Rental wrangles
A word of advice about hiring goods.
22 February 2010
You probably already know that if something you buy turns out to be faulty the Consumer Guarantees Act entitles you to get a refund, a replacement or a repair. But what if you are renting something and it either breaks or doesn’t work properly?
The rental of any item, like a car, or a water blaster or a DVD, is covered by the Consumer Guarantees Act. That means that the goods must be fit for their normal purpose and must be free from minor defects – like the DVD should not skip the most important scene of a movie. The goods must also be safe – you’d want your brakes to work in a rental car – and durable, you shouldn’t have to treat a water blaster like a crystal vase.
If an item stops working while you are renting it, through no fault of your own, then you are entitled to get the problem sorted out. That can be the rental company’s choice of a refund, replacement or repair if it’s a minor problem or your choice of a refund, replacement or compensation if it’s a serious problem.
A problem would be classed as ‘serious’ if it stops you from being able to use the product at all, since that basically means you have paid for nothing.
You can also ask for extra money for ‘consequential loss’ – that’s when you incur a cost because something went wrong with the product. So if your rental car breaks down you might have to get a taxi and find a hotel. Since it was the fault of the rental car that you had to do that, the rental company should compensate you for the cost.
When you have a problem with a rental item go back to the rental company and explain what the problem is. If they don’t agree then you can go to their head office, industry group, or the Disputes Tribunal to get it sorted.
Damage to rental items
It can pay to check out the product carefully before you take it away and ask the rental company what will happen if the goods become damaged while you are using them – whether it is your fault or not. Carefully read through the terms and conditions before you agree to hire anything. There may be things you need to be careful about – like not taking a car on certain roads for example.
If you’ve rented a car when you take it back make sure the rental company accepts the condition it is in. If you have to leave the car in a car park and just drop off the keys then it can be a good idea to take a few pictures of the car to show it was in good condition when you left it.
If you have caused damage, like accidentally snapping a DVD, you will probably have to pay for it. Before you hire anything expensive, check if your current insurance covers liability or decide if you need extra insurance so that you aren’t at risk of a large bill if there is an accident.
