Getaround car rental paid for a Parking Charge Notice

[downwithpcn]

Hello beagles,

Had a hired car from Getaround and parked it outside my building for an hour as I had verbal permission from the concierge. Their parking space runs by Smart Parking and they issued a parking charge notice of £60 to the Owner of the vehicle. The Owner paid the invoice immediately, and Getaround charged my card a total of £95 (including £35 compensations and administration charges.)

I have read their terms and condition as well as the rental agreement I signed with Getaround, and if doesn't cover Parking Charge Notice. I've asked for the full refund since it was an unauthorised charge. They never address the issue and keep replying if I had permission then the error is with building management and parking company. I have contacted both the management and they replied: 'They are not able to do anything as the charges been paid.' they asked to contact the parking company. I did and they replied: 'As we have received a full payment, the charge has therefore been closed on our system.'

My only choice is with car hire company which simply paid this without even reading if it's covered or not, not even mentioning that by paying the made me look like I've accepted the charges in the first place. It's been a month of back and forward emails with the car hire company and they keep saying the error wasn't from their end, and if I have permission then I should get my refund from parking company.

Can anyone help me with this? Or help with LBA in this regard?

Many thanks
DownWithPCN

[ostell]

So what does your lease actually say about additional charges?

Have you got a copy of the PCN received by the lease company? The PCN would normally have a section about what a lease company should do to transfer the charge away from themselves.

Usually problems with lease cars are easily defended because the the parking company fail to get the legal process correct.

[downwithpcn]

Thanks OSTELL.

Attached the terms of the lease as well as the picture of PCN the car hire company sent me.

T&C is clear (https://drivy-prod-static.s3.eu-west...1_TOS_EN.pdf):

The relevant sections of your ToS, Rental Agreement, and FAQs/Help Centre are quoted below:

Terms of Service:

12.5 Compensations and associated Getaround fees:

Different types of compensation and fees can be charged against the Renter in case of various behaviors or events. Getaround acts as an intermediary for the payment of compensation fees. Payment of compensation to the Car Owner is subject to the Renter’s prior payment thereof. The Renter is informed that if the Car Owner provides proof of the former’s liability, the Excess, compensations and penalties will be charged directly to any payment method used on Getaround by the Renter. By accepting the Terms, the Renter authorises the payment of such compensation and penalties. Compensations and fees applicable in the frame of Rentals are the following:

d) Management fees for driving and parking tickets

A management compensation fee for driving/parking tickets received by the Car Owner for an offence committed during the Rental is applicable, in addition to the amount of the ticket:

Compensation fee for the management of ticket notices:

For vehicles registered in the UK: £35 (includes a £5 Getaround Service fee)

For vehicles registered France, Germany, Spain, Austria and Belgium €15 (includes a €4.50 Getaround Service fee)

If the Vehicle is impounded under the Renter’s responsibility, any associated costs will be charged to the Renter.

The management fee applies to each offence or traffic violation reported by the Car Owner.

In case of a ticket in Spain when the Renter is not Spanish: in all cases, the Renter shall bear the costs for the ticket (Getaround will debit the Renter and then repay the Car Owner).

- ticket without loss of points: the Car Owner will be responsible for resolving the ticket with the authority;

- ticket with loss of points: the Car Owner will be responsible for resolving the ticket with the authority, including providing the requested information to resolve it. If the Car Owner does not possess some document or information relating to the Renter, he/she must contact Getaround.


Rental Agreement:

I agree that whilst this rental agreement is in force, I will be liable as the hirer for this vehicle for any fixed penalty notice, congestion charge, or parking fines acquired for this vehicle under S66 Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 and Schedule 6 Road Traffic Act 1991.

GetAround Help Centre/FAQs:

What happens if I receive a penalty notice?

Disobeying traffic regulations is highly dangerous and costly. You’re responsible for any tickets you receive during your time with the car: you’re responsible for paying the fine and will receive points on your licence (if applicable).

