I thought I was paying £90 for excess hire car cover – then Hertz charged me £542

Dear Gill,

I live in Dublin and often hire cars from Hertz as I’ve found it offers good deals over the phone. In April I reserved an automatic SUV (Group N) at Munich Airport for 20 days. Hertz in Dublin quoted €761 (£651) including a cross-border charge with a collision damage waiver/theft excess of €1,250 (£1,070).

Initially I declined excess protection insurance at the rental desk, but when I saw the car had some previous damage, I returned to ask about cover. The agent didn’t speak very good English and I thought he said it would cost an extra €104 (£90). I agreed to the charge and signed another agreement. The next day I discovered a second charge of €1,067.70 (£913) on my bank account. I tried repeatedly to phone Hertz to cancel this but nobody ever picked up.

When the post-return invoice arrived I saw I had been charged a total of €1,584.75 (£1,356). The agent had charged €633 (£542) for a “Super Cover” insurance package before applying a discount of €104. I have complained about the mis-selling but Hertz says that as I signed the agreement I must pay the charges.

– C Ryan

Dear CR,

Hertz is correct; it can charge you for Super Cover as you have admitted that you requested it. It is hard to unpack the technical abbreviations and itemised list of charges and discounts on rental agreements presented on pick-up when there’s such pressure to get on and sign. This is a long-standing tactic used by agents to gloss over extra charges.

I did notice that Hertz had charged €295 (£253) plus VAT for the location service charge on the final invoice, compared with the estimated cost of €134 (£115) on the initial rental confirmation, so I queried this with the company.

Hertz tells me that the location fee (which covers running the airport desk) is charged as a percentage of the total rental cost including any optional extras. This meant that you paid just under €1,000 (£856) for the top-up insurance – almost as much as the excess itself – which is a disgrace.

Although you have a long relationship with Hertz Dublin, I would look at booking online in future. The deals should be similar and the extras, including excess insurance and breakdown cover charges, are clearly laid out. A similar N Group 20-day rental currently costs €737 (£630) if you pre-pay online compared with €812 (£695) if you pay on pick-up. Super Cover is shown as €934 (£800) – a ridiculous price hike given that annual policies offered by specialist car excess insurers cost around £40.

I’m also going to give a shout out to my favourite UK car rental agency, Zest which offers a far better deal with Hertz for a similar rental, quoting £685 (€801) including excess protection, breakdown assistance and free cancellation.

Your travel problems solved

Gill takes on a different case each week – so please send your problems to her for consideration at [email protected]. Please give your full name and, if your dispute is with a travel company, your address, telephone number and any booking reference. Gill can’t answer every question, but she will help where she can and all emails are acknowledged.

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