Personal Finance & Money Asked on September 30, 2020
We rented a car with Hertz and we filled up our tank with petrol and later on that day our car broke down. The road side assistance people told us the next day that we put diesel instead of petrol in our car.
We went back to the gas station and they found our receipt showing we filled up our tank with petrol. Then they told us, that they mixed up diesel and petrol at the gas station. So, it’s quite a mess there, but we do not know if they are going to go public with this. They told us that over 350 cars must have been affected.
The petrol station is the a Q8 Petrol Station in Italy near Ancona.
It seems really strange to me that there is nothing in the news yet. I tried to contact newspapers but I did not receive any attention. Any tips when contacting the press?
The gas station is trying to avoid the direct blame, instead blaming the truck driver who filled the station.
Do you know if Hertz will make us pay for the gas station’s mistake? We have a full insurance from Booking.com, not from Hertz directly. One issue here is that we cannot apparently contact Hertz head office before they contact us with a claim for us to pay the excess, which could take up to 90 days. It is in fact likely that they will make us pay for the excess for repair costs. We have no way to explain the situation to them really.
The gas station is not very responsive and it looks like that we will have to take a lawyer and sue them, which is very annoying because I don’t live in Italy, so I will have to do it from abroad.
It could take a while to resolve and there are several ways it could go.
I hope you are obtaining whatever evidence you can when speaking to the gas station (a copy of your receipt, the name of the employee who acknowledged the mistake, etc.).
Do you know the total amount you will be asked to pay if no one else takes responsibility? Would this be just the roadside assistance charge? Has the fuel system already been drained and refilled with petrol? Is there lasting damage to the engine that Hertz could ding you for?
First, Hertz might simply waive the charges as good customer service.
Next, your insurance (from Booking.com or perhaps from the credit card you used to rent the car) may cover this. Whether that works by you paying Hertz and the insurance reimbursing you, or whether Hertz will work directly with the insurance, you will have to find out. If the insurance might object that the costs are excluded due to negligence by you, then you can point them to the gas station.
If you end up having to pay costs that weren't your fault, you could try suing the gas station in small claims court.
Answered by nanoman on September 30, 2020
Is this is in the USA the next step is a certainty.
Contact a lawyer, ideally in the town where the gas station is.
Explain what happened.
They will immediately begin a "small" class action lawsuit against the station / petrol brand.
Note that, as well as the fact that you will get 10s of thousands from the lawsuit, this will instantly make it a matter of record that the gas station was to blame, for you and the other 200 people.
At the moment, all you have is an "assertion". You'll be telling some minimum-wage worker on the telephone "oh, the gas station made a mistake". They will reply "Send us $12,000 for a new engine."
It's incredibly simple, in the US, to find aggressive litigation attorneys in each city - go for it.
For the time it takes you to make a phone call, you can completely turn the situation around.
Answered by Fattie on September 30, 2020
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