Deposit not refunded · every company, all across Europe

Car rental deposit not refunded

This is the most common dispute of all, across every brand, and the easiest one to give up on: the money is blocked on the card, nobody replies, the traveller is home again, and after a few weeks they let it go. Two variants come up constantly: the deposit never released, with no explanation, and the deposit partly withheld with a vague reason, "damage" or "fees", without the slightest breakdown.

Start my claim See the routes

The short answer

Can a rental company keep my deposit without any supporting evidence?

No. A deposit is a guarantee, not a payment. It must be released once your obligations have been performed. To keep any part of it, the company has to establish a real, quantified loss, item by item, with documents. A flat deduction announced with no itemised breakdown and no invoice is not compensation: it is a penalty, and a clause allowing it to be taken without proof is exactly the kind of term consumer law treats as unfair.

The legal basis

Why this charge can be contested

Three arguments, to be set out in this order in your complaint. They are the ones the portal writes for you in your letters.

A deposit is a guarantee, not a price

It exists to cover a possible breach. Once the vehicle is back and your obligations are performed, it must be released. Keeping it requires establishing a real, present and quantified loss.

The burden of proof is on the trader

It is not for you to show that nothing was damaged, it is for the company to show what it attributes to you, when, and at what cost. Without a joint inspection report and without an invoice, nothing establishes the existence, the extent or the cost of what it is claiming.

A flat deduction is a penalty

A clause allowing a trader to keep a fixed sum with no proof of loss and no joint assessment creates a significant imbalance between the parties. That is the very test of an unfair contract term.

The file

What to gather, and nothing else

A slightly smaller file that cannot be attacked always beats a padded one. Only claim what is genuinely contestable.

The rental agreement showing the amount of the deposit and how it was taken.
The pickup inspection report and the return inspection report, signed.
Timestamped photographs at pickup and at return, four sides plus interior.
The bank statement, showing whether it is a hold or a real debit.
Every written exchange with the branch about the release of the deposit.

Every PDF you upload is read automaticallyThe portal extracts the booking reference, the dates, the branch and the vehicle from your documents, and fills in the fields you left empty. No amount is ever extracted automatically: a wrong figure in a letter would lose the case, so the amounts stay yours.

The standoff

What the company answers, and what to answer back

Customer service replies are standardised. So are the counter arguments.

"The deposit will be released within 30 days"Ask for the date the release was submitted and its reference. Either the company produces it, and your bank can trace it in minutes, or it cannot, which tells you the release was never made.

"Damage was found after you left"Ask for the return inspection report signed at drop off, the date the damage was first recorded, and a paid repair invoice rather than an estimate. The gap between the handover of the keys and the recording of the damage is the company's problem, not yours.

"The amount corresponds to our tariff"An internal tariff is not proof of loss. What has to be shown is the amount actually spent, evidenced by a paid invoice.

The confusion that costs the most

A hold is not a charge, and the remedy is not the same

This is the distinction almost nobody makes, including in the forums where these disputes get told. It changes the procedure, the person you deal with and, above all, the deadline.

The hold, or pre authorisation

The money has not left your account: it is immobilised. Your available balance drops, but no payment has taken place. A hold falls away on its own, generally within 7 to 30 days depending on the bank and the card scheme. Until it turns into a payment there is nothing to dispute with your bank: it is the rental company you have to chase, in writing, to release it.

The real debit

The money is gone. It shows up as a debited transaction on the statement, no longer as a pending authorisation. That is where, and only where, the card dispute opens, with a 60 to 120 day window running from that date.

How to tell in thirty seconds

Look at the statement, not the home screen of the app. A pre authorisation shows as "pending", "authorisation" or a reserved amount, often with no value date. A debit carries a value date and enters the accounting balance. If in doubt, ask your bank the exact nature of the transaction: they answer immediately.

The classic trap: asking for a card dispute on what is only a hold, being refused, and then letting the deadline run out when the hold turns into a real debit three weeks later. Watch for the switch, it is what starts the countdown.

Getting the money back

Five free levers, to run in parallel

Five free routes, to run in parallel

Written complaint to the rental company, dated facts, the exact amount, a fourteen day deadline. Every other procedure requires it first. Guide
The official route of the country where you rented: complaints register in Portugal, hoja de reclamaciones and consumer arbitration in Spain, chamber of commerce conciliation in Italy, consumer ombudsman in Greece, SignalConso in France, FPS Economy and Belmed in Belgium. The portal picks the right one from the country saved in your file. Guide
European Consumer Centre, of your country of residence, free of charge, which takes the matter up with its counterpart in the company's country. Competent as soon as the trader is established in a country other than yours. Guide
Card dispute, for a service not provided and charges you never agreed to, to be opened within 60 to 120 days of the debit, the deadline that expires first. It goes through your bank's secure messaging or its formal complaints form, not through a plain email. If the bank refuses, insist on a written and reasoned refusal: that document is what opens the financial ombudsman, free of charge. Guide
Legal expenses cover, often already included in a car or household insurance policy: the insurer instructs a lawyer at its own expense. Guide

These five levers are independent of one another: only one of them has to give way. None of them costs money.

The fastest route

Your letters, already written, in ten minutes

You describe what happened, you confirm your email address, you upload your documents. The portal writes every letter in your name, adapted to your rental company, to the country where you rented and to your type of dispute, and sends them back as a PDF. No blanks to fill in, no commission, no mandate: you send them yourself, from your own mailbox.

Start my claim See the raw templates

Frequently asked questions

What we get asked most often

My deposit is still blocked, is that a debit?

Not necessarily, and the difference decides what you can do. A hold immobilises the money without taking it; a debit takes it. Only a debit opens a card dispute. Check the statement rather than the available balance, and ask your bank if you are unsure.

The company deducted a "cleaning fee" with no invoice. Is that valid?

It has to prove a real cost. Ask for the itemised breakdown and the invoice actually paid. A round sum with no supporting document is a penalty, and a penalty taken from a guarantee without proof of loss is contestable.

How long does a company have to release a deposit?

The agreement usually sets a period, often between 14 and 30 days. Beyond that, complain in writing with a deadline, then use the official route of the country where you rented. If the money was actually debited, open the card dispute in parallel without waiting.

The other disputes: charged after returning the car, damage charged with no inspection report, fuel charged twice, insurance forced at the counter.