Never rent from Sixt
 

Never rent from Sixt! I've rented a car some months ago. Unfortunately while parking one of the doors was a bit concaved and scratched. After 3 months they send us a letter per post (which we somehow didn't receive) stating we have to pay the whole amount of EUR 950 which equals the loss damage waiver, which means that probably the repair of the door cost even more than this. I can't understand what they did, maybe they put a golden door....
Well, since we didn't pay (because we didn't get the letter), they sent us a new letter in the beginning of April, which we also didn't get. So eventually a friend of mine called me in the middle of May. The car was hire on her name. And she said she received a letter from the court. Sixt transferred the case there since we didn't answer and pay after the second letter. So, you can imagine that we had to pay interest also. And guess how much was the interest accumulated from beginning of February to mid May (same year, which means the period is 3 months). EUR 130!!!! I wonder what interest is that! Around 13% per quarter which makes it 54% per year!
These people really know how to get profit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Of course we were ready to pay to Sixt since we did damage the car, but EUR 950 + EUR 130 interest! this is ridiculous!

2 words: travel insurance.

BTW, did you folks notified Sixt when the damage ocurred?

I was looking at the rental agreements from a couple companies for our Italy trip in Sept. I noticed Sixt was less expensive than AutoEurope, BUT that the "deductible" on the insurance coverage for damage at Sixt was 900Euro, while it is 300Euro with AutoEurope. (At least that is the difference in the quotes I was recently given. That's a big difference, for only a small difference in prices, in the even you do have an accident.

Read all the fine print before you rent and make an informed decision so you can limit your potential problems. It seems you got caught in one of those "anything that can go wrong will" situations. ouch.

Yes, we notified Sixt when the damage occurred. And yes, I know that it was our mistake that we didn't extra for the travel insurance. Still, I think the prices they charged us are totally unreasonable.

Have you checked with the credit card company you used to pay for the rental? Sometimes they can pick up a portion of the $, or they may be able to help negotiate the interest charge down. It's always harder when you are trying to do it "after" - even if there is a good reason for the delay. But it never hurts to keep asking questions.

The deductible of up to Euro 1000 is NOT exclusive to Sixt. I've seen the same amounts on other rental firms including Europcar, one of AutoEurope's favorite picks.

I am waiting for all those people here who tell people they are STUPID for buying insurance rather than using their credit card plan and for all those people here who think we are stuoid for not getting super CDW at the rental counter which reduces that deductible to ZERO to chime in.

As to the OP, how did you manage to check your rental back in and not get notification of damages THEN? Something is missing in the storytelling I am afraid.

I don't know where OP lives, but getting a door fixed and painted can easily cost 1K in repairs. The rental car company must supply an itemized invoice from the garage, though, so you can identify what repairs had been done at what costs.
They are not restricted to buy just felt pen and rubber hammer to fix the scratches and dents. Costs for repairs must not be excessive, though. But since most rental cars here are quite new, the amount of legally acceptable repairs will be quite high, though.

I also don't get why OP did not receive the letters. Since the contract had been in the name of a friend, shouldn't that friend have received the letters from the beginning?

The additional € 130 are not interest, but will also include legal and court fees. The interest rate for defaulted/ disputed consumer transactions is fixed by law at 5 pct above the prime rate (per annum), i.e. at a total of 5.12 pct since 2009. So owing those €950 for 3 months will result in roughly €12 interest for that period.

An alternative would be to get extra insurance to bring down the deductible to zero. Many consolidator websites offer that "no deductible" insurance as a free bonus for renting via their sites. Or for less extra money than the rental car companies themselves.

A few years ago, I had an accident (here in the US) where I put a small dent in another driver's door in a mall parking lot. The cost to fix it was over $1000 so 950 euros doesn't sound so far off. Sorry about your expensive dent and hope that it will soon be resolved.

Something doesn't sound right here. While I have never had an accident in any kind of car, from what others have told me is that with a rental the charge goes onto the credit/debit card used for the rental. But even with my track record, I ALWAYS purchase full coverage insurance, just in case.

