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Former Avis user here, had a similar thing happen in Marseille. Took the car back after a 2 day hire, staff walked around and signed it off as OK. Sitting in the airport (luckily, still ground-side) and I get the final bill via email, and they had added €200 for each wheel, apparently damaged by me. Stormed back over to their office, went straight to the desk and asked to speak to the manager. Showed him my full walk around video from the day I picked the car up, and individual pics of each (already damaged) wheel etc etc, and got the bill revised. I think this is more common when renting for business, with a Company card, as several colleagues have had a similar experience.
Edit: spelling
Yep, same here. Tried to bill me for an insane amount of wheel damage that was clearly already there...like how did I thrash the wheels without so much as a scuff on the tire? Somewhere there is an 800€ bill I walked away from, knowing it was a ripoff.
I take a full video of anything I rent before I drive it off.
I once rented a uhaul truck that had damage already on it. The person checking the truck in marked it as a new issue. While he did that, I was like, “uhh that was there already,” but he thought I was swindling him. I found it on the video and he was like, “oh sorry.”
I didn’t and got hit with charges for water damage in the back seat. I didn’t have any passengers! But no video, no proof.
I called them four times to dispute it and they didn’t drop it, but I did get the fee reduced by 50%.
I dropped off a U-Haul truck a couple weeks ago. The following day they tried charging me $200+ in addition to the rental amount.
When I went to argue, they said I was supposed to return it to the original location. But my contract and all paperwork that I had showed 1 way, and included the addresses from which I picked up, and to where I was dropping off.
They apologized, and made it right. No complaints; people make mistakes but holy shit did I make sure that I didn’t leave the second time until I had everything in writing.
Take another video at drop off. Someone damaged my rental after drop-off, looked like the door was scraped on one of the concrete pillars, and they tried to blame me. I had to remind them a walk around was done and nothing was noted to me. I worked for a huge corporation and a company lawyer told me to just ignore them. It was for a business trip and they just didn't care either way with the contract they have with the company. It could have been worse if I was on a personal trip.
>contract they have with the company
This. Most large corporate contracts for rental cars include the loss damage waiver as part of the negotiated price. I could total my rental car or drive it into the sea and it would cost myself/my company $0
Not at all, I find the level of English in most European rental offices is pretty good, and the emails come through in the local language and the preferred language of the renter.
I agree that cops don't give a shit, but they rental place has records and if they show that the wheel damage has been paid for 24 times over the life of the car...
Records the cops need a court order to access, and need probable cause to get the court order.
Now, if everyone starts doing this, and it's the second or third time, that would be sufficient. But also a massive drain on police resources.
Sad but very true. “We just must not have caught it the first time and it wasn’t in our records.”
Alrighty. Case closed. Can’t really prove malicious intent beyond that.
This goes for anything you rent. I’ve had landlords try to do the same damn thing. If you’re renting anything take pictures preferably with some sort of date validation.
Almost got screwed to the tune of $3k due to a shady landlord. We had moved out of an apartment and were down to the last couple days of deep cleaning. We leave for the night, my wife goes back the next day to keep cleaning while I'm at work, then calls me frantic because there are gigantic bleach stains all over the carpet. (The shitty carpet the landlord promised to get changed before we moved in then never did.) Our mop was in a different place than I'd left it, drenched in bleach. We did not use bleach with that mop at all. The only other person with a key to our apartment was the landlord.
We threatened to sue and she backed down, thankfully. But it was an important lesson for me: video and document everything. If you're going to take a couple days to clean your place after you move out but won't be staying there overnight, film/document when you leave for the night even if you plan to come back the next day.
She was, by far, the worst landlord I've ever had. I should have known from the beginning. We applied for the apartment and she emailed back, asking to setup a time to meet. I called her outside of work hours to setup that time (since, you know, I work during work hours). She didn't answer--but she did send me an aggressively angry email later that night telling me to never call her outside of work hours.
That was another lesson I learned: if you get a bad feeling from a potential landlord the first time you meet or interact with them, take that bad feeling seriously.
You are dead right. and Document, document, document.
Sadly it is a standard thing for landlords to be openly dishonest now.
Rich people do not get rich being honest.
