Lamborghini with Dh172,380 traffic fine remains unclaimed for 2 weeks

Dubai - The firm that rented it out wants the driver to be held accountable and pay the fines.

A Lamborghini Huracan that costs Dh3,000 a day to rent has sat 'abandoned' outside the Five Hotel on Palm Jumeirah for the last two weeks. Reason: It has a staggering Dh172,380 in traffic fines against it and the firm that rented it out wants the driver to be held accountable and pay the fines.

In the space of just 234 minutes, British tourist Farah Hashi clocked up a total of 35 speeding fines - 34 in Dubai and one in Abu Dhabi - in his rented Lamborghini, exceeding the speed limit by more than 80kmph a whopping 11 times.

Between the hours of 2.31am and 6.25am on July 31 - less than 12 hours after renting the car from Dubai's Saeed Ali Rent a Car company - Hashi racked up Dh67,700 in speeding fines.

With the addition of multiple impound fines as a result of the numerous speeding violations, the company's owner, Mohamed Ibrahim, has now been left with a bill of Dh172,380.

Ibrahim said it has cost him "Dh42,000 in possible lost custom", as each day's rent for the is Dh3,000.

"I personally rented out the car to this man. I met him at the hotel about 11.30am on July 30 and rented out the vehicle for an initial period of two days. He paid me Dh6,000 in cash and signed the paperwork as such," Ibrahim told Khaleej Times.

Though Ibrahim usually blocks anywhere between Dh3,000-Dh5,000 on a client's card as a security deposit, Hashi reportedly claimed that his English card wouldn't work and offered to pay a cash deposit.

"Initially I said no. I always take security deposits on card, so I explained he would only get the car when a card was provided. But then we came to an agreement that I would hold his passport as a security deposit and he agreed, saying he would provide the security amount via credit card the next day."

But that deposit never came. What did was a text alerting Ibrahim of a speeding fine, showing that the car was driven at "162kmph" over the Garn Al Sabkha road. It was the first fine of 34 alerts, and it clocked a Dh2,000 penalty.

"I immediately called him and told him not to speed. He assured me he would take care of the car. But by next morning, the speeding fines had updated to over Dh40,000 online and now fully updated, it amounts to over Dh170,000."

After attempting to call Hashi on July 31 to no avail, Ibrahim tracked the car and came to know it was moving "in the Jumeirah area". And once it had reached the hotel, Ibrahim "offed the car" from his system, meaning the engine could not be started.

"A while later, I got a call from the client, saying he couldn't turn it on and I explained the fine amounts. He asked me to give him time so he could sort it out."

To date, nothing has been resolved and Ibrahim has since filed a case against the individual and obtained a travel ban against him.

"I need to clear these fines. If he wants to settle them right way, I would prefer, but if he wants to go legal, we can. I blocked his travel and if I want to appeal to the court to arrest him, I can proceed with that. I don't want that problem for him. I want him to pay the fine and be done with it so we can take the car back.

"Tell me, in what country can you drive so fast? Even if you don't know the speed limit, this is a new car; if you go over the speed limit it will tell you. It has a warning light and sound. He is also telling people that it is not the customer who should pay these fines, but my contract says any fine incurred, the client is responsible for paying." - kelly@khaleejtimes.com

What the law says

In the event the individual who rents a car is unable to pay the traffic fines to the car renting company, it can open a civil claim against the person who rented the car. In the event the individual renting the car does not return the car and does not pay the cost for renting the car, the company may lodge a police complaint against the individual for absconding with the car.

The car renting company should obtain a final judgment against the individual and open an execution file. After the execution is done, but still the individual does not pay the due amount, then the individual could face imprisonment in lieu of not paying the amount due. The car renting company may file a case against the individual and obtain a travel ban against him so he does not leave the country.

(As said by Ashish Mehta, founder and Managing Partner of Ashish Mehta & Associates)

• UAE
• Dubai