Driveme Car rental - HERTZ Charges

[Raptor7000r]

Hired a car through Driveme who essentially charge you a pound for car hire when moving vehicles 1 way and long distance.

So it was a VW polo through HERTZ to be dropped off to Birmingham Airport the same day. So all went well, collected car fine, dropped car off the same day although the branch was closed and I dropped the keys off in the drop box on a Sunday evening. A few days later I was charged £130 for fuel at £.3.XX a litre plus VAT on top, this after I had topped up the car prior to dropping the car back off and it was full.

So I have disputed it with them but to no avail, unfortunately I mistakenly paid in cash and took no receipt, silly of me Yes but never had this before and have asked the HERTZ customer complaints team to evidence it was not full and they are unable to do so, surely they must provide evidence?

The second ironic part is that when I got the car it had been driven 50+ miles since refuelling and 10 miles into my departure from collecting the car the first bar went off which I thought a bit weird until I checked the trip and seen that I had been short changed 50 miles! Oh the cheek.

So far, complaints department unhelp, google search shows this is widespread and the only company out the UK lot that tries this and got a chargeback with my credit card company.

Really miffed as a £1 hire has now turned into £130 and all at the hands of HERTZ.

Is there anything more I can do here, surely the onus is on HERTZ to provide the fuel discrepancy and not me to provide a reciept as they keep asking.

Moderator edit: no N&S

[Riley Blue]

I had exactly the same happen with the same company though 30+ years ago and at San Francisco so they've been at it a long time. Even with a receipt for the fuel it took nearly a year to get the charge refunded - good luck if you don't have one!

[Robertb]

Long shot, but could the petrol station look through their records and see if they can find evidence of your transaction, if you narrow it down to date and approx time?

[the-norseman]

I know nothing of these £1 hires but that screams stay away to me, do you really expect to hire a car for £1 and that be it?

[carreauchompeur]

Not the same company but fuelling charges fraud is a huge thing. Promised to refund it, didn’t, now disputing CC chargeback. Next step will be small claims court. Utter crooks.

[Donbot]

the-norseman said:

I know nothing of these £1 hires but that screams stay away to me, do you really expect to hire a car for £1 and that be it?

Yes if that's what they are offering.

If you hire cars one way you pay a premium, and they need to get the cars back somehow. A £1 return hire is them getting the car back where they want it without them needing to pay a driver.

[Bweber]

The fuel scam works both ways. I hired a car in January from Greenmotion that had an empty tank - 17 miles of range. The idea is that you won’t be able to get an unfamiliar car back with so little fuel so Greenmotion or their staff can trouser the difference. I got it back with 18 miles of range which pleased me. Has this happened to anyone else?

[RGG]

Bweber said:

The fuel scam works both ways. I hired a car in January from Greenmotion that had an empty tank - 17 miles of range. The idea is that you won’t be able to get an unfamiliar car back with so little fuel so Greenmotion or their staff can trouser the difference. I got it back with 18 miles of range which pleased me. Has this happened to anyone else?

Yes, a long time ago in my early days.

"Bring it back on empty" - so I did

All you need is a can of petrol.

Empty the tank driving it back.

Put just enough to get back in the tank from the can.

So satisfying.

[alangla]

the-norseman said:

I know nothing of these £1 hires but that screams stay away to me, do you really expect to hire a car for £1 and that be it?

From the horse’s mouth

Hertz website said:

Hertz One is a one-way car and van hire service in the UK that lets you rent a vehicle for just one pound per day.
Sound too good to be true? Don’t worry, there’s no catch. This deal really is every bit as good as it seems. In fact, you’re doing us a favour. You see, by opting for a one-way rental with Hertz One you’re helping us move our vehicles to where they’re needed most.

https://www.hertz.co.uk/p/hertzone
I think Europcar were the first one to do the £1 rental, but they seem to have stopped. No doubt some of the other big chains will offer something similar.