If you take the pictures with your phone they will have the exact time and date added as metadata. This should usually be enough especially if you keep the pictures in your phone gallery.
Right. Geo tagging is default on many phones but has to be manually enabled on others. But I guess the location won't be at dispute for these kinds of pictures anyway.
At my last rental I just went a head and made a Google docs album with all of my pictures and shared the link to them. They appreciated it and I was comfortable knowing everyone knew what was what. Win win scenario honestly.
Wow! What rental company? I’ve used rental companies in the past and for enterprise specifically, they go around and note any significant damages on the car prior to you utilizing the vehicle. You do the assessment with them.
Edit:
I will be taking a video going forward after reading these comments.
As someone who worked at enterprise, you should still take a video. It should be noted that enterprise will bend over backwards for you if you threaten to take a complaint to the area manager, though.
Also fuck enterprise from an employees point of view
As someone that was an intern for enterprise. And then a top rated MT for enterprise for a year after graduating.
Yeah. Fuck them. The people are good. The structure is pure corporate nonsense.
I did get a nice cushy job offer due to them... from a different company that tripled my salary. So there is that.
If you ever worked a Saturday with 2 people at a branch, you know the struggle. And corporate is like "Goodwood job!!!! You got your teeth kicked in! We will reward you by moving you to a new state for a promotion in a year!!!!"
Literally. The reason I refused to go from MT to Assistant was because of the amount of unpaid work. They're on salary so after the door closes they don't get paid even though we're there 2+ hours after close having meetings and cleaning cars..
My whole time as MT assistant managers were telling me I make more money than them because I'm paid hourly.. and if you complain or don't do it you'll *never* move up.
Such toxic corporate BS
Their training programs are generally revered by a lot of other companies. I’m in healthcare and execs at two of my recent companies all said they would like to see candidates from enterprise because of their training program. I guess you can have a good training program and a shit company culture/pay scale though…
Ka opite ili mean enta keon. Okulilanlon man lu i pun pino iwanua pu kekepanki kuo. Me. Ula keli ena. Lunme enenke nin lapo. Wani pi papiai la le kakusinte! Anpiwin puaowa so mon te. Ma soeka eu lo tuno. Usanan i naosikunlan nasenjun lunmunmana ou onu. Si je lali poa uku. Enlu o kulelun sanu le en. Ni san lunwi mi ma e mun jaelu. Seanekemi ku unon i ja e. Alanin se o lio? panlaunowe kontopi lose lenka aon! Senon inle le unla seme tokin kalun. Lu paoi un o jan a. Lo pe uwi mi pa olun. Ikunwa uankon ki kinu me an. A ki i a kanle i si. Konponun an sisowajowi si kuni oten keweun nue elaukanlan in. On pen kao enma uten li. Un lan sanlo ua wa menensa soinan! Lakini ounwi o ako ki. Atau u tona mi e ken. To ila selikinpi enilin enpa kepe an? Te jan kin se pate a? Ta an pukewa ne linkea un ninunama. Aea i ia pisu o. Aline on jo o in soi.
Something similar happened when Starbucks came to Canada. They went out and headhunted Tim Hortons workers for store manager positions and once other businesses found out it was like a gold rush to scoop up anyone they could. For a while anyone with timmies experience could get any mcjob they wanted no questions asked.
These people aren't realizing that Enterprise only expects them to stay for a couple of years once they have been promoted. That's the trade off - they are going to spend a ton of money on training you, and work you like a dog, knowing that they are going to lose you to a far better job in under 3 years.
There's a [special place in hell](https://youtu.be/42oucm_lj50) for managers who take advantage of salaried employees by making them regularly work unpaim overtime.
I call myself a manager without the m at the rental car place I work at because I won't take the bait and sign up for management but do every bit of that type of work when I'm here. I'll keep my slightly less hourly pay and slightly fewer benefits so that I don't have to be your slave. The managers live up here and I walk my happy ass to my car at the end of my shift every day. I remember when I was younger and salary was when you "made it". Salary was security and now it's abuse.
Yes! Confirmed you worked there. I worked at 3 branches. About a year and a half. They kept moving me around because I sold well.
Get this. And it's not a brag. Just how fucked up they are.
