HELPDESK

Motorseditor Michael McAleeranswers readers queries.

Beware of high excess rental charges

From H Nordberg: We just came back from a holiday in Sardinia that was somewhat ruined when the right front side wing of our rental Fiat Punto was scratched.

In short, we had bought insurance which said that we had an excess of up to €850. Anything above that, the insurance would pay. In a dark moment, I signed the damage-declaration at AVIS when we returned the car without looking properly at the amount, which escalated higher than the excess after various taxes were applied. My question to you is how much does it realistically cost to fix a scrape in the paintwork of a silver Fiat? Does it really cost €850?

It goes back to the golden rule of rental: always be wary of carrying a high excess charge. Cheap car rentals can end up costing significantly more.

Upon receiving the images of the damage done, I must say it did seem a rather excessive charge for a front bumper and headlight. But after checking with Fiat Ireland, it seems that while the cost of parts are low, the replacement and respraying of the car would take seven hours labour. The quotation they sent us came to €907.48.

If you feel you have been overcharged for body repairs, you should contact consumer organisations like the European Consumer Centre or the National Consumer Agency. Ultimately, they will seek advice from body repair pricelists. Insurance firms operate several electronic estimate systems to keep track of their costs - and prevent them from being overcharged - and these are good reference points.

Unfortunately, they are not open to public perusal, but you could ask the rental firm to justify their costs based on the body repair estimates from systems such as Glassmatix.

According to Paul Redmond of the Society for the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI), car rental has become extremely price conscious and as rental cars go back to dealers within six months to be sold on, firms can't afford for them to be damaged.

Be aware of incurring the excess. For a few more euros you can dramatically reduce the risk. If you have any issues with rentals, contact the European Consumer Centre in Dublin at 01 809 0600.

From Dave Bergin: I took my 2004 Toyota Prius for its first National Car Test (NCT) over a week ago, and it seems that since they can't test for emissions, they default to fail. Documents then need to be sent to head office and eventually they over-ride the system and send out the certificate. Is this not the ultimate irony, with every Prius failing the NCT (albeit temporarily) on emissions?

All hybrids are exempt from the emissions test so they should not have put it through the test.

However, you are correct about the documentation, because without fulfilling that part of the test, an NCT certificate cannot be issued at the test centre for any hybrid cars. As you state, the information is sent to NCT head office where a certificate is sent out from there.

According to a spokeswoman for SGS, operators of the NCT, this means it usually takes two days longer for hybrid owners to get their certificates.

From T Riordan: With days to go for our first driving holiday in France, I've been told by friends that I need to adjust the lights in my BMW 520d. They claim that the lights blind oncoming drivers on French roads. Is that true and what can I do about it? The same person suggested I buy stickers for the lights at a car shop and that they are inexpensive. Do these work and how do you apply them?

You do need to redirect your headlights. The lights on a right-hand drive car dips to the left. On the continent that means the lights direct the dipped beam into the path of oncoming traffic.

There are several varieties of stickers for the front of the lights to redirect the beam and prevent this problem. However, the positioning of these largely depends on the car and virtually every model is different.

Also, the stickers don't work on most Xenon headlights and there are also cases where the stickers melted in the heat of the lights and damaged the outer casings. Many of the Xenons can be adjusted simply by turning a screw at the back of the light housing, but you are best to discuss with a dealership about your particular model.

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