Definitely shite of the future. Kia Carens.

[ChinaTom]

Only the Daewoo Tacuma can threaten it for terrible MPV crown.

 

 

Expecting a nightmare with Hertz when I return it tomorrow. The damage on this motor is incredible - this is marked on the damage form with a small x on the door, but the scratches and scrapes elsewhere were there when we picked it up, but not on the damage form. Yeah, should have checked, but it was 05:35, and we had not slept a wink in the back row of an A340.

 

 

Surprised they let them out in this condition. Guess they were waiting for a gullable and knackered individual with a one way hire to the provinces.

[Dukestar25]

We had a similar fun-filled time with Smiths Van Hire near here.We hired a Luton from them and they neglected to note a corner of the Luton body that was slightly damaged before we got hold of said vehicle and, predictably, wanted to keep our deposit on the grounds that WE had caused the damage.If they get awkward, just threaten them with an AA vehicle inspection (somehow, they can tell how old the damage is or something ) and they should relent if they know they're in the wrong. Worked for us...

[ChinaTom]

Will certainly give that a go if we get trouble. I have just given some of the scratches a touch-up with a marker pen - flat black paint is an advantage here. The staff at Norwich airport are unlikely to want to inspect the car anyway - they like chatting to each other and doing as little as possible anyway.

[Cavcraft]

Don't forget those trusty black felt and marker pens for the light scratches

[Pillock]

I saw a Carens from a fair way off on the motorway, from behind. I thought, at that distance, that it looked like a old Citroen - a CX estate maybe? I was quite disappointed when I found out what it actually was.As for hire firms trying it on, I don't doubt you. They probably hire it out in that state to no end of people waiting for someone who will just pay the bill to avoid the aggro.I once borrowed a Transit van for a 10 mile furniture move. Budget won my business with a £25 same-day-return rate so I trotted off and picked the van up, full of fuel. Moved the shite, had a bit of RWD twisty-road fun and took it back, having put no fuel in it but it's still on full."Oh, you've not refilled it. We'll have to charge you standard rates""Hang on, that says 'full'.... it's marked as full on the collection sheet""Yeah, but these read over full when we brim the tank. You've not filled it""Well you should start marking it as 'overfull' then. That *prods sheet* says full and that *prods instrument cluster* says full. I'll happily take photos of them both and make a point of it"Yes I was being a pedantic twat, but given that they'd charged me £25 for an hour's rental of an uncleaned, unroadworthy (it had a cracked screen) van I wasn't in the mood

[monzaE]

The staff at Norwich airport are unlikely to want to inspect the car anyway

you banking on them not being autoshiters then?

[ChinaTom]

Well, if there are any Hertz chaps from Norwich airport here, you're all fantastic conscientious people who will know my plight and not arse me around - instead give yawning Tariq at Heathrow a call and tell him he can have his wrecked Carens back to deal with properly.I once had a Fabia Diesel from Avis and got from Heathrow to Peterborough without the needle even moving from overfull. No questions asked.Hire cars are a hassle, but still SO much cheaper than the train when there's more than one of you.

[Station]

In work we hired a huge Fiat RV camperthingy.We had to use it for two months on a farm, and it got pretty used! I remember jumping up to bed which was above the cockpit and ripping the whole wooden panelling off! We got the handiman to fix it before we gave it back, and I remember him just looking at me slackjawed when he was given the list of jobs.

[ChinaTom]

well, so far so good. Apparently their computer records showed "significant damage" and as I suspected they would not be tempted out their office to check the car. Just need to keep an eye on the credit card statement in case they do try it on.Then I got the bus home - the first time for 25 years. Not entirely sure the vehicle was roadworthy - cracked windscreen and an auto box that whined like my missus at a car show. Not as scary as the bus stop though - menacing "crash us a Berkeley Blue mate" tracksuits and discontentment with 2 new faces on the bus. I'm a Marly light man and wasn't in the mood to dish them out. If the Beemer doesn't pass its MOT tomorrow, I'm staying in till it does.

