There is a major problem with holiday car hire at present. The downturn has caused many companies to reduce their fleet size and your problem is not unique. I suspect that the booking was taken in good faith but when passed to the local branch they were simply unable to supply a car.

fwh

Welcome to the forums Serguei. As fwh suggests, unfortunately car hire availability problems have been reported at several major holiday destinations this year. As well as many holidaymakers finding it impossible to hire a car, others with confirmed bookings have also been told that their rentals are cancelled. The problem has been blamed on the recession, with some companies being unable to increase fleet stock levels for the summer season. You may find more info in recent posts in the CAR HIRE topic in our Algarve forum.

David

I would understand if something like this happened with a small local company (couple of cars broken down and they ended up with nothing to give the clients).
But Sixt supposed to be a large multinational company with offices in several countries. They have computer system for booking, they should have enough cars to move around to cover for accidental loss and they are supposed to care what people think about their well-known name.
Why did they confirm the booking if they did not have cars?

Next time I definitely would not book with them.

The problem with ALL car hire companies is the cost of vehicles standing. The holiday market throughout Europe has suffered a massive downturn. The TOs have reduced the number of holidays and the hire cars have reduced the number of cars available. I have read reports of hotels also suffering from the downturn with empty rooms.

I personally used to run a car hire operation here in the UK and so have specialised knowledge of the topic. The size of my fleet rose and fell depending on the time of year, demand, and trading conditions. The hire companies are only running fleets based on the forecast visitor numbers hence the reduction in fleet size. All car hire companies have a basic standing charge/cost for their vehicles which does not vary. Utilisation is the key. Based on a 30 day month you need to achieve around 70% (around 22 days) to cover that cost. The profit comes when you achieve more - if you do not make that 70% figure then you reduce the size of the fleet accordingly, otherwise you are losing money. When I started I was getting around 40% per month and it took a long time before I was in profit. When I finished I was averaging up to 98% and making mega bucks. I was lucky in that I had a big company backing me and they were prepared to invest for the long term. These companies are suffering have the same financial problems as everyone else.

Most car hire operations are a franchise no matter what it says over the door. It is not a large company but in effect a local business dedicated to a brand name. They stand alone when it comes to making enough profit to stay in business.

fwh

And to ensure that vehicles are not standing, car hire companies overbook knowing that they will have to turn people away, is this what you saying, fwh?
What this means is that hire companies knowingly cheat their customers. I can't think of any other reason why these days with all modern computer technology this would happen by mistake.

Serguei, fwh's last paragraph says it all. As an ex rep here on Lanzarote, myself and other reps where being continually asked at the arrivals where to find x or y car hire. Half of them we had never heard of, but turned out that the "big" companies would pass bookings on to local car companies, without any thought as to whether they could actually cover those bookings, or even tell the customer which company to look for when they arrived at the airport.

Simon Calder - travel editor of The Independent has been speaking about the problems this is causing on BBC Breakfast programme this morning.

fwh

Yes, I saw that. Spain & Portugal are worst affected, the Canaries are okay.

He did explain that they can't move cars around very easily and the problem was caused as the hire companies got their potential rentals this year hugely incorrect once they saw the holiday companies and airlines cutting back on holidays and flights due to a downturn.

He seemed to also be saying that a big problem is very high rental rates, he quoted £700 for a weeks hire in Alicante or Malaga as oppose to £150 Some people have decided to cancel their flights all together and take their cars from the UK as it was the only sensible option

a big problem is very high rental rates

Supply and demand. Just like holiday prices rise when the kids are off school the same thing applies. But then you make your money when you can.

fwh

There are nothing wrong with the high rates. Supply and demand is a universal rule.

The problem is not with how much it cost, the problem is the dishonesty and refusal to honour your commitment. I Sixt quoted high price at the moment of booking it would be my choice of booking at that price, finding another company or making other arrangements.

In you promise something you have to deliver. If you run out of your cars - find a car from another company even if it would cost more to you then you got from your client. It is loss for your, but if you don't want the loss you should not have promised something before you were sure you could deliver.

But Sixt supposed to be a large multinational company with offices in several countries.

The Sixt name and service is provided in many countries but it is a franchised business and each 'member' of the Sixt organisation is infact a private, independent franchise, who have paid to use the name and practices of the company.

I feel for the OP and can absolutely see where he is coming from.

A contract was formed. That contract meant that Sixt was to provide a car at the agreed date. They failed to supply that car, therefore a breach of contract.

Unless the Ts and Cs at the time of booking state that they can cancel the contract with all monies refunded, there is - in my opinion - a good case to insist on that car.

Just my opinion of course.

Mark

The problem here is who has broken the contract which then leads to where are they?

As already mentioned the Faro operation is probably a franchise and probably (but not definately) a Portuguese company. In fact they could be one of the companies already discussed on this board- and one of the worst offenders was Spanish owned which complicates matters even more. They have done nothing in the UK so any theoretical claim would be under Portuguese law. On the other hand, assuming the booking was made through the main Sixt website you could try taking action against the main company - except they are German, the website is registered in a suburb of Munich (near the German version of MI6 !) and their T&Cs do mention that Munich should be considered to be the base for certain legal claims. If they took a deposit off a UK issued credit card there may be an avenue to explore there, could the credit card issuer be liable?

The wider problem of car hire companies cancelling reservations this summer was mentioned on BBC News this morning at which time one of their experts suggested that the manufacturers can't suddenly supply loads of new cars at the drop of a hat now that the renters have discovered their market hasn't collapsed after all. Which is a bit odd since I was under the impression that there were fields full of unsold cars all over Europe which is why several governments have brought in scrappage schemes to boost the market!

Steve, I have ordered a brand new car from a major European manufacturer using the scrappage deal and have to wait three months for delivery, so much for the fields of unsold cars that I had been led to believe existed.

Sorry for going off topic.

So the taxpayer has been conned again!

And given you live quite close - I don't suppose Sixt is linked to the BND by any chance ???

There may well be fields full of cars but I am afraid they are the wrong type of cars. I do mean cars and not snow.
I could write at length about how the industry works with hire cars but that is not what this forum is about. The OP is unfortunately just one of hundreds and possibly thousands of people who have been hit by the shortage of vehicles.

fwh

From what I understood from an "insider" posts by fwh, there is something wrong with the whole car rental industry.

Shortage of cars might certainly course high prices, but it is the wrong working of the industry itself that courses booking of non-existent cars followed by cancellations.

I suppose perhaps could compare it with airlines purposely overbooking in the hope that some passenger don't turn up.

When that happens, they have a responsibility to put you on the next flight to the destination and provide compensation if applicable.

The car hire industy doesn't seem to have to do the same

Mark

there is something wrong with the whole car rental industry.

I never said or implied that. Again it is not a topic for debate here on HT. You have a complaint at the way you have been treated. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do to assist.
What I and others have said is that the holiday car hire industry have badly misjudged the demand and are unable to meet the demand. No one has done it deliberately.

fwh