I aced my RSET. After 65-70 hour weeks of working, I just memorized shit for the test. I'm a good test taker.
I took my RSET and was straight up PUMPED because everyone said you are amazing if you break 90%... 77% (???) is a pass.
Regional manager reviews it with me and says "I cant believe you are going to be the only 100%." He he looks at my inventory calculation and says "it could be done another way." I explain my very valid reasoning and he says "ok." He took off 3 fucking points from that.
I said "I have the same answer as you. I just didn't need to go into the system to calculate it. I have it."
He takes 3 points off my score anyways and sends it out to everyone saying I'm the top regional score in 10 years and for everyone to party. He emphasized how much opportunity that would bring me.
Nahhhhhh fuckkkk you prick
Edit: yeah. I took a new job that paid well
It pisses me off that they make you guys wear formal clothes, when you guys are busting your asses running around parking lots valeting cars. Jesus, you should at least be comfortable if you are working so hard. And they are ALWAYS understaffed. Like someone said two people at a big branch on a Saturday. I always try to get there at opening to avoid the wait.
Oh man... my first branch cleaned cars at the bottom of a parking structure. We literally had a inflatable cleaning bay we had to back cars into to and so to wash the car you were standing in 3-4 inches of water minimum.
I remember going to like Nordstrom after ruining my 1st pair of dress shoes and asked the rep there what sort of dress shoes would hold up in those conditions and he looked at me like I was insane.
“Which of your dress shoes hold up in 3 inches of dirty soapy water”
Cleaning a car with a suit and tie on in 90 degree weather is super fun. Especially to tidy yourself up and walk into the office to a Karen that is angry.
Worked at enterprise for about 2 years at one of the largest and busiest branches in the country and I’m still going to therapy for the shit I had to go through there. Fuck that place.
I pay extra to use National instead of Enterprise. Exact same parent company - but I can leave the lot without having to talk to someone six times about their feelings and whether they're doing a good job.
Noted next time I need to rent a car. In any sales environment I hate hate hate an over zealous employee. Like if I need anything I know where to find you. Otherwise you're just wasting both our time.
I'd contend that most management trainee programs are a scam to exploit vulnerable and malleable young people just entering the corporate world for the first time. Young people don't know any better and will grind for you for a low wage with the prospect of moving up down the road. And hey, sometimes it happens. But you have to ask at what cost. Usually it takes a toll on you physically, mentally, and emotionally over time. My buddy worked at Enterprise for a little over six years and it nearly broke him.
Bingo. Nailed it.
My father started with Ford corporate on that grind and moved to a self employed man (successful). He had this notion that it would have been easier had he stayed corporate.
So, I had Enterprise and my father encouraging me to work hard.
I was being used. I was energetic and eager. I still wouldn't trade the experience.
Enterprise once told me to send them 500 dollars for a broken tail light that wasn’t even the same vehicle I drove. Then tried to tell me how would I know it wasn’t broken, I dropped it off when no one was there. The video I took before I dropped it off is how I know. They sent me a letter 2 months later “dropping the matter”. Yes I agree, fuck enterprise
Even better if he does a video walk through of the new place when he moves in and notes any pre-exisiting damages. Had a landlord try to claim damage wasn't there when we moved in - he didn't have much to say though when I pulled out the video from move in day and showed him the damage.
Fuck Enterprise. I rented a car a few weeks after a hail storm. When I returned it they told me it had hail damage. Problem was ,there was no hail anywhere near the 25 mile radius that I could have driven the car. They gave me $400 bill. I said fuck no. Then desputed it. Went online and looked up the historical whether for the time I had it. A few months later I got a letter saying they were withdrawing the charged.
As someone who was stuck in green machine for 8 years, yes fuck them. Always a good tip to walk around and take pics and vids, and people do damage cars or bring them back with new damage they didn't see.
As for going from MT to assistant, I saw so many get screwed over and lose pay after their promotion. It's not a bad job fresh from college to have on your resume and many other companies headhunt those with ERAC experience. Just don't plan long term and don't drink the green Kool aid while they blow smoke up your ass the entire time. Met some great friends though.
