Penalty on a hire or lease car: who pays and how to challenge

Charging schemes send the penalty to the registered keeper. For a hire or lease car that is the hire company, which then either pays and recharges you, or tells the authority you were the hirer so that a fresh notice comes to you. Which of those happens, and whether you still have a chance to challenge, depends on what you signed.

How liability moves from the hire firm to you

Outside London, the England regulations let a hire firm pass liability to the hirer only if three documents go to the charging authority: a signed statement that the vehicle was hired to you at the time, a copy of the hire agreement, and a statement you signed accepting responsibility for road user charges and penalty charges, with an address for notices (regulation 6(5)). If all three are provided, the penalty is yours and the authority serves a new notice on you.

In London, TfL's regulations give the hire firm a ground of appeal if the vehicle was hired under a hiring agreement and the hirer had signed a statement of liability (regulation 13(3)(f)). In Scotland, a hirer under a hiring agreement is liable for the LEZ penalty (regulation 5(4)).

When the firm pays and charges your card

Many rental contracts allow the company to pay the penalty and take it, plus an admin fee, from your card. In that case there is no notice in your name and nothing for you to challenge with the authority: the authority has been paid. Your dispute, if any, is with the rental company under your contract.

If you want the chance to challenge, ask the rental company to transfer liability to you instead of paying. They are not always obliged to, so ask early, before they pay.

Challenging a notice that has been transferred to you

Once a notice is in your name you have the full 28 days from its service to make representations, and the discount window starts again from that notice. The useful grounds are usually the ordinary ones: the charge was paid, no charge was payable (for example, the hire car is compliant, or a car in a zone that does not charge cars), or the penalty is more than the scheme allows.

• Ask the rental company for its copy of the statement of liability and check it is signed by you.
• Check the vehicle on the official checker: many rental cars are new enough to be compliant.
• Check the date and time against your rental agreement. If the car was returned before the journey, you were not the hirer at the time.

Long-term leases and company cars

A personal contract hire (lease) works the same way: the leasing company is usually the registered keeper and passes the notice on. A salary-sacrifice or company car may be registered to your employer or its leasing company. See our guide on company vehicles for the extra step of an internal recharge.