Door handle fell off on rented motorhome, i am being charged

[bazzaman100]

Hi,
We recently rented a motorhome. On picking up the van the rental man said the main door to the living compartment does'nt shut properly at the top and needs a good pull to shut it.
As it was only a small gap we were happy with this, however during the holiday after pulling the door shut one night the handle pulled right off.
We placed a £500 deposit on a credit card at the start of the rental period and the rental agreement states that the vehicle must be returned in same condition or any damage will be taken from the £500 deposit.

The rental company are saying that we are liable for the damaged handle (but as yet have not come up with a repair figure).

This does not seem fair to me as the door did not shut properly and we were instructed to pull the door hard, also we do not know how many other people have been pulling the door hard and weakening it before we had it. Add to this that the motorohome is less than a year old and a door handle that falls off in under a year is surely not fit for purpose.

I am interested in what the legality of charging us for repairs in these circumstances is and what would be the legal course to get the full deposit back (small claims court)?

[raydetinu]

not sure SOGA will apply to hire vehicles, but that will be up to the hire company. I agree that as you were warned it was sticking and to pull the handle to shut the door then it should be no surprise it came off. talk to them and say it would be unfair for to bear the cost of previos abuse to shut the door, and if they do you will take them to court. They may see sense!

[ForestChav]

From their perspective then it's clear that the handle was in a worse state than it was when you began to rent the property, and someone has to pay for the damage otherwise people could just damage the homes and not have to pay to repair them.

However, they were aware that there was a fault and to close / open the door they instructed you to introduce more wear on the item which led to its demise.

As with the above post, I would suggest talking to them, as the handle was faulty and they advised you to operate it in a way which damaged it.

[gyzmo]

it would be under supply of goods and services, not SoGA.

[PGH7447]

Turn it round and say you injured your hand having to use extra force to shut a faulty door, that should have been fixed before the motorhome was rented out

[2Grumpy]

Good idea - but how about

Turn it round and say you injured your hand when the faulty handle came off in your hand when having to use extra force to shut a faulty door, that should have been fixed before the motorhome was rented out

just to tie it all together