[wibble cb]

Get a receipt for the petrol, and take photo of the full petrol gauge, hasn’t failed me yet

[B'stard Child]

Bweber said:

The fuel scam works both ways. I hired a car in January from Greenmotion that had an empty tank - 17 miles of range. The idea is that you won’t be able to get an unfamiliar car back with so little fuel so Greenmotion or their staff can trouser the difference. I got it back with 18 miles of range which pleased me. Has this happened to anyone else?

Yes in the USA for years the hire cars were full of fuel and you needed to bring them back same state (often you had to provide a fuel receipt for a gas station within 5 miles)

Then it all changed and it was given to you with sod all fuel and you were told to return it empty or some companies gave it full of fuel and still told you to bring it back empty (they often weren't full at all - just "indicated" full)

One time I dropped a car off I said to the reception guy you'll need to put some fuel in to move it - we'd been on fumes for 10 miles and the range indicator had been zero for 30 miles - he laughed and said it'll be fine - when he went to move it it stalled and wouldn't re-start

I laughed and we wandered off to the MIA

[GasEngineer]

I hired a van from a local place which is just under a mile from a petrol station.

This was one that was supplied full so when I dropped it off I called into the garage and filled up to the neck click click click.

At the next pump was a guy from the van hire place in one of their vans. He pulled up put the pump filled up very briefly and went in to pay all in about 30 seconds.

As he came out joked I'm about to return this one; just making sure its full click click click.

So followed him back to the rental place and signed the van in. The next day I got an additional £3.50 charge on my credit card and when I called the hire place to query it mentioning that their guy had seen me filling up they told me that they always check by filling up, but they have a minimum charge of £3.50 a litre even if they can't get a litre in.

[Raptor7000r]

Robertb said:

Long shot, but could the petrol station look through their records and see if they can find evidence of your transaction, if you narrow it down to date and approx time?

Was going to try this but it was a small place in Birmingham and don't think they'd be too helpful. Will try this today however.

[Raptor7000r]

wibble cb said:

Get a receipt for the petrol, and take photo of the full petrol gauge, hasn’t failed me yet

My mistake was trusting HERTZ, I could have easily opted for a flight but took the car for flexibility.

Surely in this instance and any, the hire company must prove the car was showing less fuel? I.e. via fuel gauge and mileage, not the other way around.

[Sheepshanks]

Of all the hire companies I've had issues with, Hertz have always sorted things out in the end - but it's always taken a bit of back and forth.

[bloomen]

the-norseman said:

I know nothing of these £1 hires but that screams stay away to me, do you really expect to hire a car for £1 and that be it?

I did from Exeter to Stansted. It were fine.

[Raptor7000r]

the-norseman said:

I know nothing of these £1 hires but that screams stay away to me, do you really expect to hire a car for £1 and that be it?

Yes, should consumers be baited then back hire charges added on top? It appears extremely common malpractice by HERTZ £1 hire or not.

[Raptor7000r]

Sheepshanks said:

Of all the hire companies I've had issues with, Hertz have always sorted things out in the end - but it's always taken a bit of back and forth.

I did appeal to their inner conscience via the customer complaints team to verify this wasn't done in error, but they were not having it. After multiple attempts and multiple complaints team responses I've given up, I don't have the receipt but IMO the onus is on them to prove it incorrect. Not me.

[caziques]

If credit card chargeback doesn't work, off to small claims - which is done on the balance of probabilities.

[Mad Maximus]

Raptor7000r said:

Sheepshanks said:

Of all the hire companies I've had issues with, Hertz have always sorted things out in the end - but it's always taken a bit of back and forth.

I did appeal to their inner conscience via the customer complaints team to verify this wasn't done in error, but they were not having it. After multiple attempts and multiple complaints team responses I've given up, I don't have the receipt but IMO the onus is on them to prove it incorrect. Not me.

Shirley it must be on them to prove. Even if the contract states otherwise that may not count as contracts have to be fair. It’s money for you and yours they are stealing. Persist.