I have a car hire issue.
Back in August I booked car hire with “Dollar Cars” in Oklahoma through a UK car hire broker. We paid in full and duly received a pre-paid voucher. Upon arriving in Oklahoma City we presented the voucher to Dollar Cars who said that our reservation was on their system but they were unable to process “pre-paid vouchers” only cards or cash apparently, and it was the broker’s mistake for issuing a voucher. I have this in writing from the rep.
It was midnight and we had been awake for 36 hours so when the rep offered us the same deal on the car for nearly £100 less than we paid the broker we just did it and paid up.
Now the broker is saying Dollar Cars is contractually obliged to accept our pre-payment and that we will receive a refund of the lesser amount from Dollar Cars in the states. Obviously I need a refund from one of the two companies, which one though. Personally I think the broker should cough up, and that’s not just because I will take a £100 hit if Dollar Cars refund me.
What do you think, can I insist that the broker refunds me for the larger amount?

This sounds familiar... im sure something similar was talked about on PH...

Dollar cars were/are in financial difficulites, so rather than honouring their creditors they were opperating cash only...

Dont quote me on that, but if memory serves, thats the deal!

If your broker booking failed, then they should reimburse their customer, and claim back from Dollar cars.

hmm, dollar cars make some money on the car hire, the broker keeps some of the money due to you as a refund.
everyines happy, except you who's getting screwed over by someone!

what I'm expecting to happen is dollar decide to honour the prepaid and agree to refund me the lesser amount. Everyones quids in except me.

In hindsight, when they declined the pre-paid voucher I should have gone to a different car hire company and not used the one that was involved in the dispute.

I'd agree with blakep82, you had a contract with the broker who failed, by however, to honor their end. I would have thought that you should be entitled to a full refund of the amount paid to them. Of course it depends to some degree on if you gave the broker a chance to rectify the situation at all.

The car hire you bought after was a separate transaction regardless of if it was with the same car hire company.

The whole point of going to a broker is that you pay them part of the fee to manage the situation when it doesn't go properly. If you have to go chasing up Dollar Cars on the broker's behalf, then charge them for your admin time to do their job.

some sensible advice there