Seychelles Rent a Car Scam.

Max Kozlov Feb 14, 2021

Seychelles is a country of unbelievable natural beauty. Its pristine beaches, mountainous forests, and very friendly local people are recognized worldwide and attract tourists from over the world that come to relax and enjoy unique experiences in the country. Seychelles is also a country of car hire scam. A well-organized one.
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We have been approached by tourists coming back from Seychelles telling similar stories how they had been cheated. Company that is frequently reported is Hibiscus Car Hire. The story told is universal — when rented car is given out to the tourist the Hibiscus Car Hire representative agent does not fill car’s current “damage state report” if not requested to do so explicitly.

As a matter of fact two “3d car projections” schematics typically used in car rental contracts worldwide to mark damages when car is given out and returned back are not present on Hibiscus Car Hire contract at all.

The lack of these in/out 3D schematics in Hibiscus contract has been apparently designed deliberately to avoid tourist’s attention (that may have been additionally affected by a very long flight) to actually demand that damage report shall be filled. As a result damages in form of scratches or dents existing when car is given out remain undocumented. Then, when the car is being returned — the Hibiscus agent is actively and meticulously documenting every single scratch or dent including these that existed when car was rented out. When a tourist argues the damages was existing before — Hibiscus agent points to the car icon in upper left corner of the contract that looks like a decorative motive or logo stating — “no damage was documented on this schematic and you signed the contract”. Then a tourist is requested to pay for the damages she or he did not make and threatened with court or police case if they object to do so.

We have been also reported cases when tourists indeed made small damages to car they rented in form of scratch or minor dent and then honestly admitted and reported them to Hibiscus representative willing to pay fair market price for the repair. And here another piece of the organized scam comes out involving car repair garages — tourist is presented quotation for the repair that is highly overpriced. This is example of quotation provided by Hibiscus to its customer for fixing a small dent on the back door of Hyundai Grand i10 car issued by Autopals Pty Ltd car repair garage.

The 11000 SCR of just labor cost is highly overpriced. The amount is higher than monthly salary of most people employed in the Seychelles. Does it take for a person in garage to work over a month to fix simple dent on Hyundai car? Tourists have little choice — they either are forced to pay the huge price, or otherwise they are threatened with court cases or being banned to leave the country by immigration at airport. The car repair garage is clearly part of the organized clique — as they would never provide similar quotation for repair if it was local person requesting it and not the Hibiscus Car Hire to later charge a tourist. Worth of note is that in this particular case tourist requested independent evaluation of repair at alternative garage not connected with Hibiscus Car Hire and the total amount was 3350 SCR instead of 16,246 SCR. The joined Hibiscus / Autopals Pty Ltd clique demanded nearly 5 times more than market price from victim tourist!

The Hibiscus company is managed and partly owned by Mr. Michael Lavigne or his wife family members. An Australian who came to Seychelles years ago to be a worker at Banyan Tree hotel and then get married with local lady and remained on the island. His lack of decency is well recognized in the society. In 2019 public opinion in Seychelles has been shaken by Mr. Lavigne’s pursue to create monopoly for car rent and guests transport services at Kempinski Seychelles Resort with an acceptance and quiet support from former general manager of the resort. The quiet agreement between the two resulted in practically excluding other car rental companies for operating at the hotel and limiting ability for taxi drivers to provide services for hotel guests. In act of selfishness and greed Mr. Lavigne took monopoly at this lucrative business. Taxi drivers, the direct victims of the collusion took an action and started a protest this unfair practice that was harmful not only for them but also for tourists having no broad choice and the whole country’s economy. Entrance to the hotel was blocked as form of protest. As a result, government bodies had to intervene to solve this situation and attempted to bring fair business environment back to the hotel. This affected Kempinski reputation badly worldwide as well.

https://www.eglobaltravelmedia.com.au/kempinski-hotel-blocked-off-by-taxis-following-ongoing-dispute-in-seychelles/

Unfortunately, the problem still exists today. Middle level managers of Kempinski Seychelles Resort that prefer to stay anonymous due to fear of loosing their job mention that during the briefings with the resort’s present general manager they are instructed and insisted to offer resort’s guests car hire and transport services with highest priority to Mr. Lavigne companies. When asked “why in their opinion Mr. Lavigne’s companies are to be preferred by Kempinski’s management?” they smile meaningfully and mention “special relation between Mr. Lavigne and Kempinski’s general manager”. The relation must be special indeed if Mr. Lavigne is confident to go so far to enter Kempinski’s premises and personally challenging Kempinski’s front line employees (that face tourists directly) questioning them why they recommended hotel guests taxi service or alternative car hire company and not one of his companies…

Similar stories are reported involving employees and tourists of DoubleTree Allamanda Hilton Resort and Spa and Four Seasons Resort in relation to Hibiscus Car Hire, Palm Cars and Luxury Travel companies.

Mr. Michael Lavigne came to Seychelles years ago as a worker. Today he manages or partly in share with his wife family members owns lucrative shop at Kempinski hotel premises (again “due to special relation with Kempinski general manager”), car rental companies, Auberge Chez Plume hotel, restaurant — a fortune built on pursuing monopolistic practices, greed, with no respect to local community and social awareness, preying on country’s natural beauty and tourists just for purpose of his own only benefits, destroying Seychelles reputation and image as tourist destination internationally. These facts need to be told openly, however finally, this is up to respective government bodies and local community decisions and actions if they want to tolerate it or not. Finally, it is about what memories tourists leaving Seychelles will have — will they keep memories of beaches, smiles of native Seychellois, beautiful nature or they will leave with memories of searching for help and protection of police and lawyers against attempts of cheating and scam. It is also about what stories they will tell about Seychelles in their home countries.

Max Kozlov, Tel Aviv