The Lemon Fool

Last week we flew down to Newquay and arranged a rental car with Europcar. As usual, the rep tried to upsell various add-ons, including satnav at around £12 a day.

We told him we would do without, and rely on our phones. However, when we picked up the car, we discovered that it had satnav built in anyway, as most modern cars do.

I wonder how many people have paid the supplement and then been amazed at how well the `add-on' satnav was integrated!

My initial thought was that if we had paid the supplement I'd have wanted a refund. However, thinking about it later, they could quite legitimately say that they had complied with their contract, in that they had supplied what was requested and paid for.

Nevertheless, it seems, to put it mildly, sharp practice, and I'd be interested to hear people's views.

Clitheroekid wrote:My initial thought was that if we had paid the supplement I'd have wanted a refund. However, thinking about it later, they could quite legitimately say that they had complied with their contract, in that they had supplied what was requested and paid for.
Nevertheless, it seems, to put it mildly, sharp practice, and I'd be interested to hear people's views.

Perhaps they have cars without satnav and he made a mistake... or perhaps it's a nice extra earner that they sometimes get away with.

Many years since we hired a car, thanks for the heads up.

V8

This answer probably isn't on-topic for this board (and if it sparks too much off-topic discussion, I'll report myself and move it to a better place ) - but...

Quite a few modern cars have Android Auto / Apple CarPlay built in so if you connect your phone you get satnav on a decent size screen. It wasn't that was it? Was the rep offering you a TomTom or similar to mount on a suction mount if you didn't have phones or didn't want to use a tiny amount of your data?

Otherwise, it does seem sharp practice.

Having ascertained your requirements, I suspect the hire company looked at their stock and found that they didn't actually have a satnav-free car available at that time in the group you required, so in effect you got a free upgrade.
doolally

I always book the vehicle which meets my basic requirements, i.e., small automatic with aircon; to date I've never been given the car I booked. Invariably I'm offered an upgrade to a larger "bells and whistles" vehicle at a much reduced price, which I always decline no matter how attractive the offer, and then I get the upgrade anyway. This happens in the UK and abroad.

I'm guessing the reason this happens so often is people see car rental as a chance to drive something more exotic, such that there's little call for the smaller less interesting cars so the rental companies only have a few at any one time.

the free upgrade etc however doesnt always fit what one may be selecting a vehicle for of course. if one wants the micro size car because of town/city parking ease, or fuel economy, an upd=grad4e to a larger vehicle with poorer economy may not fit the bill and may actually be detrimental to one's visit/expereince

I think car rental firms operate similarly to skip companies. They always say "yes" to whatever you ask at the booking stage. Then they do whatever they like to suit themselves on the day, as you're fully committed. I doubt they even write down all the stuff they agree to on the phone.

Cynical old git I am, these days...