Woodford Car Hire - Warning

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**WARNING:** **DON'T BE FOOLED BY THEIR PRICING.** **THEY WILL TAKE YOUR DEPOSIT FOR THE SLIGHTEST REASON.** **STRONGLY ADVISE NOT TO HIRE FROM THIS COMPANY.**

I hired a Toyota Urban Cruiser for a holiday. Upon receiving the vehicle, there were numerous scratches and dents on the body and lights. All four rims were badly scratched, and there were already existing windscreen chips.

Driving from Durban to North West in cold weather, we needed the heater, and to our surprise, it did not work, making the drive unpleasant.

Upon returning the vehicle, a chip smaller than a 10c coin was found. An employee told me that a claim would be made on the vehicle and that I would be contacted to either pay for the damage or bring in a professional to fix it.

A few weeks later, I received an email with a total of R5807.50 to repair the windscreen chip.

After speaking to a lady via their call center, she told me that they would have to replace the entire windscreen due to safety and cracking concerns. I have owned multiple vehicles, and when dropping my car for service, any windscreen chips are repaired by the dealership for not more than R300 per chip. Furthermore, before returning the vehicle, I stopped by PG Glass, who are experts in the industry, and they mentioned they could easily repair the windscreen for a fee of not more than R500.

Almost R6000 for a windscreen chip and R6000 more for a windscreen replacement (it must be a bulletproof windscreen, living in South Africa).

If the vehicle was given to me in the condition of dents and scratches on the body, a non-working heater, scratched rims, and existing windscreen chips, were these also claimed from previous clients? Why were these not repaired? Unless this company rents out a vehicle, forfeits a client's deposit, and keeps the money.

They decided to charge me for the windscreen without contacting me about the investigation, damage, and cost, as if everyone just has R5800 lying around. Furthermore, for that type of windscreen chip, the nation of South Africa would be spending money to replace windscreens all the time.

My questions to the company: 1. Why give me a car with dents and scratches? Why were these not repaired? 2. You gave me a car with all rims scratched. Was this inspected to see if they were buckled? Regarding safety and traveling long distances, should anything happen, would you blame the driver or your poor customer service? 3. You gave me a vehicle with already existing windscreen chips. Why were these not repaired? Since you are experts in glass, was my safety not your concern as well? 4. Why was I not informed that the heater does not work? Is my comfort not a concern, or are you all about making money? 5. Why was I not contacted regarding the claim and cost? Did you do due diligence by asking professionals to look at the chip, or did you pocket the money?

I don't expect answers, as I'm sure you have a clever excuse, and you have already taken my money.

I would not hire a car from you nor recommend you to anyone in the future. I would rather spend the extra money and go to Avis, Europcar, etc.