Motoring Discussion > Europcar rental - bald tyres! Legal Questions
Thread Author: Auntie Lockbrakes Replies: 25
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 Sun 12 Dec 10 21:09 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - Auntie Lockbrakes
I rented a Hyundai i30 from Europcar in Melbourne Airport for 5 days last week. Didn't drive very far on the first 3 days, went out on the 4th day for a quick run in the wet and noticed that the handling didn't feel right. Got back to my hotel and glanced at the front tyres: both completely BALD. So bald that the inside edge of the front offside had the canvas visible. Car had done 40,000km. Clearly Europcar had not inspected the car's tyres for WEEKS.

I called Europcar Assistance and had the car towed away. They couldn't deliver a replacement car for my final day's rental in time, so I've shelled-out 140 quid on a taxi back to the airport. Now waiting to hear from "the manager" at Europcar.

What else should I be doing? Informing the police or the local government authorities? We all make mistakes but surely this is criminal negligence? I drove at 100kmh down the freeway with my wife and baby in the car... What if...?

I don't want vengeance for vengeance' sake, but I was so shocked when I saw the tyres I felt sick. And a bit angry of course. What would you do next?
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 Sun 12 Dec 10 21:14 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - BiggerBadderDave
"What would you do next?"

Drink.
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 Sun 12 Dec 10 21:31 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - ToMoCo
I'd be prety angry and looking for some sort of comp.
Not defendeing the poor service in any way, but, I hire quite a lot (for work) and i'm sure it's in the T's & C's that it is my responsibility to check Tyres, Oil, Water etc daily.
Last edited by: ToMoCo on Sun 12 Dec 10 at 21:31
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 Sun 12 Dec 10 21:39 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - -
Can't speak for Melbourne but that would not happen here and i'm very surprised.

It wouldn't be the first time that some scroat has swapped wheels, could this possibly have happened whilst in your care, were they steelies without lockers?

Even if the car is brand new i have quick nose around paying particular attention to tyres, i once picked up an unregistered Xsara VTS thingy from docks whose front tyres were shredded with chunks of molten rubber stuck to the wheel arches...got that signed off before i left.;)
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 Sun 12 Dec 10 23:06 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - Auntie Lockbrakes
I rent a car about once every 6 weeks somewhere in the world, always from a big-name rental company. They always make a big fuss about making sure you check the bodywork for scratches and dings, and of course about selling you extra insurance policies. I have always assumed the car to be mechanically safe and road legal. Don't think that's too much to expect?
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 Sun 12 Dec 10 23:17 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - ....
Don't take this the wrong way Nick but you as the driver are ultimately responsible as the man holding the wheel. The tyre manufacturers even make it easy by putting wear strips in the tyre with little arrow heads/triangles on the shoulder showing where they are located for a quick two second check.
Not being sanctimonious but is it not worth taking an extra couple of minutes when picking up a car checking the tyres, oil level, washer bottle as you are already doing the walkround looking for dented bits if metal ?
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 Mon 13 Dec 10 00:46 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - VxFan
>> I have always assumed the car to be mechanically safe and road legal.

Never assume anything. Can't speak for the motoring laws of Melbourne, but had you been pulled over in the UK then you would be the one who would be prosecuted for driving a car with bald tyres, not the rental company.
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 Sun 12 Dec 10 23:09 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - Bigtee
Why didn't you look before you drove it?

As your driving it you should have had a look before hand & then reported it.

Same goes for oil & water lights work etc etc.
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 Sun 12 Dec 10 23:18 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - Auntie Lockbrakes
Bigtee - as I alluded to in my previous post - who looks at the tyres? (Although I will from now on). Do you check the tyres before hopping on the bus? Or check the engines on your holiday 737 to Tenerife? Clearly there are trading standards and Europcar are negligent in putting a car on the road in that state?
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 Mon 13 Dec 10 09:19 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - hobby
>> Do you check the tyres before hopping on
>> the bus? Or check the engines on your holiday 737 to Tenerife?

The difference is that those two have people who are employed to check those things before the vehicle sets off, and you are a passenger not the driver... with a hire car, as others have said (certainly for the UK), its the Driver who is responsible for the condition of the vehicle, not the rental company...

A salutary lesson though...
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 Wed 15 Dec 10 08:18 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - Perky Penguin
Strictly speaking the hire company, the owners of the vehicle, are responsible for the condition of the vehicle but the driver carries the can for their errors if the law intervenes.
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 Mon 13 Dec 10 09:21 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - Zero
>> Bigtee - as I alluded to in my previous post - who looks at the
>> tyres? (Although I will from now on). Do you check the tyres before hopping on
>> the bus? Or check the engines on your holiday 737 to Tenerife? Clearly there are
>> trading standards and Europcar are negligent in putting a car on the road in that
>> state?

In the UK, Eurocar wont be left with three points on the license for each tyre offence, you will.
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 Sun 12 Dec 10 23:19 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - Zero
Always check the tyres before you leave the rental station. Its always an excellent excuse for an upgrade if you kick off in a big way in front of prospective renters.
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 Sun 12 Dec 10 23:58 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - henry k
>> Always check the tyres before you leave the rental station.
I have at least three hires with bad tyres all from one of the big companies.
First one was an upgrade where a very low tread spare had been fitted.
The second on a pretty new car. I checked and found two very low tread tyres on the back
AFTER it had spun out of control off an unmetaled road and into the bush.
The third one was in a brand new MB A class. I checked the tyres but drove just a few feet before I was stopped by the hire lads ( on a fag break) who had noticed a bulge on the inside of a tyre.
>>
>>Its always an excellent excuse for an upgrade if you kick off in a big way in front of prospective renters.
>>
I did that with the first one when they tried a late return charge.