[pogweasel]

Not entirely sure the vehicle was roadworthy - cracked windscreen and an auto box that whined like my missus at a car show.

ROFL HARRIS!

[Futuramic]

well, so far so good. Apparently their computer records showed "significant damage" and as I suspected they would not be tempted out their office to check the car. Just need to keep an eye on the credit card statement in case they do try it on.Then I got the bus home - the first time for 25 years. Not entirely sure the vehicle was roadworthy - cracked windscreen and an auto box that whined like my missus at a car show. Not as scary as the bus stop though - menacing "crash us a Berkeley Blue mate" tracksuits and discontentment with 2 new faces on the bus. I'm a Marly light man and wasn't in the mood to dish them out. If the Beemer doesn't pass its MOT tomorrow, I'm staying in till it does.

Good for you! I work hard, and I'm assuming you do too, to pay for my massively overpriced cigarettes. I don't hand them out like some liberal charity, unless a friend is in need.Lights are a different matter. My Cricket is your Cricket.

[Rusty Pelican]

Too bloody expensive to " flash the ash " now , smoke rolleys , none of my mates like em so im safe.

[r.welfare]

I had a similar problem to this when I hired a Holden Commodore in Sydney a few years back. I signed all the various forms then was directed to the underground car park, loaded up and drove off. When we hit our first rest stop, I noticed loads of damage all over it, which of course did not correspond to the little X's and dashes scribbled on the car schematic on the rental agreement...ended up buying some Tippex to try and touch in the worst of it. Had a big grumble to the chap on "Collections" at Melbourne Airport re. the condition of the car, whereupon he quietly opened the boot and lifted the carpet where there was a sticker with all the damage noted on it.Not sure if the UK rentalists do similar, this was Avis IIRC.It's interesting to see that the Koreans are now acceptable "rental fodder" in the UK; National have a number of Kia Ceed's that I am yet to be allocated, but I'm sure they are better than the Zafiras I am usually given (and for which, despite my booking a Group C Astra or similar, and it therefore being their f**kup that they can't provide, the company is charged the Zafira's higher rate - WTF?). Whether they are better than my current rental "hero", the Pug 308 1.6HDI, remains to be seen - you can't argue with 700 motorway miles out of £50 of diesel, which my steam-powered abacus makes 68MPG.

[Pete-M]

Had a big grumble to the chap on "Collections" at Melbourne Airport re. the condition of the car, whereupon he quietly opened the boot and lifted the carpet where there was a sticker with all the damage noted on it.Not sure if the UK rentalists do similar, this was Avis IIRC.

Avis do indeed do that, unfortunately, it's very rare that they actually fill the things in. Should be filled in when the car comes back off hire, but very rarely is.Avis are the best hire company, but they're far from the cheapest. I worked for Avis for a few years, before moving on to Budget, then Hertz, National and a couple of small privately owned hire firms. Avis were the only ones who actually appeared to give a toss about their cars. Avis's computer will not allow a car out on hire once it's reached its maximum allowed mileage, or if its due a service. I've known hire companies that had 50,000 mile cars that had never had an oil change or basic service. One I know of used to run cars to 160k miles, but would clock them every few months before getting tyres or whatever fitted so the mileage looked like it was genuine. They'd flog 'em just after the first MOT with 40k on the clock as "Ex lease"..

[pogweasel]

Avis are the best hire company

Hahahahahhahhahahaha!Oh that's a good one, I'll remember that.

[Pillock]

I've had good and bad from Avis. They sorted me out with a free upgrade due to their cockup on a holiday once, I'd phoned the week before to explain I was arriving a day earlier... "no problem sir". Got there, no car..... took the guy 5 minutes to clear a Corsa -> Vectra upgrade through his boss and off I drove.I've also had shit off them failing to collect cars from outside my house, when work organise them. Three days later they rock up and give me an earful for not parking it where they left it (i.e. in my way). I told them they should be lucky it's still got wheels, or indeed is still the right way up and not on fire in a carpark given that I'd left the keys in my meter cupboard over the weekend.