If a rental is done in a friend's name, were they at the rental office? If not, then the OP could not have picked up the car. Sixt is no different than most other rental companies, deductibles vary as to location, type of car, etc. Unfortunately, regardless of where you are, auto body repairs can be very expensive. Is it right? No. But it is a fact of life.

How does the OP know that 2 letters were sent and when? Is this a case of "I did not receive your mail" or "They are from Europe and I'll just ignore it". I've rented from Sixt before and to me they are about the same as any other rental agency, no better-no worse.

Show us some proof that they ripped you off and we can agree with you, but from what you posted, besides not making sense, I don't see your problem. It isn't unusual at all for it to take months to receive a bill or ticket from another continent/country.

dave

>>>Something is missing in the storytelling I am afraid.<<<
I think so too, it doesn't add up. If the car was hired in the friend's name they would have to be there to sign the agreement & they would be the person to receive the letters.
Regardless of that, the CDW charges are what were agreed at the outset, the extra would indeed include costs, not just interest.
I don't see that this was dealt with any differently than with any other company, you damage the car, you pay, unless you have the relevant CDW cover.
"Never rent from Sixt" Not a good title for a post when this could have been any hire car company with the same result. I have used them & others in the past, this won't put me off, they have done nothing wrong.

Never rent from Sixt!

Bit confused here, you openly accept that you damaged the car, notified Sixt and as per the agreement they charged you. You didn't take out insurance for the excess (as many people do). Then you say you didn't rent the car but your friend did, who has been avoiding Sixt and run up additional costs.

The costs will not be for interest only but a built fee for the admin involved in chasing the excess.

Or do you expect Sixt to do that for nothing and have them pass the charge on to me in the form of increased charges on my future hires.

I have rented on around 100 occasion in the past. Most have been absolutely fine. I have never rented without a zero excess.

I have only ever ranted once when Thrifty held me for ransom for the hire of a child seat in Vancouver. They tried to charge me $250 for the HIRE of the seat. They threatened to report me to the police if I attempted to drive to Toys R Us, to buy one for $80, without using a seat for my child.

I'm not clear that the OP has a legitimate grievance in this case, but I will offer that I find Sixt to be less professional than Avis or Hertz. Not fly-by-night or anything, but if price were the same I would always choose Avis or Hertz over Sixt.

My story is a bit different but perhaps germaine

I rented a car via Kemwel for 2 days. 500 $21KM limit in miles which is not a lot, but figured...10 cents a km perhaps for overage? Nope. 30 cents/km for a grand total of $87 for excess mileage. Wouldn't rent to me for 3 days with early return. Claimed it's 2 days so even if I rented for 3 and returned early I would still owe the excess mileage. That's just the start of things. I prepaid the rental and taxes thru Kemwel, but Sixt charged me again for the full amount of the rental. THEN they double billed me for route 6 toll road once for $20 and 2 weeks later $21. Only minor problems from the rental agencies in Spain and Italy. Major problems from Sixt in Israel. Contacted them with my Kemwel reservation number. Claimed they need my Sixt rental agreement to look up my account or my credit card...like I carry/reserve all that stuff visiting 7 countries or would give my credit card info in e-mail. So at this point I certainly will not recommend or use Sixt. It would be my last choice. I have submitted dispute claims for the portion Sixt has double billed me. I only want things to be right and maybe $90 isn't much, but it's the principal.

Um, let me understand this.

Your friend rented a car
Your friend gave you the car
You - or your friend - didn't get insurance
You were involved in damage to the car (but didn't report it when you turned the car back)
You have finally (somehow) been caught by this and they are asking for repair costs and interest
You are complaining about a perfectly appropriate cost for repairing damage/repainting the car

And this is the fault of the car rental company - how?

(Someone seriously dented the door of my car - granted a coupe so the door is bigger- and repair/repainting was $1600. yes, this was to make it like new not just hammer it out)

nytraveler: The OP is long gone. She registered to post the rant -- never to be seen again.

Now we have a new tale of woe from zengeos (which I don't really understand except for double billing of highway tolls)