Hire car company paid the parking charge & 'admin fee' (£136) before letting me know

[Krystal]

SixT also sent me the parking fine and paid for it before asking whether I agree with the fine. I haven’t paid for it yet. I contacted them and they said that I should appeal to the parking authority but the parking authority said that our appeal may not be successful if the appeal is made after the payment of the penalty. How did you solve your problem finally?

[Krystal]

The parking authority sent the notice between 14 days.

[charitynjw]

SixT also sent me the parking fine and paid for it before asking whether I agree with the fine. I haven’t paid for it yet. I contacted them and they said that I should appeal to the parking authority but the parking authority said that our appeal may not be successful if the appeal is made after the payment of the penalty. How did you solve your problem finally?

Has SixT also charged an admin fee (on top of the parkng charge)?

[Krystal]

Yes, they did.

[Redeye]

SixT also sent me the parking fine and paid for it before asking whether I agree with the fine. I haven’t paid for it yet. I contacted them and they said that I should appeal to the parking authority but the parking authority said that our appeal may not be successful if the appeal is made after the payment of the penalty. How did you solve your problem finally?

In the end I had to swallow it. My bank at the time (Metrobank) didn't protect me (in fact they went out of their way with some underhand tactics to make sure Sixt could access my account and take the money). I could have gone down the legal route of trying to get my money back from Sixt but did not have the time or money to do that.

If you haven't paid the fine yet you're in a stronger position. With me they just hit my credit card that I had used for a deposit. Once they got the money it's harder to get it back.

[Krystal]

Oh gosh, I’m so sorry for what happened to you REDEYE! Do you think I should contact my CC company to cancel Sixt’s right to proceed any transaction from my CC in the future? They are actually asking me for £180 in total. That’s a lot of money for me.

[charitynjw]

Oh gosh, I’m so sorry for what happened to you REDEYE! Do you think I should contact my CC company to cancel Sixt’s right to proceed any transaction from my CC in the future? They are actually asking me for £180 in total. That’s a lot of money for me.

You need to carefully check the t&c's on the hire agreement. The hire company can pay the parking charge themselves; that is legit per the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 Schedule 4.

Hire vehicles

13(1)This paragraph applies in the case of parking charges incurred in respect of the parking of a vehicle on relevant land if—

(a)the vehicle was at the time of parking hired to any person under a hire agreement with a vehicle-hire firm; and

(b)the keeper has been given a notice to keeper within the relevant period for the purposes of paragraph 8(4) or 9(4) (as the case may be).

(2)The creditor may not exercise the right under paragraph 4 to recover from the keeper any unpaid parking charges specified in the notice to keeper if, within the period of 28 days beginning with the day after that on which that notice was given, the creditor is given—

(a)a statement signed by or on behalf of the vehicle-hire firm to the effect that at the material time the vehicle was hired to a named person under a hire agreement;

(b)a copy of the hire agreement; and

(c)a copy of a statement of liability signed by the hirer under that hire agreement.

So it would appear that they have foregone the s13(2) provisions, accepted liability as registered keeper, paid the parking charge, then recouped the charge plus admin fee from you via their hire agreement terms & conditions.

[Redeye]

Oh gosh, I’m so sorry for what happened to you REDEYE! Do you think I should contact my CC company to cancel Sixt’s right to proceed any transaction from my CC in the future? They are actually asking me for £180 in total. That’s a lot of money for me.

Well I cancelled my CC before they could take the fee originally, but then Metrobank reinstated my card without my authorisation to let the transaction go through. Only when I got a notification from Metrobank regarding a transaction did I notice they had done this. I then had to go through hours of trying to get answers only for Metrobank to back up Sixt due the to the "contract". There were discrepancies in the contract which is the reason I was legitimately disputing it, however Metrobank deemed that I had to prove things to them legally rather than Sixt having to prove it.

I'd had a very different experience with Santander previously where they did a charge back for me and would not reinstate the charge on behalf of the car hire company. This left the car hire company having to go through the legal process to get it back (which of course they didn't bother).

In my opinion I'd cancel my CC and make sure you've got official confirmation it has been cancelled (so they can't reinstate it and pretend it never happened). That way you are at least in a stronger position where they can't just take your money and leave you having to rely on the bank to back you up or going legal to get it back.