Let down by car hire
We have recently returned from a trip to England. The experience was good until we collected the hire car booked via Ryanair.
At the Europcar desk, the service seemed incredibly slow. Everybody was buying more insurance.
Being a careful driver and not wanting expensive extra insurance, I was told I would require to give a £700 deposit, because we had booked through Ryanair. Booking direct required only £100 deposit. Why?
It seemed unethical and unnecessary. The choice was clear: buy extra insurance or have no car.
Ryanair should be concerned, misrepresenting costs through their website. Europcar put the blame squarely on Ryanair, which seems to go against Ryanair’s whole ethos of buying what you want with no hidden extras.
The cost of rental, not huge, nearly doubled but what irritated me most was the unethical way in which it was done.
Linden Cole, Pont Melvez
Editor’s note:
Ryanair declined to comment on general policy but Europcar told us that the deposit was only an amount that is pre-authorised on a customer’s account and pending for the duration of the hire. When the hire terminates, if there has been no damage to the vehicle or other charges incurred, the deposit is released in full.
If you book directly through Europcar, the deposit is £250. However, for Keddy by Europcar, a specific product line created for brokers and intermediates bookable via Ryanair, the deposit amount is £700. Europcar acknowledged that in this case it might not have been clear enough and agreed to review the charges if the reader provided their rental details (agreement number, reservation or invoice number).
