Holidaymakers hiring a car to make the most out of their trip are often not directly contacting their rental provider should a problem arise, Carrentals.co.uk has warned.

Often when hiring a car, any charges incurred for factors such as; no fuel on return, damage to the vehicle or loss of deposit, will be taken off the credit card given on arrival after you have returned the vehicle and travelled home or continued on your trip. Every car hire booking made requires you to supply a credit card, (not a debit card) in the lead driver’s name and this will be used should a charge be applied.

Due to this, holidaymakers are failing to dispute any costs with the car hire provider directly, which Carrentals.co.uk argues is the best route to take should you think you have been unfairly charged. Rather than contacting the car hire provider, many people try to claim it back through their credit card provider and this could prove more difficult as well as reducing their chances of a refund.

Gareth Robinson , Managing Director of Carrentals.co.uk, said: “If you have any issues or complications when returning a hire car the first port of call should always be the provider as they are the ones most likely to help you resolve it efficiently. We have found many customers, particularly those that have hired abroad, think it would be best to contact their credit card company on their return home when a charge has occurred but this isn’t usually the case.” He added: “Unfortunately there can often be a language barrier which makes disputing a charge more difficult if you travelled abroad, but still try other methods such as emailing first to get around this.”