Auto Buckingham BlueDiscovery 3

Got done 6 or so years ago by you guessed Do you Spain
Booked here and paid for insurance in advance, on arrival that insurance wasn't good enough for them and they insisted I take out their own policy, we were stuck and had no choice but to pay, the cheap car hire cost double.

I'd used Do you Spain a number of times before with no issues but never again. 
M6NIO  
Post #216352526th Jul 2020 1:11 pm
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