rentalcar-refundBooked through a platform? Start there
If you did not book directly at the rental desk, you have two counterparties and not one. And the second, the platform, is often the faster: it is frequently established in your own country, it answers in your language, it brings volume to the rental company, and when it is a registered travel agency it comes under a free ombudsman that the foreign rental company does not have.
Should you write to the rental company or to the platform?
To both, and to the platform first if your dispute is about what was sold to you online. Insurance forced on you at the desk when the platform had already sold you cover, an amount different from the one advertised, a car that was not available: those are its own commitments. Damage, deposit and fuel are settled first with the rental company, which holds the inspection reports. Both routes are free, independent, and run in parallel.
What gets a complaint sent back
Two references, never one
The platform's number is almost never the rental company's. On a real file, the platform wrote CG611462983 while the rental agreement carried 5858484 and a third internal reference. A complaint opened with the wrong number is returned without examination: quote both, and say which is which.
The written channel they impose
Many platforms refuse email for an existing booking and only accept their own form or support desk. This is not administrative detail: it is the only channel that opens a dated request. Note the ticket number and keep a copy of what you wrote, screenshot included.
The date of the written complaint
It is what starts the period after which an ombudsman can be approached, often sixty days. Without a provable date you cannot move to the next step, even months later.
What we read ourselves
We only publish a platform's details and remedies once we have taken them from its own terms. Two are, to date. For the others the method above applies as it stands, and your details are on your booking confirmation.
BSP Auto
BSP Réservations, France.
Rentalcars.com
Booking.com Transport Limited, Royaume-Uni.
The other platforms we recognise
They are offered when you file a case, and the portal adapts your letters accordingly. We simply have not yet verified their legal details at source, so we publish none.
Auto Europe · Booking.com · BSP Auto · Carigami · CarTrawler · Centauro Direct · Discover Cars · DoYouSpain · EasyTerra · Expedia · Holiday Autos · Kayak · Rentalcars.com · StressFreeCarRental · Sunny Cars · Zest Car Rental
Your letters, already written, in ten minutes
The portal writes the complaint to the platform, the one to the rental company, the submission to the official route of the country where you rented, the card dispute and the request to your legal expenses insurer. Free, no commission, no mandate.