I'm hoping I've placed this in the right area, if not I do apologize and I will try to keep this short. My father has been collecting our family heritage for over 20 years now, and since he retired about a year ago he's been saving up all his extra money to travel to our family homeland and finally explore our history all the way from Canada. Along the way he ventured from Edinburgh.
Determined to see the back country and real Scotland, especially the Johnston sites, he rented a small car from Green Motion at the Hilton Edinburgh Airport location. The gentleman walked him around the vehicle and noted there were some dents, rock chips, scratches, and broken plastic along the side of the car itself. My father being the experienced car renter (he spent most of his life traveling, working as a First Nations Diplomat for the Canadian Government) knew right away that he should buy the MAXIMUM insurance possible on the rental agreement to ensure if anything were to happen while driving “on the wrong side of the road” he’d be covered and not have to pay out of pocket.
He spent 3 days traveling the countryside and absolutely enjoying himself, taking thousands of pictures, and meeting locals. He loved it, to date I think it was the best time he’s ever had anywhere honestly.
Upon returning the rental to the airport the representative at Green Motion came outside to examine the vehicle. He was VERY upset that some dirt and mud had splashed along the undercarriage of the vehicle (because it never rains in Scotland right?). Upon inspection of the previously damaged side of the car he told my father he has spotted a NEW scratch. He pointed it out to my father and upon close inspection the scratch was in a pre-damaged area of the car, most likely was pre-existing, but worst case scenerio it was not even through the clear-coat of the car and was merely surface scuffing.
The rental agent became irate and told my father he would be charging him to re-paint the entire side of the car as my father had irreparably damaged it. My fathers flight was leaving in less than an hour and he tried to figure out why the man was so angry and why on earth he would have to re-paint the entire vehicle. The man then charged my fathers credit card over 700£ to cover repainting the vehicle.
When he came home, very distraught that a 60£ rental car ended up costing him almost 800£ plus petrol, I told him to call the fraud agency and his credit card immediately (which he has since done). He also let green motion know of this, and they referred him to a “rep” to help out and the rep was the man who had done the charge in the first place and all he did was yell at my father again.
TLDR:
-Green Motion Hilton in Edinburgh may be running a scam, they are renting pre-damaged vehicles and then charging tourists full deductibles to do massive repairs on very minor or non-existent new damage.
-Has anyone else run into this kind of situation? I’m wondering personally if the person who dented the vehicle previously also paid over 700£ to “fix” it, as well as the person who scratched and broke the plastic.