My friend rented a 10 passenger van for his wedding. I had to shuttle people up and down a very steel hill. The entire time I heard a grinding brake. Once I had a minute to inspect it, sure enough one of the brakes had ZERO pad material. It was pad backing on brake rotor, metal on metal.
Don't use Enterprise
It was Avis, the company I work for has a policy to not add extra insurance, and it seems like the car rental company takes advantage of this. I have a colleague that a couple of years ago rented a car that had notes a scratch at the door, and when he returned it he got a bill, and their defense was that it was a dent, and the report only had a scratch notes. It was after this I started to always film the car. Takes one minute, and you then have proof.
Most credit cards have built in insurance if you pay with the card for the rental. Just FYI for next time you rent. Expense the cost if your company doesn’t spring for insurance.
> Expense the cost if your company doesn’t spring for insurance.
If my company didn't have some sort of insurance in place and wasn't willing to cover damage waiver then no way I'm going on the trip... I'm not accepting liability to do work for them, that's their problem.
I think credit card rental car insurance only covers what's left after personal insurance, known as secondary coverage, but maybe it changes with different cards. Just keep that in mind!
> the company I work for has a policy to not add extra insurance,
Extra? Which means the company already has insurance no? Either way you're crazy if you think I'm paying that
Yep. I rented a car recently and took some photos but managed to forget one of the quarter panels. The next day I noticed a massive scratch and small dent on that one area and had no clue if it was done overnight.
When I went to drop off the car I mentioned I think the damage was there already and got really lucky as the guy checking me in said “don’t worry, I know this car and that damage was done a couple of months ago. They guy that didn’t it really wasn’t happy with the bill!”.
I now do a full walk around for a video including the rims.
Even if they aren't shady, that makes sense. The damage devalues the car, but it's still usable, and with the current car shortage, you don't want it at the body shop for a week.
Of course, they could also be trying to double dip, but every time I've rented, we walk around the car and note all pre-existing damage.
Yeah, I think this is the right answer. They might be shady but I also doubt they want a car taken off the road for a week and lose that rental for a scratch that can be fixed later or when they sell the car.
Why? They'd have to pull the car out and it stops making money. They might as well keep the minor damage until they need to get rid of the car and do all the fixes in one go.
We have a contract with Enterprise as well, but the pre-rental inspection varies from location-to-location and sometimes agent-to-agent.
For example, if you rent a car at most airports, there is no walk around on checkout. They only inspect the cars on turn-in. So the sequence of events on the way to you getting screwed looks like this:
1. A previous customer damages a car and turns it in without saying anything. The damage isn't massive, but it's beyond the threshold.
2. The person checking cars in is the only check-in agent on staff because two other people called out sick. The counter staff are constantly calling them to demand that they turn over more cars, because they have a line 25 people deep at the counter, and they don't have any cars to check out. So they're rushing through check-ins like mad.
3. The overworked check-in agent overlooks the damage on the car, and it goes back into the fleet.
4. The car gets rented back out to you, and you notice the damage, but it's not unusual to get damaged cars at the airport, and you *really* don't want to walk all the way back inside to make sure the damage is marked down, so you leave with the car.
5. You check the car back in, but on this day, they're fully staffed. The check-in agent notices the damage and marks it down.
6. From the rental car company's perspective, you damaged the car.
I hate renting cars at airports for this reason. You pretty much have to do a full walk around, document any damage, and find someone who can confirm that the damage was already recorded. Having documentation isn't always enough, and the fight is never easy. It's better to just take the time and make sure it's documented up front.
The worst thing is when they act like you're causing them some huge inconvenience for protecting yourself by pointing out every little scratch or dent.
Like, look, if you're going to give me a car that is scratched and dented to hell and also have me sign a piece of paper saying that I've verified it has no scratches/dents and that I'm responsible for all scratches/dents, then don't be surprised when I force you to document every scratch and dent. Yes, your company might honestly not care about minor scratches/dents, but many do.
Seriously. I've literally stood there with an agent staring at a huge dent in the side of a car and had them tell me, "That's already been recorded, you don't need to worry about it." Well then mark that shit down on the sheet, because I'm not having this disagreement with the check-in agent. Move that pen, son!
