Tyre blowout on rental van

prj1865 · 15 Sep 2015 at 11:11

Hello,

I moved house over the weekend and hired a Luton Van with a tail-lift. As i was driving down a dual carriageway I had the rear drivers side tyre blow-out. I called the breakdown and they came and swapped it out with the spare.

Upon dropping the van back the person doing the inspection declared that he was holding the deposit back for the damage to the tyre. There was no other damage to anything else. So now the van company has had £205 for the rental (Friday PM to Mon AM) plus another £250 for the deposit out of my account :mad:

I'm waiting for the manager to call me back to discuss. Has anyone else had this happen? What was the outcome?

UPDATE:- Managed to speak to them and their policy is to take the full £250 deposit if anything is wrong with the van and then refund after they have sorted it out. It looks as if i will get it all back apart from £50-70 which isn't too bad. Thanks for the replies.

Thanks

Freakbro · 15 Sep 2015 at 11:12

Sounds odd to me, I'm not sure how you can be held responsible for a blow out, unless they could prove you overloaded the van

Abyss · 15 Sep 2015 at 11:20

It is fairly standard for the insurance on a hire car to not include windscreen/tyre damage. I would however expect them to only retain the cost of replacing the tyre as opposed to the full £250 though

[TW]Fox · 15 Sep 2015 at 11:21

Freakbro said:
Sounds odd to me, I'm not sure how you can be held responsible for a blow out, unless they could prove you overloaded the van

Because the rental agreement states the renter is responsible for tyre, glass and under body damage.

The Judge · 15 Sep 2015 at 12:37

Tell them you will pay only for a new tyre minus the tread wear already used. It would border line on criminal to expect you to pay for a new tyre

thecremeegg · 15 Sep 2015 at 12:37

£250 for a tyre? Complete rip off - they should be taking £100 tops, if that

pepsilol · 15 Sep 2015 at 12:38

The cost includes admin time.

snapdragon69 · 15 Sep 2015 at 13:06

The Judge said:
Tell them you will pay only for a new tyre minus the tread wear already used. It would border line on criminal to expect you to pay for a new tyre

This, and if they argue say you are not resposnible for consequential losses. Just tyres or glass.

Dr Who · 15 Sep 2015 at 13:31

If you blow a tyre on a rental vehicle, always take it to be replaced with something cheap, same with fuel. Never let them deal with it as you will pay through the nose.

pepsilol · 15 Sep 2015 at 14:08

The Judge said:
Tell them you will pay only for a new tyre minus the tread wear already used. It would border line on criminal to expect you to pay for a new tyre

Yes because the time getting it sorted doesn't cost anything and the time it's not available for rental doesn't cost anything either.

Glaucus · 15 Sep 2015 at 14:45

Doesn't help you this time, but always worth buying 3rd party insurance as it's so cheap and not doing their own excess reduction insurance which is an utter rip off.
Someone like these guys. No only cover excess but things like tyres, batteries, underside and other things insurance companies charge for.

https://www.questor-insurance.co.uk/vehicle-hire-insurance.aspx?cl=153

snapdragon69 · 15 Sep 2015 at 15:30

pepsilol said:
Yes because the time getting it sorted doesn't cost anything and the time it's not available for rental doesn't cost anything either.

It depends on the T&C/Contract. It usually says glass and tyres, not glass, tyres, and consequential losses.

Haggisman · 15 Sep 2015 at 16:14

Call me cynical, but what's to stop a rental company from "sabotaging" the tyres every time they start getting near the point of needing replacement?

Based on that, if it happened to me, I'd be replacing it myself with the cheapest tyre I could find and not mentioning it...

tom_e · 15 Sep 2015 at 16:36

Haggisman said:
Call me cynical, but what's to stop a rental company from "sabotaging" the tyres every time they start getting near the point of needing replacement?

Based on that, if it happened to me, I'd be replacing it myself with the cheapest tyre I could find and not mentioning it...

Manslaughter charges if it goes really wrong and someone finds out.

Jono · 15 Sep 2015 at 16:41

tom_e said:
Manslaughter charges if it goes really wrong and someone finds out.

Surely such tyres shouldn't be possible to buy/fit.

tom_e · 15 Sep 2015 at 16:42

Jono said:
Surely such tyres shouldn't be possible to buy/fit.

I was talking in reference to sabotaging tires close to needing replaced.

Jono · 15 Sep 2015 at 16:54

tom_e said:
I was talking in reference to sabotaging tires close to needing replaced.

Oh duh, sorry

Haggisman · 15 Sep 2015 at 21:28

tom_e said:
Manslaughter charges if it goes really wrong and someone finds out.

Very unlikely though - how is anyone going to prove a few nails scattered around the tyre just before you pick up the car/van or a few slow pinhole punctures which only become evident 20 miles down the road?

David Toader · 5 Oct 2020 at 00:05

Can someone help me with my problem?

I was working to Amazon, as I had holiday 7 days I gave them the van they hired for me so not to pay the rent for the van. Well after my holiday finished on Monday night they sent me to someone else to pick up a new van. They told me the van is in very good condition but when I picked it up on the dashboard showed up the sensors of the tyres , I sent a picture of that to one of the managers and he told that the van had a flat tyre and it's missing one sensor from one tyre nothing bad, then after 3 days one tyre from right hand side of the driver exploded on a dual carriageway and as I was on the first line of the dual carriageway I also had many cars around me and a lorry in front of I couldn't stop the van so I pulled it on the field and I hit a traffic sign and the wing from the driver side been damage. Can someone explain to me who's fault is here as there the tyres wasn't been checked?

Scania · 5 Oct 2020 at 07:25

David Toader said:
Can someone help me with my problem?

I was working to Amazon, as I had holiday 7 days I gave them the van they hired for me so not to pay the rent for the van. Well after my holiday finished on Monday night they sent me to someone else to pick up a new van. They told me the van is in very good condition but when I picked it up on the dashboard showed up the sensors of the tyres , I sent a picture of that to one of the managers and he told that the van had a flat tyre and it's missing one sensor from one tyre nothing bad, then after 3 days one tyre from right hand side of the driver exploded on a dual carriageway and as I was on the first line of the dual carriageway I also had many cars around me and a lorry in front of I couldn't stop the van so I pulled it on the field and I hit a traffic sign and the wing from the driver side been damage. Can someone explain to me who's fault is here as there the tyres wasn't been checked?

As the driver of the vehicle it is your responsibility to check it is roadworthy before you take it on the road, it sounds like you noticed a tyre issue yet still drove it and the rest his history, the fault here I’d say lies with you.