I rented a car through Ryanair website prior to travelling on 16th Sept. Paid upfront for full insurance. At Alicante airport, took shuttle to the office off site, WIBER CAR RENTAL. Went through the hire documentation, and the staff member wanted me to take out further excess insurance. I had done this on another occasion, however having already paid with Ryanair, I declined. After a few minutes of "trying to find you the best car...." I was given key to a Fiat Trivo ? Found the car, parked nearby. Also then received my contract details and 27 photos of current damage. Some patently obvious, some only the slightest of scratches. I checked as best I could, and went off to Villamartin. The last thing i spoke to staff about was coming back 9 days later. As flight was at 1015, we wanted to drop off as near to 7am as poss. He assured me that was fine, as they opened at 7.
9 days later, we arrived, using the Satnav on our phone, to find the gates shut, with reduced opening hours due to Covid 19....having made our way 1/4 mile further along to Out of Hours drop off, we checked car back. No problems, so I thought
Hand on heart, I treated the car with great care, driving it just over 150km in total, parking it insight of our apartment and keeping empty spaces on either side when parking elsewhere.
On arrival back at East Mids, I received email thanking me for my business, and stating (in Spanish) that there was a fresh scratch on pax front door....also, a charge for out of hours drop off. Total, incl tax, €220. I telephoned their main office when I got home; absolutely no come back. He wasn't at all bothered that I disputed the scratch, and told me to provide photographic evidence that it was there all the time. He also said that I must be mistaken about their hours of operation, as the 9am opening time was not new. And then he directed me to Ryanair to claim back the cost of the damage (but not the out of hours charge).
Livid. They obviously are NOT repairing the damage they claim for, otherwise I would not have had 27 photos of previous damage.
Oh, by the way, my own small Peugeot was also damaged in the Short Stay 3 car park at East Mids; the bays are smaller than they were before lockdown. No note. No CCTV etc.
Should have stayed at home 😪