Jamie Wilson, 34, had spent an idyllic fortnight travelling around France with his girlfriend. Then disaster struck.
The pair were very nearly stranded, due to a little-known French law that left them unable to drive their hire car and perilously close to missing their flight.
The couple, from Oxford, wrote in to Metro‘s Money Problem to detail their experience, which left them out of pocket — never mind stressed.
Our consumer champion, Sarah Davidson, offered her help.
The problem:
Over the summer, my partner and I spent a couple of weeks in the south of France, partly in Avignon and then travelling on to Aix-en-Provence.
Before we left, we booked a petrol compact hire car from Alamo but when we arrived at the airport, we were told there were only diesel SUVs available. I’d never driven a diesel but since it was technically an upgrade, we were both pretty happy.
We did all the things you’re meant to – took pictures of every angle before setting off, checking the fuel level etc. After about 45 minutes, we noticed a warning light on the dashboard flash up, saying AdBlue. Neither of us had ever heard of it and we assumed it wouldn’t be important given we’d only just picked the car up and it had been fully checked.
The car was absolutely fine for the entire holiday – until the very last day when we’d stopped in Aix for lunch before driving back to Marseille Airport for our early evening flight. We got back to the car to set off and when I tried to unlock it, nothing happened.
We googled it and after about an hour finally managed to get in but it wouldn’t start. That’s when we realised that AdBlue is a type of chemical that has to be added to diesel in France to lower carbon emissions. By this time, we were starting to panic about missing our flight.
Basically, we had no option but to take a cab to the nearest garage and buy a carton of this stuff and cab back to the car. Unbelievably, we hadn’t bought enough so we had to go back to the garage again.
Now, we were seriously worried we would miss the flight. When we finally got to the airport, Alamo were so apologetic, saying that should never have happened. They promised to refund us but we never heard back.
Thankfully, our flight was really delayed. If it hadn’t been, we’d have been hundreds of pounds out of pocket. In all, we had to spend about 50 euros sorting the AdBlue out – I know to some people that’s not a lot but to us, it is. Can you help us get our money back?
Sarah’s answer:
Hiring a car abroad can induce anxiety in the most careful of drivers.
Should any damage occur, the excess can extend into the thousands. ew’ve all heard horror stories of hire companies accusing holiday goers of causing this or that scratch that was definitely there before you picked the car up.
And that’s quite aside from the liberties taken by some of the less scrupulous firms whose sales reps will swear you need to take this, that and the next extra insurance policy.
Inevitably, you didn’t and you’ve wasted another couple of hundred quid into the bargain.
The least you can expect, you’d think, is for the car to be in good working order.
In your case, it’s pretty clear it wasn’t and there had been an error made in failing to check the AdBlue levels.
I contacted Enterprise, which owns the Alamo car hire brand, on your behalf to find out what had happened to your refund and to get an explanation for why you’d been put in this position in the first place.
Happily, they were very receptive and sorted the matter out efficiently and without delay.
In the end, you got the money you spent on taxis and on the AdBlue back, and they threw a 50 euro bonus payment in on top.
A spokesperson for Enterprise said: ‘We have refunded the customer in full for the expenses they incurred, as well as provided a goodwill gesture for the inconvenience.’
You said: ‘I’m pleased that what was quite a stressful event has come to a satisfactory close. Although I still wince a little every time I see AdBlue at the petrol station.’
It’s worth pointing out here that, while Jamie’s problem was sorted easily enough, if the couple had missed their flight, the cost of rebooking flights and finding accommodation could easily have run to more than £1,000.
Hannah Mayfield, money expert at travel comparison site PayingTooMuch, warns that travel insurance may not have covered it.
‘Most policies include missed departure cover if your journey is disrupted by events outside your control, such as a breakdown,’ she said.
‘But not all extend to hire cars, and some may argue that ignoring a dashboard warning counts as negligence. The safest option is to check your policy wording carefully before you travel.’
How to complain when car hire goes wrong
All drivers who hire a car have the right to complain directly to the company they used within 14 days.
If they fail to respond or the solution they offer isn’t one you’re happy with, then you can take your complaint to the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association.
In order for them to be able to intervene, the hire company needs to be a BVRLA member in the UK.
Hertz, Enterprise, Avis, Budget, Europcar and Sixt are members, meaning they have to adhere to the association’s code of conduct.
If you hired a vehicle from a company in Europe, you can take your complaint to the European Car Rental Conciliation Service (ECRCS).
They’ll help you resolve it for free so long as the hire company is one of the following registered members: Europcar, Enterprise, AVIS, Budget, Maggiore, Hertz, Thrifty, Dollar, Alamo, National, Firefly and Sixt.
Do you have a story to share?
Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.
