It has been revealed that some Europcar customers have had their credit cards charged for damage after returning  their hire car in perfect conditions due to what is said to be staff shortages.

One case included Kate Colledge, who rented a car from Manchester Airport and returned the car 40 minutes early, being told that there were no available staff to inspect the car for damages.  She was instructed to leave the keys in an envelope at the outlet and wait for an invoice to be sent by post.

Later when Ms Colledge checked her credit card statement, she discovered that £208 had been taken without notification by Europcar.

After much investigation it was found out that the car wasn’t checked until 17 hours following her return of the vehicle.  Europcar informed the customer that it is company policy that customers are liable for rental cars until they have been checked by staff regardless of when.

Ms Colledge said that if she had wanted the car to be checked by someone, she would have had to have stayed with the car for a further 17 hours ahead of the agreed time of return.

As the issue was probed, Europcar conceded that staff shortages were a common issue as staff are often forced to spread themselves thinly due to the busy nature of the airport, but have withdrawn the £208 due to the time lag between the return of the car and the inspection.

The British Vehicle Leasing and Rental Association have recommend that customers should try to return the car within office hours to ensure vehicle inspections are done completely and correctly to prevent such incidents arising.