A few years ago, in Capetown, renting something like a Corolla, first car offered, a problem, second a problem and then offered a significant upgrade a BMW three series convertible.
My son was gutted when I turned it down pointing to out pile of cases and the BM boot space.
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 Mon 13 Dec 10 06:08 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - Duncan
Interesting!

I am due to pick up a Europcar rental car on Thursday in Melbourne.

Perhaps I will check the tyres? What do you think?
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 Mon 13 Dec 10 07:34 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - Fenlander
I always give a rental car a quick look over for tread depth and obvious pressure problems.
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 Mon 13 Dec 10 08:00 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - L'escargot
>> Got back to my hotel and glanced at the front tyres: both completely BALD.

Completely bald? No tread whatsoever?

>> So bald that the inside edge of the front offside had the canvas visible.

I didn't know that radial ply tyres had canvas. I thought they had steel wire reinforcement.

Last edited by: L'escargot on Mon 13 Dec 10 at 08:01
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 Mon 13 Dec 10 08:20 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - Zero
They have stuff that looks like canvas.
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 Mon 13 Dec 10 10:58 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - Mapmaker
Yes, I always look at the tyres - don't know how you miss them when you're going over the car.

In fact, I generally have a glance at the tyres before I get into friends' cars.

No, you should not be informing the police (or at least you shouldn't in the UK).

YOU: "Morning officer, I'd like to report myself for driving a car with completely bald tyres."

OFFICER: "It's 3 points and £60 per corner please sir."

YOU: "Jolly good! Do you take credit cards?"
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 Mon 13 Dec 10 11:28 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - Bigtee
Yes check tyres on any rental & the oil & water you don't want to pay for a seized engine too do you.

It's similar to hiring a fork lift truck you get it delivered but it's YOUR responsability to check the oil's, water, tyres gauges & opperation of it any damage is paid for by YOU.!!
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 Tue 14 Dec 10 03:47 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - Auntie Lockbrakes
OK, based upon your replies I've grudgingly come to the conclusion that I must be a naive idiot for not checking these things. That still annoys me! It seems we can't have any faith in people doing their jobs properly or getting what we paid for these days!

I still believe that if you are providing any kind of service like this, the onus should be on the hire company to put safe vehicles on the road. I bet fewer than 10% of people who rent cars ever take a look at the tyres!

Anyway, Europcar have obviously recognised the gravity of their error: the full rental fee is being returned plus the taxi fee I paid.

BTW Duncan - the Europcar office opposite the international terminal in Melbourne is closed - you need to hike to their desk in Qantas Domestic Arrivals instead.
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 Tue 14 Dec 10 11:20 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - Duncan
>> >> BTW Duncan - the Europcar office opposite the international terminal in Melbourne is closed -
>> you need to hike to their desk in Qantas Domestic Arrivals instead.
>>

Thanks Nick. In fact there was a bit of abbreviation in my post. I am actually picking up in St Kilda - which you probably know is a suburb of Melbourne.

Thanks for the tip anyway.
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 Wed 15 Dec 10 08:10 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - BiggerBadderDave
"OK, based upon your replies I've grudgingly come to the conclusion that I must be a naive idiot for not checking these things."

Yes I also check the tyres before boarding a bus, I check the oil, water and tyres of any taxis that I get into and have a quick poke around in the engines of any jet plane before I fly.

"I bet fewer than 10% of people who rent cars ever take a look at the tyres!"

I bet it's lower than 1 in a thousand because most people are normal.

Edit - I just notice your earlier post re. the jet. Great minds Nick?
Last edited by: BiggerBadderDave on Wed 15 Dec 10 at 08:12
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 Wed 15 Dec 10 09:43 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - NortonES2
When hiring in Dublin, the first vehicle was rejected - bald tyres. The second had a large crack in the windscreen (Ah, they'll fix that for you in Cork. Pogue mahone!) The third vehicle seemed OK - until I later noticed the car insurance (displayed compulsorily next to the "tax" disc) had expired. They grind you down eventually.
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 Wed 15 Dec 10 07:53 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - L'escargot
The second car I owned (1936 Citroën bought in 1956) had completely bald tyres ~ no tread whatsoever, smooth as a baby's bottom ~ when I bought it. It had the same tyres when I sold it some weeks later. We couldn't afford to be too fussy on an apprentice's wage in 1956.
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 Wed 15 Dec 10 09:49 
 Europcar rental - bald tyres! - Alanovich
Enterprise did this to me a few weeks ago. They handed me the keys after doing the old scratch and dent routine, and then I told them that the front tyres were below the legal limit.

They got the tyres switched straight away at the tyre centre next door, but they installed mismatching budget tyres of different brands. Whic I wasn't too impressed with but still took the car.

Then, when I returned the car, a small crack had developed low down on the windscreen, which they tried to pin on me and asked me to pay for a replacement windscreen. It had come from a tiny chip on the black bit at the bottom of the screen, which I suspect was there when I picked up the car, as I hadn't heard any stones hitting the screen whilst I had it. Ah, no, they said. The car was checked over before you drove it away, we'd have spotted that. So how come you didn't spot bald tyres says I, not much of a check was it? And I have heard nothing since.
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