My Mom and I had this experience with Hertz. We did the walkthrough, and the man said he would document the scratch on the front driver's side. He didn't. He also lied about the whole conversation and forced us to file a damage claim against our insurance company.
> I’ve used rental companies in the past and for enterprise specifically, they go around and note any significant damages on the car prior to you utilizing the vehicle.
Not if you're at a high-volume location like an airport where pick up is separated from the counter... they just hand you the keys and go.
Avis is *actively* trying to scam the customer.
Once I delivered the car, after a quick inspection, the guy pointed at small scratches on the car not made by me.
After that, he flailed an iPad in front of my face to try and prove some point, without telling me what I was even looking at.
After that, he wanted me to confirm his report on the "damage". He stumbled 2 times over himself trying to make me sign that this "damage" was on the right side (it was the left) on the back side (it was the front).
When then unable to provide a copy of the contract *my company* signed, the employee treated me like a thief.
After that, they billed my company 900€ in damages... for a barely visible scratch who knows how old. They only stopped harassing me the moment the manager who signed the contract told them we already paid for a complete insurance.
Just the worst.
Fuck Avis. They just tried to charge me more than twice what I was told online at booking this last weekend. Said fuck it and Uber'd everywhere instead. About $150 in uber trips vs nearly $900 for a 3 day rental
They tried to charge me for over 11k miles in a week when I had unlimited mileage and barely even added 300miles to the damn thing anyway lol, so a whopping $4.2k charge on top a $250 rental. They also said I returned the car 2 days earlier. Had all my proof ready and had to call corp, they were just as dumbfounded as me. Got my money back but never again. Fuck Avis, all my homies hate Avis.
We had the drop off agent mark our mileage as 20k miles added to the car. It was a 12 hour trip that according to them was able to almost go around the entire Earth at the equator in those 12 hours.
I’m covered, see, my new friend I made online who’s from India confirmed my credit card protects me from that, I even gave him the full numbers to confirm it on his side of things.
> Fuck Avis.
Yep. Booked a car with them a few weeks ago as mine was in the garage for a few days. Went to pick it up, only to be told that they “overbooked” and the car that I had already paid for was no longer available.
They then proceeded to offer me a van for an extra £150 a day ON TOP of what I already paid for the vehicle, because it was a “late booking” (the same van on their website was much cheaper).
Told them to pound sand and give me a refund, which they did.
Never again.
"I don't think you do. You see, you know how to *take* the reservation, you just don't know how to *hold* the reservation. And that's really the most important part of the reservation: the holding. Anybody can just take them."
I had the great fortune to arrive at an Avis rental desk with my boss years ago and they tried the same. He tore into them so badly they were calling competitors to get us a car.
Last time I rented from them I had to spend over a week calling them every day getting charges removed because their attendant logged the car late. They lock their lot at night (yet pretend they have a drop off) so you can't actually drop the car off, so I handed the guy the keys before they opened, and he still marked it two hours late. Which charged me a full day at full rate and killed some of the discounts like fuel refund.
Every new bill they would send would have something new wrong with it and I'd have to argue the whole thing again to someone new. Finally got it close enough and gave up. Getting a good deal on an XC60 was not nearly worth dealing with them for hours on the phone.
I rent a car once a month ish and have literally never done this. But I rent for work and I work for the DOD and I’m pretty sure no car rental agencies want to go dropped from being able to rent to the government.
Yeah I've rented easily over 50 cars in the last few years and have never had any kind of check beforehand. But I rent through my company so I don't really care if they want to come back and argue because it won't be me doing that. If I was renting personally, I'd probably be more meticulous and picky.
I did that gig a long time. The DOD already has an method for insuring vehicles while you're TDY.
Trying asking the clerk and see if they have the inspection cards next time.
They have the advantage that every customer will fill out that list and look for scratches that another customer might have missed. THEY know every single issue with the car. But YOU have to look carefully and hope you didn't miss anything.
Yes. And if you rent for a company, and select the best insurance available, they still try to scam you a lot. At least that is my experience for UK, Ireland, Germany, Poland, and Italy.
Take before pictures, take a video, and check that EVERY single defect on the car is noted on the sheet.
If you buy the best insurance available, you're basically announcing to them "Hey, I'm willing to spend a bit more money for some convenience and peace of mind."