Depending on the ticket type, the owner will either:

contest it: you’ll receive the ticket at your address and will have to pay it directly

pay it and inform us: you’ll be debited for the ticket amount


Either way, you will be charged an additional £35 fee to compensate the owner and Getaround for managing the ticket.

For safety reasons, we may restrict your access to Getaround if you receive multiple tickets.

[ostell]

Well this is a silly contract again. They are charging do penalties, fines and other offences. The charge is none of those, it is an invoice for an alleged breach of contract.

The PCN has no keeper liability as they have failed to conform to the requirements of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and are unable to hold the keeper liable. I can't fully read the PCN but I can see that they have failed to deliver within 14 working days and they have failed to give the warning of keeper liability as required by 9 (2) (f). Also the invitation to keeper is not there 9 (2) (e).

Is there a section on the notice that says what to do if it is a hire vehicle? ie what Getaround should have done to get out of liability.

They should name the hirer and then the parking company write to the hirer. But they normally forget to include some required documentation and so cannot hold the hirer liable. That is in addition to the failures on the NTK

So you argue with them that what they received was merely an invoice and not a fine offence or penalty and therfore not covered by their T&Cs. Point out that the PCN was defective in giving keeper liability and they could also have transferred liability by naming you as the hirer. Hopefully this is stated on thePCN

Does the contract allow them to pay the charges.?

[downwithpcn]

Agree with all the above. Both companies are at fault, and they just passing me around between them.

PCN isn't even under my name. It sent to the car owner's address. I can't even appeal since it's not under my name, and neither the Owner nor the car hire company passed the liability to me.

Do you advise LBA? Or have other solutions?

[ostell]

You can show the card company that you had no liability and they should refund the money.

The hire company get the first PCN in their name first, they write to the parking company telling them the name of the hirer and then the parking company write to the hirer. That's the process.

You write to the company pointing out that their contract talks about additional charges for penalties, fines and offences, The notice they received wasa none of those and therefore the charge they applied is outside the contract and should not have been charged.

Tell them that the Notice they received failed to comply with several legal requirements to hold the keeper liable and they paid when there was no requirement to do so. They have also failed themselves to follow the requirements of Schedule 4 in failing to remove themselves from any liability bu naming you as the hirer.

[downwithpcn]

I agree. 100%.


The car hire company is denying any wrongdoing, and they keep saying the charges are based on their T&C (which is not). It's been a month and multiple back and forward emails with them, I really tried everything. My emails are 4-5 pages long with legal evidence and facts, while they only reply with a half-page not addressing my concerns and simply pointing the finger at the building management!!!!

I looked at their registered address but they are based in France. However, they are registered as UK limited company in London.

[downwithpcn]

Thanks

[downwithpcn]

Hi Ostell, just wanted to give a quick update on this. The card company didn't agree with the chargeback in the end. I've sent LBA to the car hire company. They repeated their terms and condition: "The Renter alone is liable for any infractions or violations of Traffic Laws that may be committed with the Vehicle during the Rental." On Monday I'm filling in a claim form. Any advice or suggestion on what to write in the claim?

[ostell]

Something along the lines for taking money from your bank account when there was no contractual agreement to do so. The defendant failed to remove liability from themselves by naming the hirer and prevented the claimant from appealing the invoice

[downwithpcn]

Hi Ostell (or everyone reading this), just wanted to give everyone an update on this.

I finally took GetAround to court and the court ordered them to pay back the original PCN as well as the admin fees they charged me for. The judgment was due to the fact that GetAround didn't have Parking Charge Notice from a private parking company in their terms and condition.

It took a year to get here, it was very annoying that they don't listen, but in the end, justice was served in this case.

Thanks to Ostell who provided me with such valuable legal information, I learned a lot during this process and will pass what I learned to everyone who needs it.

To those who are new to this issue or reading this to get your head around your fake PCN, please don't give up, take them to court, and don't let them get away with this.

All the best to you all.