Thread: Car Hire Company Duty of Care

I agree to an extent Tombie but what if i was hiring a boat and there were rough seas and a weather warning, should the hirer still let me hire a boat knowing that ?

Originally Posted by loanrangie

I agree to an extent Tombie but what if i was hiring a boat and there were rough seas and a weather warning, should the hirer still let me hire a boat knowing that ?

Should a car hire mob then advise there are silly drivers? Random animals spotted in the local area committing suicide by vehicle? That there is unforeseen oil dropped on the freeway and likely to cause loss of vehicle control?

Of course not...

Land Rover didn't advise me that I should insure my vehicle when I purchased it as it was highly likely to be in a MV incident during my ownership...
Why should they???

Did the girl at Maccas advise you to chew slowly and thoroughly, or you may choke, and to not eat too much as you may gain weight?

Originally Posted by Tombie

.... .....

Did the girl at Maccas advise you to chew slowly and thoroughly, or you may choke, and to not eat too much as you may gain weight?

Didn't the Macca's coffee cups have a warning on them stating that the contents may be hot?

I believe that was their response to being sued by a woman who spilt hot coffee on herself.

EDIT: I was right, but there is a bit more to it than most people realise.
http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm

While I was working travelling all over Australia and the rest of the world 10 years back, I hired cars in all sorts of places/countries, there was always that spectre hanging over the hire of the "unfortunate" accident/occurrence, my company always had special insurance for such an event. One of my colleagues "wrote off" a week old Toyota 80 series Landcruiser on his way back to civilisation from a copper project in Central Western Queensland trying to dodge a group of Emu's, the bill was horrendous, thankfully he was not hurt, and neither was the company bank balance.
Once they have your card number and your signature that says you do not accept the offer of "claim excess reduction", at whatever cost per day, no matter what, your money is as good as gone if you damage their vehicle. And I think the companies who do their insurance repairs are not too careful about how they quote. So unless you have, as has been said, a "special" arrangement/deal with your card provider or travel insurer, no matter what, the hirer pays, the hire company will not lose, fair or unfair. It is a business contract, and under the circumstances I can see no other way it could work.
My advice, for what it's worth, if you must hire a car/transport, thoroughly check the vehicle over for damage before even getting behind the wheel and take all the "buffering" cover you can buy from the hire company, you never know when that big number comes up. Gaz

Originally Posted by gazby

While I was working travelling all over Australia and the rest of the world 10 years back, I hired cars in all sorts of places/countries, there was always that spectre hanging over the hire of the "unfortunate" accident/occurrence, my company always had special insurance for such an event. One of my colleagues "wrote off" a week old Toyota 80 series Landcruiser on his way back to civilisation from a copper project in Central Western Queensland trying to dodge a group of Emu's, the bill was horrendous, thankfully he was not hurt, and neither was the company bank balance.
Once they have your card number and your signature that says you do not accept the offer of "claim excess reduction", at whatever cost per day, no matter what, your money is as good as gone if you damage their vehicle. And I think the companies who do their insurance repairs are not too careful about how they quote. So unless you have, as has been said, a "special" arrangement/deal with your card provider or travel insurer, no matter what, the hirer pays, the hire company will not lose, fair or unfair. It is a business contract, and under the circumstances I can see no other way it could work.
My advice, for what it's worth, if you must hire a car/transport, thoroughly check the vehicle over for damage before even getting behind the wheel and take all the "buffering" cover you can buy from the hire company, you never know when that big number comes up. Gaz

I can vouch for that. We (my wife and I) hired a vehicle once and did not do a thorough pre-inspection (something that I do very carefully now) and we failed to notice a dent in the rear left mudguard. We got the blame and had to pay accordingly.........didn't have a leg to stand on. What hurt the most though was the arrogant attitude of the hire company manager, we never went back until he sold out and the new people are great to deal with.

Originally Posted by gazby

My advice, for what it's worth, if you must hire a car/transport, thoroughly check the vehicle over for damage before even getting behind the wheel and take all the "buffering" cover you can buy from the hire company, you never know when that big number comes up. Gaz

And - when you return the car make sure you take detailed pics of it and have an independent witness.

All to often the cars are returned to airports and not sighted by rental staff and later they find damage and charge you.

Originally Posted by garrycol

And - when you return the car make sure you take detailed pics of it and have an independent witness.

All to often the cars are returned to airports and not sighted by rental staff and later they find damage and charge you.

Good advice!!!!!

I travel all over for work and hire a lot of vehicles.

Our SOP now is to approach their staff and get the return part of the condition report signed.

Cannot speak for witness reports or how either will pan put in court, but i can say that pics will not deter them from charging you for un noticed damage, or in our case damage their cleaning staff cause when they back into something.

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