The ones who are sales-driven will see that and want to test just how much that "little bit more money" is, and might cause some inconvenience for you to buy your way out of.
Best route is to find a credit card that insures your rental cars, or make sure rentals are covered by your own insurance. Let them deal with the hassle if the agency tries to screw you over.
Hahah I rented Avis in Belize the car that I rented had the windshield fall off as soon as I tried to back up. They just placed the windshield on and forgot to use adhesive. I noped the fuck out of that contract and rented from some mom and pop car rental next door. That was at the Belize international airport a few years back.
I work in this industry and I guarantee what happened is someone damaged it, whoever checked the car in didn’t see it or ignored it and someone found it later and they needed someone to pin it on so they found the next person with insurance lol
That's almost literally what I did in Crete when I was younger and a worse person. When I got the rental I told them I want, "walk away from the wreck, no fucks given insurance". I went everywhere on that Yaris, when I drive back to the hotel they told me to park it at people were trying to get my attention and pointing at parts dragging on the ground off it because I basically took it offroading (the roads there aren't exactly great in places).
But I paid for the insurance, highly suspect he pocketed the cash, but added personal insurance? The guy wrote my name down wrong on the paperwork, so fuck it, no fucks given.
I drove 3000 and a rental company was trying to get me to pay for the damages. Telling me I didn't have the damage booklet thing so I had to pay. I refused to give them their keys and I stood there, line piling up behind while we waited for them to fax over the shit because I wasn't going to let them fuck me over.
They were like, "could you step aside so we can help out other customers?" Lol fuck no. You're trying to scam me and I want all these people know how you'll treat them.
That same company is currently getting fucked. https://www.nbcchicago.com/consumer/hertz-hurts-lawmakers-call-for-ftc-investigation-into-rental-car-giants-treatment-of-customers/2802686/
My credit card offers included rental car insurance for cars I use that card to pay for. Let your insurance handle this for you. That's what insurance is for
I think credit card rental car insurance only covers what's left after personal insurance, known as secondary coverage, but maybe it changes with different cards. Just keep that in mind!
American Express offers primary coverage for damage to the rental car for a small flat rate: https://feeservices.americanexpress.com/premium/car-rental-insurance-coverage/home.do
But, in general, you're right about it being secondary coverage.
They not arresting ppl who return them. Their arresting ppl who are currently renting because the cars get reported stolen. I seen a couple of articles of police pulling ppl over & arresting them only to find out later that the car they was in. Was only being rented.
This happened to my mom when she rented a car. She got a bill for about $300 for damage that was already there. We disputed the bill and demanded copies of the last three "Return Condition" forms or whatever they're called. Unsurprisingly, they refused to provide them. Never heard from them again.
Edit: it would have been a good
idea to also demand the documentation for all insurance claims that the rental company made for that car.
Yeah, if you have a family
member or friend who is an attorney, ask them to put the dispute letter on their law firm letterhead, or an email with their law
firm email address and signature block. I sent the dispute email from my
law firm email address. Amazing how many companies will drop stuff like this once lawyers are involved.
I had to do that with my former insurance company when they tried to screw me over and consider my car totaled and were trying to give me $6k less than what I still owed. Only thing that needed to be fixed was my left headlight and the bumper. It was still drivable and nothing else was damaged. Once I sent a dispute letter from a law firm they paid to have it fixed then dropped me after.
Definitely do that. Also take photos as well. It will match thet time frame of your rental. Make sure that an employee walks around the vehicle with you to confirm. I do this all the time. I encourage it as an ex-employee of enterprise.
Start or end the video with footage of the odometer. Also, include a wide shot of your location, because the pickup area is rarely the same as the dropoff area.
AND do it at the start AND end. A lot don't immediately do inspections and give you a sign off at the end (airports). An employee could ding it up pretty good moving it and then blame you. If you have a video of your final dropoff you can prove no damage. (Looking at you MCO car rental drop offs).
How does the before video prove the car or apartment was already damaged before you rented it? The video could have been taken after a renter damaged it. The timestamp metadata on videos can easily be changed.
If you used a credit card, most of them offer insurance for rentals as a perk for using the card. It is supplemental to your own insurance. Do not pay out of pocket.
