I now avoid renting cars in Britain if I can avoid it because of "damage" scams by the car hire companies. This can lead to unexpected charges to your credit card some time after you return the car.
It's a pity, because I live overseas and on trips back to the UK renting a car is usually the cheapest and most convenient way for me, my wife and our luggage to get around - provided we're not staying in London or the centre of historic towns, of course.
On the last two occasions when I've hired cars here I've had major aggravation about non-existant damage to tyres or wheels on return, followed by attempts to make hundreds of pounds of unauthorised (by me) charges to my credit card for repairs plus "administration charges".
This smacks of an obvious policy by certain rental companies to try it on, presumably hoping the punters will be rushing to catch a plane, quite possibly live overseas and not able to effectively dispute the matter. I've had trouble in Edinburgh and Manchester with both the red ones and the yellow ones - not talking about back-street operators here - but both times the companies backed down and in the end I paid nothing extra (except for my time & stress in challenging them).
Most recently (in 2015) I returned a car to Manchester Airport, and whilst queuing to hand in my keys at the desk, a businesswoman type in front was kicking off about hefty charges added for damage she was unaware of causing. Then half an hour later in the terminal waiting for our flight to board, a random passenger sitting behind me was in a heated call on his mobile to a car hire company about tyre damage he said he hadn't caused but had just being charged for. Then two days later, a credit card charge appeared (£398) for allegedly kerbing the alloy wheel on the car I'd returned. Luckily I had clear photos of all the wheels (plus all the rest of the car too) at the check-in car park with that company's signage in view. I instructed my bank to reverse the payment, which they promptly did, and when I asked the rental company to send evidence - their photos of the damage and their invoices for repair, they eventually backed off "as a gesture of goodwill".
Try Googling this subject, or look up, for example,
Manchester Airport Car Rental on Tripadvisor for other people's more recent experiences.
Even if some wear and tear does occur, as it will to any car, you wonder how many separate customers will get billed for ephemeral damage like slight scratches on wheel arches and scuffs on tyres, and how much it actually costs the companies when they eventually repair it (they'll not be paying retail prices for tyres or at a body shop, that's for sure)
Unfortunately I will need to hire a car again in a few weeks time. This time I'll be giving a smaller regional firm a go (Arnold Clark) as they seem to have good reviews, no mention of this scam and their full insurance cover is not as extortionate as the big guys.
Take lots of photos of the car before & after and
caveat emptor. [/RANT]
