Van Hired Out - Just come back in bit of a state. Advice?

[Wissel]

Hey All,

I posted a few weeks ago that I had the opportunity to build a few vans to rent out and tag onto a friends new rental business.

Well I finished building his first van for this purpose last week:

It was added to a well known rental site and went out this weekend. Its just come back.

It's a state. The van was left on the road overnight around the corner from the business premises, it's covered in dog hair (I mean covered, no mention of dogs being in van), the bathroom door is hanging off and the whole van is vile inside. Actually struggling to work out how it could be so trashed in 3 days

Anyway, I could do with a bit of advice with how to proceed. There's obviously a deposit, but is this just normal?

Thanks, David

 

[chaser]

Pretty much yes

 

[MC 55 FUN]

I'd be calculating the cost of rectifying the damage & deducting that figure from the security deposit.

 

[Richard n Ann]

Keep the deposit, that is not normal.

 

[irnbru]

Was there anything in the hire agreement about no dogs allowed?

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[Jim]

It's why rental costs are so high I suppose. Valeting isn't cheap, and I imagine running repairs run to a few quid a year. Just make sure the rental company doesn't give the deposit back to the punter.

 

[Vanderek]

Take dated photos as a record before starting cleaning and before any repairs .

 

[chaser]

Not condoneing it in any way, but I suppose the collosal price that rentals are means people think they can treat them how they like.

 

[Charlie9038]

What a shame, some people just don't care. Feel sorry for you especially as it was your first go.

 

[Wissel]

Was there anything in the hire agreement about no dogs allowed?

I'm not sure yet (he's checking the conditions).

Take dated photos as a record before starting cleaning and before any repairs .

Thanks, done that straight away.

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[Lenny HB]

I think you need to be there when it's hired out and when it's returned so they understand the conditions. I assume you have kept the deposit. Not being returned in a clean state & anything broken normally forfeits the deposit also T&C should state any damage not covered by the deposit will be charged to the customer.

If it was the customer that left it on the road I think it needs to be in your T&C that it is returned by a certain time so it can be checked over. With most hire companies the van has to be returned between 9:00 am - 12:00pm.
Probably not worth accepting customers with dogs due to the extra work cleaning the van and doggy smell could put future customers off.

We hired a couple of times before we bought a van (hired in Germany). When we returned the last one we had a big argument as the guy threatened to keep our €1000 deposit because the van was filthy - he found 3 blades of grass in the garage and a few grains of coffee in one of the lockers.

 

[chaser]

Take dated photos as a record before starting cleaning and before any repairs .

Dated photos prove nothing, you can put any date on a photo, you have to have a newspaper or something in the photo showing the date.

 

[Gellyneck]

...... - he found 3 blades of grass in the garage ........

You're lucky he never hit you for smoking in the van and report you to the police!

 

[Lenny HB]

You're lucky he never hit you for smoking in the van and report you to the police!

Don't smoke.

 

[Lenny HB]

Dated photos prove nothing, you can put any date on a photo, you have to have a newspaper or something in the photo showing the date.

Cameras these days record all the photo info and date in a file not on the photo.

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[Geo]

Dated photos prove nothing, you can put any date on a photo, you have to have a newspaper or something in the photo showing the date.

They have improved on the Box Brownie
Your phone or camera data tags all pic whether you like it or not
With date, Time, Location, GPS info and exposure, Shutter speed etc

 

[chaser]

They have improved on the Box Brownie
Your phone or camera data tags all pic whether you like it or not
With date, Time, Location, GPS info and exposure, Shutter speed etc

Not if the time and date is wrong in your camera, mine still puts a date in 2016.

 

[chaser]

You only have to look at photos on eBay they show all sorts of dates.

 

[Northernraider]

I used to work for a car and van hire company in the late 90's ...i was their valeter...i was constantly amazed at the state hirers could get a vehicle in
Some in as little as 4 hours. . And they all had to go out spotless even the work vans

Very few people look after anything hired , many pay the insurance indemnity and then thrash the life out it

I'd never hire out anything I owned ....I'm even reluctant to let folk in it lol

 

[Geo]

You only have to look at photos on eBay they show all sorts of dates.

The data tagged info is not viable on the pic but contained in a file in the pic it shows correct time and date regardless of any date set on your camera this is the forensic info used every day by police and insurance investigators

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[gus-lopez]

I'd be calculating the cost of rectifying the damage & deducting that figure from the security deposit.

Keep the lot. + if it goes over charge rest to the card.

 

[Geo]

Not if the time and date is wrong in your camera, mine still puts a date in 2016.

It's called EXIF data and looks like this with a map showing where it was took

 

[BusyBuilder]

Can you post pictures here so we can see ?

 

[Spriddler]

Makes you wonder what their home is like.
Lucky (?) that it's not immediately booked out to the next hirer.

 

[chaser]

It's called EXIF data and looks like this with a map showing where it was took

View attachment 421113

Not if you have a camera without all that gubbins in it, I could take you a photo with any date you want on it, not with anything computerised , granted.

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[Geo]

OK you know best

 

[bobandjanie]

It's a risky business renting anything out, we was on a site it Spain loads of low trees, someone came in a rental c class motorhome, he had never driven anything bigger than a car, and they never owned one, they lived on a narrowboat.
He make a hole in side big enough to put his head through, I got chatting to them, and said give us a shout when you leave, we will see you out, his reply was it doesn't matter they had already lost the deposit, when they left he run over a 1.2m satellite dish, at that point I stopped looking because he still had a long way to get off the site.
We was over 3.15 m high and backed out the road we were in knowing we couldn't get under a tree in that road.

We do as much research as we can on people that make enquiries on our apartment, you have to be careful and although we have a key box, only return guests lock the door and leave the key, others are met on arrival and leave, we find they leave it clean and tidy knowing someone is coming to see them out. Bob.

 

[Brains]

Firstly the return should have been to a place of inspection.
The agent and the hiree then walk around the van and detail every spec of dust remaining.

You should not be dealing with an agent who does not do this.

We have hired in Germany in the past.
The agent commented that it was rare that there was not a deduction of some sort from the deposit.
(In our case he was surprised that the van was arguably in better condition after we returned it, as I'd fixed a couple of niggly issues and we had cleaned it top to bottom (inside) as specified on the rental agreement.

I rent out houses and holiday lets and we have the occasional lost deposit.
But I'd never rent/loan my MoHo even to family.

 

[Riverbankannie]

Hopefully you will never have as bad an experience again, but make sure your deposit is large enough to deter such behaviour and do what rental car companies do, have a charge facility on credit card.

 

[ManTheVan]

Horrendous. Charge them every penny you can.

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