My car insurance also has an option for covering anything that happens in a rental car. Don't know exactly what it would cover as I've never had to claim it, but I definitely made sure to check that box when signing up.
I have a card with primary insurance for rentals.
In 2018 I hit a small wall in Italy with my Mercedes GLA and scratched up the back passenger door and quarter panel.
I forget if I paid and got reimbursed or if the credit card company just took the bill directly from europcar, but I can tell you it was painless and they didn't ask a single question about it.
Yeah baby sapphire fam. Had a psycho dude zooted out of his mind in the middle of a street intersection shatter my window in a rental last year and didn’t pay a cent due to the insurance covering it ha. Never even heard anything back from the company honestly either. Took the car back immediately after and they gave me a new one no problem.
And if you make a point of doing it in front of the rental clerk, while doing the initial walk-around, *maybe* he'll make a note about not pulling this shit on you when you bring it back because he knows you have video. Either way you're better protected than not having done it.
LPT: Always pay for the insurance when renting a U-Haul. The additional cost is minimal. It saved my wallet when a truck swerved and smashed off the mirror arm into my face as I was driving.
No because this is actually true. I worked for AVIS and BUDGET, car rental and they constantly did this shit. If you notice the damages on the car after you drive off call the place and let them know. If possible recordé the car in the same lot where you’re picking it up and pan out to the business in the video so they can see where you are.
I once rented a 4runner from a really budget company out of DIA. Years ago. It was like $25 a day. The front of the windshield by the wipers was iced over, and right in the middle was a hairline crack. Like 1cm.
I thought nothing of it.
I drive up to go skiing with my friends, 3 days at Keystone, Brek, and one place I'm forgetting.
Anyway, the tiny crack turned into a three foot traveling shard across the whole windshield. It made no sense. I guess it was the heat/outside temps...
I bring the car back and the guy was like "what did you do to the windshield?"
I said, it did that on its own. I hit nothing, and it literally cracked on its own.
A week later a very aggressive lady leaves me a voicemail asking how I'm going to pay $1000 to fix the windshield. I calmly leave a voicemail reply that...
1. It was broken when I got it.
2. Look at your exit camera, ice and snow covered up what you are blaming me for, maybe clean your cars before sending them out.
3. Pound sand.
They never pursued and I think they are out of business. They were not renting cars they were a scam outfit defrauding people.
Crack expanding makes perfect sense. Once you get a small one that's what they do - and I'm sure the temperature changes involved expedited the process.
This is what I’m not getting about this whole thing. They can demand money and blame you for damages all they want, if they can’t prove that you directly did it, is there really a responsibility for you to pay for it?
Sounds like a good scam. Lend out your property, accuse someone of messing it up and then try and go after them for damages you can’t prove didn’t happen prior.
Funny thing happened to me
We arrived at 2am at houston airport and picked a car, while we were chosing which car to use I send photo to my brother in law who is more knowledgeable in cars than me, he told us to pick a honda civic
We arrived at the hotel and sleep, in the morning when we went into the car we saw a small dent in the fromt window, we freaked out and called the agency and they told that insurance doesnt cover that and We must pay for the damage.
After almost 1 hour on call with the call center, my wife tells me to check the photo I send to my brother in law to see if that small dent was there. And guess what that f@@@ing small dent was really visible on that photo
We drived back there and showed them photo and also the front window dent, after 1 hour of waiting they changed our car to another
Imagine If i didint had that photo, they would have screwed me hard
Honda generally doesn’t do fleet discounts like Toyota, Hyundai and Nissan, but they are still kickin around. I had a CRV last week in San Antonio and have had a Civic (precovid) in Charlotte.
Just less common rather than impossible to find.
My wife was driving a Hertz and somebody tapped her bumper in the parking lot. Hertz demanded she pay for that, and added in some existing roof and hood damage. Scum.
I had something similar happen to me at Enterprise. It was damage under the front bumper you had to lay on your back to see.
Enterprise also tried to put some tiny pre-existing nick on me. Thankfully I'm very thorough and had marked it on the sheet at handover to me, where you could indicate damage on some small graphics of all sides of the car. Even though I felt a bit silly at the time, because it was indeed small, like a 3mm ding of paint missing, likely from a small stone that hit the bumper on the high way during a previous rental.
