NBRA stars in Channel 4 investigation

Tom Curtis, NBRA head of market operations, has made an appearance on Channel 4’s programme Supershoppers.

The broadcaster requested NBRA’s help because many people had ‘nightmare stories’ with car hire companies, both at home and abroad. The programme claimed people are often charged for damages they claim they didn’t do.

The spotlight for the show fell on Green Motion, a car hire rental company, and saw Supershoppers hire a car from Green Motion in Glasgow and draft it to Tom to take a look.

Tom said, ‘I can’t see any evidence of repair having happened to the vehicle. In this case the car has been neglected to a certain extent. The damage has accumulated across the lifetime of the vehicle.’ He added, ‘Not all the damage on the car had been marked down on the damage sheet by Green Motion.’

Green Motion’s terms and conditions say there is no margin to wear and tear and that is in line with the industry standards but, in fact, companies like Hertz, Enterprise and Avis do allow for some wear and tear.

Tom Curtis continued, ‘A consumer has been charged for repair and that repair hasn’t been carried out. I don’t think it’s transparent. The repairs aren’t happening as and when they are being charged for. If damage isn’t repaired it can be missed and then charged to the next customer.’

Chris Weeks, NBRA director commented, ‘NBRA are always happy to support any consumer affairs investigation into practices that might unfairly lead consumers to view the car body repair industry in a poor light.’

Green Motion said in response, ‘We have transparent processes for vehicle inspection and a transparent pricing matrix which publishes the cost of repairs, some of which are deferred to reduce vehicle downtime and which is authorised by the BVRLA and UK Trading Standards. In the event of a challenge we will re-evaluate and if a mistake has been made then a refund is given.’