David's World

August 26, 2005

Capital Car and Van Hire, Edinburgh. My rental-car nightmare.

Lisa D. works at an Edinburgh rental car company. Her job: handing out funny contracts to customers and getting them to sign statements like "Lessee and/or third parties agree to allow Lessor to compute and debit additional charges From Credit or Debit Card, if that is the form of payment used. Additional Charges incloude damages, extensions, penalty charges, administrations charges or any other charge sought to be imposed."

My Legalese may be not up to scratch, but what I read out of this is that you're allowing them to charge pretty much anything they want to your credit card the instant you put your signature under that contract.

Well, it's always like that. They make you sign funny things, and nobody would ever suspect that the company is going to try to use that against you. At least you're not very inclined to think so when you have 10 people lined up to help for the move, waiting for you to come back with the moving van, which is about the last one available in town.

Me and a number of other customers made the mistake of handing their credit card to Capital Car and Van Hire, Haymarket, Edinburgh. What happened in my case is only half as funny as it sounds. The story begins on a bright Saturday morning, on which I was to help my office Mate Myrosia to do her move, just before going on a vacation. The truck I got from Capital Car was just fine and did the job. But upon returning the vehicle, Lisa came out to inspect it as is usual. To our surprise, she claimed that the "bumper was out of alignment". WTF? I couldn't see anything wrong with the bumper, neither could Myrosia. Nor did I know that bumpers have to be alignment, for god's sake! Of course there was nothing wrong with the car - it hadn't been involved in any accident.

Turns out, Capital Car just needed a pretense to keep our deposit of £200. But what's worse, without a warning Capital Car charged £700 more to my credit card the same afternoon. The card was maxed out by then, and I noticed a few days later.

What to do?

I guess you know those lawyer jokes that people make at parties, and which David makes at parties full of lawyers (without getting kicked out - yet). I tell you what: none of them is true. Every single lawyer I've met was a exceptionally nice. They are well-educated, forthcoming, friendly, and what's most important, whenever I had to see a lawyer for some legal issues, he told me that my view of the legal situation was spot-on.

i'm just putting in a complaint about Capital to Edinburgh Trading Standards for their claim for damages on a van I hired from them. I have paid them to get the damage repaired although I am not sure the damage wasn't already there when I hired it in the first place. What I do know is that six weeks after I paid up they still haven't had the repair done since I saw the van today and the faint scuffs (the damage in question) are still there.

We are also 60 pounds down to the manager McSweeney who claims we broke the wing mirror on a van we hired - we obviously didn't have anything to do with it but he took it off the card anyway..... He was however perfectly happy to hire us a van with massive cracks on the windscreen ....

I also hired a van from capital car hire and they charged my credit card twice for the deposit which they then returned only once. I am in the process of trying to get it back from the credit card company. I keep ringing capital car hire but they are not interested. Basically they are rip off merchants and should be avoided. I wish i had read this post before using them

Sorry for my English. I am a Spanish citizen, living in Spain who works for HBOS. Due to this I use to travel regularly to Edinburgh. I made the mistake of renting a car in Capital Car and Van hire. My credit card was charged with 500 pounds as a deposit that, 3 months later, and after several phone calls and emails have never been refunded. Only promises not met by Mr. Tommy Mcsweeny who seems to be the manager. I kindly ask you to give me some advice about how to proceed. Is there any complaints association, any customer service bureau where I can escalate my complaint? I would like to get my 500 pounds back as well as contribute, as far as I can, to avoid this nightmare to other people.

Hi Carlos,
can't you reverse the charges through the credit card company?
Secondly, Edinburgh Trading Standards are the people to talk to!

Capital are still at it , defrauding credit cards. I will have visa reverse the charges ( double deposit of 500 pounds) for a rental for the end of July that has been cancelled. Can't the authorities deal with this ?

Randomly found this while looking for another van hire company and thought I'd add my experience. Didn't lose any money to them but arranged a hire and booked time off work to accommodate it. Turned up at their office after calling earllier to confirm the van was ready, they said they had no record of my booking and no-one remembered my call. No van was available for me. Hmm... I asked about the deposit I'd authorised, they checked and said none had been taken so I was happy. On checking my account I found, not suprisingly, that £100 had indeed been removed by them but they paid up after a loud angry call and threats of police involvement. Never again.

Does anyone now of a company called ccl uk doing the same thing? Trying to debt me for £300 usual scuff nonsense- couldnt take money as my bank would not authorize transaction - yipee- but will i get baliffs knocking at my door.

I suggest you all stop moaning and burn their fucking office down. What's the point of needless whining on the internet?

I used Capital car and van rental which was based out at sighthill and found they were very good. Needing a van sometime later found the number was out of use. called directory enquiries and go a new number in haymarket. They were very reluctant for me to collect the van and said they would deliver it to where I was. They were 45mins late and then didn't refund my deposit. On the receipt the company was actually called Edinburgh Capital Hire ECH and a completely different name on the card statemnet.
I have now got the deposit back but just wondering if the company you are all calling Capital car and van hire is actually Edinburgh Capital Hire based in Haymarket?

i have used Capital Hire PLCbased in London and Northampton. They have kept my deposit after collecting the Minisbus from me and not getting a signiture, wondered if anyone has had similar experiences with this company. I'm taking them to court.