A Singapore private hire driver is in dispute with Lion City Rentals over a Kia K3 he says over-revved, burned more fuel than expected and later had to be towed. The rental firm says workshop diagnostics and test drives found no transmission fault.
Quin See, who told Stomp he has rented cars for private hire work for nearly 10 years, said he was issued the Kia on 21 August. He claimed transmission slippage began almost at once, with the engine over-revving on the move. Fuel economy, he said, fell to about 10.8km per litre against a 14.5km per litre benchmark, costing him an extra S$289.08.
Many Singapore PHV drivers rent rather than buy, because cars used for paid point-to-point work must meet Land Transport Authority private hire rules and the driver needs a vocational licence. When a rented car is off the road, weekly hire charges and lost platform earnings can stack up quickly.
What the driver says happened
See said he reported the transmission problem at Lion City Rentals’ service centre at 4 Jalan Besut on 8 and 17 September. He claimed staff patched other parts, including the alternator and fan belt, instead of fixing what he saw as the core safety issue, and sent him back onto expressways.
On 19 September he said a loud metallic grinding noise developed and the car could no longer cruise safely. It was towed back to the rental firm. He asked for a replacement vehicle and reimbursement of the S$289.08 fuel claim. Both requests, he said, were refused, and weekly rental bills continued while he had no car he was willing to drive.
What Lion City Rentals says
Responding to Stomp on 25 September, Lion City Rentals confirmed See had reported transmission slippage symptoms on 8 and 17 September. It said diagnostic checks found “no fault,” and a technician’s test drive showed the transmission working properly.
On the 19 September tow, the company said it arranged recovery after See reported a late-evening transmission failure. Its technician attributed the engine noise to the fan belt, which was replaced, and also replaced the alternator as due. Diagnostics and further test drives by a technician and a company representative again found no transmission issue, it said.
On fuel, Lion City Rentals said the 14.5km per litre figure was only an estimate and real consumption varies with how the car is driven. “Based on our checks, we are unable to establish that a transmission issue caused the additional fuel consumption feedback by the hirer,” it told Stomp, so it would not pay the S$289.08. It said it has a rental reimbursement policy when repairs exceed a set number of hours.
Stand-off over collection
The company said the Kia had been ready since 23 September and it was open to a test drive with See before collection. On 30 September See said he would not take the car back, denied being offered a joint test drive, and gave the firm until 5pm that day to supply a replacement. He said none arrived, then received an automated weekly rental notice with a late-payment warning.
He told Stomp he had not been driving in the meantime and planned to rent from another company from 1 October. Neither side has said the dispute has gone to a formal consumer claim.