Michael McAleer answers your queries
From Jim McCormack:
I am having difficulty in getting any satisfaction regarding what I think is a serious matter which I discovered. Although the amount involved in my case is trivial, it could amount to a large "windfall" for Budget on an annual basis.
I phoned Budget through their "1850" number in the Irish Yellow Pages, and rented a small car for one day for April 17th from Birmingham Airport, for which I was quoted €40 and which I paid by credit card.
I collected the car, a Rover 25, and drove directly from the airport to Liverpool (to a football match) and back with my disabled son. The mileage on the car upon collection was 12,097 and on return 12,326.
There was no petrol station convenient to the airport and on return to the hire desk at the airport I offered to pay for petrol used and to give details of the mileage covered but the desk clerk was not interested and said that their service man would top up the car the next morning and that I would be debited with the cost of fuel used, plus a charge of £4.50 (about €6.75) which I was happy to accept.
I was astonished to discover that I was subsequently debited with €72.07! I calculate that the amount of petrol used could not have exceeded €35 at the cost per litre of less than 80p (about €1.20) in Britain at the time. Adding on £4.50 (say €6.75) the amount due should not have exceeded €42.
I sought an explanation and refund but these have not been forthcoming. In fact I was told that an unspecified quantity of petrol had been billed out at £1.25 (about €1.87) per litre which is, I believe, grossly excessive.
It's a common complaint at this time of the year, and something of which holidaymakers need to be very wary. If you have not signed up to a fixed refuelling deal, the car hire firms seem to arbitrarily come up with a charge per litre of petrol over and above a fixed penalty charge for refuelling. However, given, as you say, that the forecourt price at the time for petrol was 80p at the time, an extra charge of 45p per litre does seem excessive.
We contacted Budget Ireland who said it was a separate operation from Budget in Britain, but according to a spokesperson who contacted the British operation, the problem arises from the fact you did not purchase their fuel option when you picked up the car and instead agreed to return it full. "On return the car took 28.69 litres of fuel at £1.25 per litre. He was charged £35.86 for fuel and refuelling charge of £4.65, which including VAT came to £7.06."
We can't stress enough the importance of filling up the tank before leaving back hire cars.
From Gemma Doyle:
I'm wondering about buying a Land Rover Defender around the year 1990, a 110. or a 90. Could you forward me some information on whether it would be a good purchase or what would you think for leisure activities and maybe on the road?
The Defender is a workhorse, designed primarily for the rough and tumble of off-road work, the motorised equivalent of a shire horse. Models dating back more than 14 years would need to be fully inspected as they've probably been in many a ditch and dyke in their time.
We've always had a soft spot for these motorised beasts of burden and they do have a reputation for going on for years.
But for what you refer to "leisure activities" and on-road driving, the Defender wouldn't feature on our recommended list.
From Liam O'Keeffe:
I'm tied into my company's car policy and have just under €30,000 to spend on a car. Sadly we're not allowed to negotiate the deals ourselves, and several cars are ruled out of the package for being "too sporty".
I'm an avid car fan with no need for all that extra space - we've no children - but can't see a way out of the dire repmobile route. Any tips?
The restricted nature of some company car policies severely limit the benefits accrued to employees. We are regularly told of such policies by those who must live with them, or else make the sacrifice and buy their own cars.
Within your budget, however, there are some good fun cars to be had. I take it by your reference to repmobiles that you don't want to opt for the regular four-door saloons like Toyota Avensis or Ford Mondeo. Both are good reliable cars, but perhaps not the most invigorating, at least not the models within your price bracket.
Doubtless any two-seater will fall foul of the leasing rules on "sports cars". However, others may just scrape through. For example the Mini Cooper S starts at €27,395 and should qualify as a small family car, despite its keen performance.
Another option may be the new BMW 1-series, which starts at €28,495 for the 116i. This is the entry model so expect trim levels to be rather basic. Hopefully the leasing firm will classify it in the same class as VW's Golf. You could also pick up a Peugeot 206 2.0 Gti, a Seat Ibiza 1.8T but we suspect there's small print that also cuts you out of the loop for anything with carrying Gti lettering.
But where there's a will, there's a way.
Send your queries to
Motors Help Desk, The Irish Times, Fleet Street, Dublin 2 - or e-mail them to motorshelp@irish-times.ie