Car Hire and the exchange rate ...

[Serendipity]

Hi everybody,

I'm having a few problems with my car hire company over there in sunny Mallorca at the moment. I won't name names because I've used them quite a few times and haven't had any problems. The problem seems to be because of the exchange rate.

The car hire is €366 which should be £260 with the current exchange rate but they've charged my credit card £280. Now I understand that exchange rates can differ slightly but differing by over €25 seems excessive. I know it isn't a massive amount but I just can't see how they have ended up with this figure. I've suggested they refund the whole amount and let me transfer €366 over to their account and that way neither of us will be out of pocket but they don't seem willing to let me do this for some reason.

I just wondered if anybody else has had this problem recently and what the actual exchange rate is out in Mallorca at the moment? ...

Thanks in advance for your help

S x

 

[MAG]

Possible explanation and There is a previous chain about this. Basically this suddenly changed when they charged the full hire fee and deposit to the credit card. You then have a 3% handling fee by your credit card company . To add insult to injury when they refund you your deposit you get another handling fee. You cant hire a car without a credit card -- unless of course, and here is the key...... you take their insurance !

 

[ianproc]

Get a Halifax Clarify Credit card it doesn't charge any handling fee for foreign currency transactions. I'm nothing associated with Halifax, I just got one for that specific reason. Any handling fee should be itemised on the statement along with the exchange rate used. Also if you transfer money from your Bank to a Bank outside the UK, most High Street Banks make a charge.

 

[roig cat]

I use a post office credit card and never pay a handling fee

 

[its cd]

Are you sure when you paid that you chose to pay in euros because if you don't specify the merchant can apply their own exchange rate and not the bank rate

 

[Serendipity]

Thanks for all your replies everyone

I still have no idea why at my end here in the UK it worked out €25 more when our exchange rate is so good at the moment. The car hire firm have now given me a full refund and are allowing me to send the euros over to their account.

I have a Halifax account so will definitely look into the credit card you mentioned ianproc, thanks for the heads up

Unfortunately I don't get to choose whether I pay in € or £'s, the money is just charged to my CC.

It 's all sorted now until the next time but I'm just SO looking forwards to getting to our beautiful Puerto Pollensa next Saturday!!! EEEEEEEEEEK!! ..... that's me being excited by the way! lol

S x

 

[El Gordo]

.................Unfortunately I don't get to choose whether I pay in € or £'s, the money is just charged to my CC..........

If you are paying directly with a car hire company in PMI they must allow you to choose Euros or £s.
However some don't mention this, hoping you don't notice their poor exchange rate and "service fee" so you must state what currency you want to pay in.

For example, Goldcar, charge 2% in their conversion fee for the charge for fuel. Some cards then also charge 3% on top of this and may not give you the best conversion rate.

If you have one of the "good" cards (See Moneysaving expert) you can avoid these charges by always paying in the local currency.

Even with "good" cards you may still get variations in service charges and exchange rates. Visa can be different to MasterCard for "their" interbank rate!!

 

[Harters]

Gordon is right about using one of the "good" cards. We have NatWest cards which we use in the UK and a Saga credit card for use overseas (generally prefer to withdraw from an ATM and pay in cash. We tried to get the even better Halifax card but they declined to do business with us.