Charlie Smith
AN undercover investigation has revealed that rental firm Goldcar uses ‘criminal lying and bullying’ as sales tactics.
Consumer publication Which? said it caught the car hire company ‘red handed’ using ‘pressure-selling’.
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In secret filming at Malaga and Alicante airports Goldcar threatened to charge journalists posing as holidaymakers ‘€300 for a tiny scratch’.
The notorious firm also offered an excess and deposit of just €1,100, while it said drivers who broke down would be charged €8.50 for every kilometre on a tow truck.
Goldcar told several lies, including ‘if you don’t buy our insurance, you’re only covered for third-party damage’, according to Which?
Other untruths included that customers’ own insurance policies wouldn’t be valid, and that unless they accepted Goldcar’s, they would be unable to hire the vehicle.
In Europe, customers are not required to buy additional insurance when renting a car and are covered with ‘basic’ insurance by law.
It comes after numerous complaints have been made against Goldcar, including claims of customers having €1,200 frozen on their credit card for refusing to pay an extra €100 insurance payment.
Which? advises customers to ‘never rent from Goldcar’.
Some of the best-rated car hire firms include Enterprise, Hertz and Avis.
A Goldcar statement read: “Goldcar would never condone the use of misleading statements that are not aligned with our terms and conditions.
“Where we find unaligned practice we will take firm action.”
Do you have a car hire horror story? get in touch at [email protected]
