By PV’s company car expert, Yvonne Reynolds-Young.
According to the BBC You and Yours programme, a car rental company is being investigated by trading standards officers, following hundreds of complaints from customers whose deposits had, apparently, been retained without good cause.
The company in question is A1 National Car and Van Rental, based in Leicester.
Allegedly, despite promises to return monies to renters, the company has not only failed to do so, but also dipped into customers bank accounts to help themselves to further funds – sometimes weeks after the end of the rental. Trading Sta
ndards Officers in Leicester, have, according to the BBC programme, insisted that the owner, Mr Hammond Kumar, undertakes to change his policies.
Tradings Standards Officer Keith Regan is quoted as saying: ‘Mr Kumar signed an undertaking and agreed to amend some of these specific unfair trading practices, making sure he returns deposits on time and that the website would be amended. That did not happen so we are now actively seeking a court order.’
‘We are now actively seeking a court order.’ Tradings Standards Officer, Keith Regan
PV will monitor proceedings and let you know what happens next; however what has been missed from the BBC article, seen here, is that despite this company being billed as a ‘major UK rental company’, A1 National Car and Van rental is in no way a major rental company and should not be confused with the other company of a similar name. The UK and European businesses of National and Alamo, part of Vanguard in the USA, were acquired by Europcar in 2007, so forming the largest car rental company in Britain and Europe. The former Head Office of National was, coincidentally, based in Leicester… However, it is likely that the only association with A1 is that it may have been a supplier. A1 is what is commonly known as a ‘broker’ and is unlikely to own many, if any, vehicles of its own. We know however, that National’s PR team are already on to this and will no doubt deny any connection in due course.
There are many brokers and wholesalers of car and van rental on line who contract with the car rental companies who actually own and operate fleets of vehicles, however there is only a handful that have robust and transparent procedures in place to protect their customers. A good wholesaler will look after the renter, and have a strong healthy relationship with the fleet owners and operators.
Our advice to you, the consumer, is to either book direct with the car or van rental operator or use one of the larger reputable brokers (where there are usually major savings to be had). Sadly for the industry but great for us, it is still the case that brokers can buy car rental and sell it on cheaper than can be bought direct from the ‘big boys’.
Go figure.
PV would like to suggest that Europcar is probably the best direct car and van rental operator in the UK and Europe, in terms of service and coverage. However for customer care, price, convenience and worldwide coverage, we like RentalCars.com.
Like the man used to say: ‘let’s be careful out there.’