[ChinaTom]

I have had good and bad experiences from just about all of them, but as an old schoolchum works in the P'boro Avis branch I get really good service - good motors and always ready when I need them. EVERY company at Heathrow and Gatwick are as bad as each other. Best of a low scoring bunch in my experience are National. I quite like the "help yourself from any in Area X" approach at the airports as they often supplement stocks in each area with better cars. With Europcar I have religiously booked a Matiz and ended up with a 207 or even a Focus as there is nothing that small there. Did get caught out once though. There are not many things worse than coming off a sleepless long haul, walking 12 miles through Terminal 3 with the 5-step-farting elderly and oriental, waiting 50 minutes for luggage with long haul farts still echoing, getting yawn and huff based abuse from the early shift at the rental desks, then buzzing up the A1 in a 0.8 Matiz with suitcases hanging out the boot. Best ever was a Matiz upgrade to a Passat diesel estate auto. One thing I don't get though. How come the autos are SO much more expensive than the manuals?

[Mr Lobster]

How come the autos are SO much more expensive than the manuals?

Because they can get away with charging a lot more!Every hire company I've ever worked for has only ever run a small percentage of its fleet as autos (the branch I run has around 180 cars at present, of which no more than 10 are autos), this is mainly because outside of airport locations there just isn't the demand. We keep a few autos because there will always be people who want one, but if they want one they will have to pay for it!I've known a couple of companies in the past who clocked hire cars. One did it because they were all leased from manufacturers who charged hefty penalties if they had more than a certain mileage at the end of lease. One main dealer I worked for years ago did it all the time. It became very common for warranty claims for new speedos on demonstrators / courtesy cars / rental fleet...

[Volksy]

The only company who seem to charge a reasonable rate for an auto is enterprise. And they offer them in pretty much all sizes. Got a Disastra Auto on my last rental, and the box was awful, but only a tenner more than a manual. I don't 'have' to have a mills-o-matic, but as my left knee is borked it makes for a more comfortable drive. And to be honest, a year of super smooth Volvo auto, both an XC90 and an S70 have pretty much converted me, especially for town driving.

[Pete-M]

Avis are the best hire company

Hahahahahhahhahahaha!Oh that's a good one, I'll remember that.

I only say that from what I've seen working for them, and comparing them to the other car hire places I've worked. They're far from perfect, but they don't tend to indulge in the dodgy practices I've seen in other places. Put it this way, I hire from Avis because they're the least likely to fuck up in my experience. If you work for Avis and something goes hideously wrong it ends up on their system, and their system is linked directly to their head office in Pheonix. Pheonix then sends a report to the local area manager and it hits the fan big time, or always did when anything happened in the branches I've been in. This doesn't happen with Avis licencees anywhere near as much, they can be a law unto themselves and are generally a nightmare to everyone who gets involved with them. Especially other Avis branches.Budget didn't use a linked system when I worked for them, but I worked for a Budget franchise so that was generally mayhem. Hertz seemed to have a similar set up to Avis when it came to the cars, but complaints and issues didn't cause anywhere near the comebacks from head office. National were slightly more organised than Budget.The smaller independant hire companies I've worked with were just out to screw you for damage that more often than not you didn't do, but it wasn't unknown for numerous people to be charged for the same damage until there was enough in the pot to cover the repairs. Nasty practice, and one the Avis computer system wouldn't allow as you could only charge for damage that was listed and the system wouldn't allow the car to be hired until repaired (unless it was stuff like a scuffed alloy or a scratch.)Having said all this, the damage on the car at the beginning of this thread would have been enough to take the car off hire when I worked there, so a lot may have changed..