Unexpected car hire charge by Avis
 

I recently returned from a trip where I booked the flight and car hire together as a package with BA.com. The car was booked for the entire duration of the trip and paid for in advance as a package along with the flight.

However, I have just noticed that my credit card has been charged an extra £915 by Avis for the car hire!!! The car was undamaged and it was full of fuel so I was not expecting any further charges.

Surely if I booked the car through BA then I should not have been charged by Avis?

What does your rental agreement say about rates? Did you accept an upgraded car, did you agree to any add-on charges, did you return to another location than was agreed? Did you receive a receipt upon returning the car, what does the receipt say? What did avis say when you called them?

Hi,
We regularly hire a car with BA and twice Avis have tried this on with us. In fact when we Googled it you will see just how many people have the same problem.
For us they told my husband it was for the extra insurance that they said we agreed to and signed for.
We always take out our own separate policy to cover excess so there's no way we would want their expensive excess insurance and I remember refusing this offer when we picked up the car, however we were in a hurry and the Avis man said to my husband " just sign here and here for the keys"
It was our fault for not reading what we had signed for because one of the signatures was accepting insurance!!
My husband complained afterwards to head office and showed them our own excess policy and they refunded it eventually.
It leaves a bad taste with Avis but I have read that many companies adopt this practise as well.

LOL!

No speeding... no damage... all tolls paid... no parking fines.

I'll ask Avis as you suggest and I have contacted BA customer service to ask what has happened.

PS Just got on to the Avis web site and downloaded my receipt. There were no additional charges such as damage or fines etc... the entire bill came to just over 2000USD and they only credited me 600USD for the BA booking. I have also checked the booking on MMB and it clearly states I booked the car and have paid for it with almost no additional fees.

I am certain that Avis should not have made this additional charge and according to the BA T&Cs and my booking I can see no provision for it either.

This is my understanding of the situation. BA issue vouchers that should pay the total cost. However the value on the vouchers are less than what avis' system wants to charge. Therefore they are perhaps charging you the difference. What they should have done is changed the charge so the voucher covers the total cost.

The Avis receipt will show a breakdown of the USD2,000. Perhaps you can share this with us as it will likely include some additional insurances etc, charged by the day, which you didn't realise you'd accepted at car pick up.

No... no additional insurances...

This is the breakdown... as you can see... I was only given a 908USD credit for the voucher

When were you due to collect and return the vehicle?

On the dates I actually did collect and return :)

The daily rate of $139.60 seems high for an ordinary car unless the location was something like NYC.

Looks like an error on the Avis side, they often work through concessions and some concessions are less on the ball than others. In this case they have charged your arranged deal with BA at supplier price and charged you at undiscounted rates, rather than given a netted off bill (where supplier rate = charged rate).

I would call BA on the BA Holidays number, I think you would be justified in using the 0208 number showing on your booking docket paperwork.

[You've certainly had a lot of things happen on just one trip!!!]

I agree... it was Chicago airport so I could imagine it was higher than a regional location but regardless... I paid for a package to include the car... there should not have been extra fees unless I was late back, damaged the car etc... which didn't apply.

I had a poor experience with Avis when I collected as LAS and the nice chap told me I had been upgraded to a far nicer car... when returned to SJC there was $300 extra to pay for the premium car. I refused to close out the rental and after a lot of frantic phone calls, they reluctantly took my word that I did not opt for the upgrade. Annoying thing is of course my signature was on the documents as you sign the electronic screen not paying attention to much after the long flight..

Not directly related but I've seen it happen almost every single time I rent from Hertz in the U.K. I usually book automatic compact, and they'll almost offer a special upgrade price to a Merc or Audi for 20£ a day. I turn it down and guess what, they give me a Merc or Audi anyway. Ugh.