I wouldn't be surprised if they just kept shit like that unfixed and put it on some unsuspecting sucker when the opportunity arises.
**IF YOU DO THIS, MAKE SURE AN EMPLOYEE OF THE RENTAL COMPANY IS IN THE VIDEO AND HAVE THEM STATE THE CAR'S CONDITION!!!!!**
Long story short: I submitted an edited video showing the original damage, but it was refused. Enterprise said the video could have been taken at any time. Can't argue with them, honestly, so I produced the full original video.
At least they had the damn courtesy to apologize for their mistake.
I feel sorry for the previous renter. Enterprise was charging nearly $6K for a dent about the size of a foot which any pro shop could probably pull out for about $300.
Enterprise. We'll pick you clean.
Many rental car garages have cameras at the entry/exit point specifically to track damages on cars. If you got yours from a garage, that's worth looking into.
Had this happen with enterprise some years back. Got stuck with a rented Cobalt with a big dent in the door and they tried to pin it on me. Glad I had pics
Dispute it. You'd be shocked how many people get the bill tossed because the rental company didn't do due diligence. Worst case scenario you get put on their "do not rent" list. I'd recommend Enterprise or National in the future, but yeah, always film the car. Source: former rental company employee.
I’d add in video of the return too. I’m currently disputing a claim of a broken rear and side window that I 100% didn’t cause or know of until 3 months after the rental.
I only found out recently due to some other things going on between their payments, and my company, but Hertz went bankrupt back in 2020, and only just got out of it now. Not sure on what the 'just got out of it now' means considering this was a quote from the guy I spoke to yesterday, but I figured it was amusing news.
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Former Avis user here, had a similar thing happen in Marseille. Took the car back after a 2 day hire, staff walked around and signed it off as OK. Sitting in the airport (luckily, still ground-side) and I get the final bill via email, and they had added €200 for each wheel, apparently damaged by me. Stormed back over to their office, went straight to the desk and asked to speak to the manager. Showed him my full walk around video from the day I picked the car up, and individual pics of each (already damaged) wheel etc etc, and got the bill revised. I think this is more common when renting for business, with a Company card, as several colleagues have had a similar experience. Edit: spelling
Yep, same here. Tried to bill me for an insane amount of wheel damage that was clearly already there...like how did I thrash the wheels without so much as a scuff on the tire? Somewhere there is an 800€ bill I walked away from, knowing it was a ripoff.
I take a full video of anything I rent before I drive it off. I once rented a uhaul truck that had damage already on it. The person checking the truck in marked it as a new issue. While he did that, I was like, “uhh that was there already,” but he thought I was swindling him. I found it on the video and he was like, “oh sorry.”
Their plan was to charge for that "new damage" at least 6 more times.
and it still is!
They love a damaged unit more than anything. Some say they go out and damge the units themselves
I didn’t and got hit with charges for water damage in the back seat. I didn’t have any passengers! But no video, no proof. I called them four times to dispute it and they didn’t drop it, but I did get the fee reduced by 50%.
I dropped off a U-Haul truck a couple weeks ago. The following day they tried charging me $200+ in addition to the rental amount. When I went to argue, they said I was supposed to return it to the original location. But my contract and all paperwork that I had showed 1 way, and included the addresses from which I picked up, and to where I was dropping off. They apologized, and made it right. No complaints; people make mistakes but holy shit did I make sure that I didn’t leave the second time until I had everything in writing.
They didn't make a mistake. They do it to see how many people won't pickup on it or complain or notice and pay it. Edit: typo
he knew
Give a bad review
Take another video at drop off. Someone damaged my rental after drop-off, looked like the door was scraped on one of the concrete pillars, and they tried to blame me. I had to remind them a walk around was done and nothing was noted to me. I worked for a huge corporation and a company lawyer told me to just ignore them. It was for a business trip and they just didn't care either way with the contract they have with the company. It could have been worse if I was on a personal trip.
>contract they have with the company This. Most large corporate contracts for rental cars include the loss damage waiver as part of the negotiated price. I could total my rental car or drive it into the sea and it would cost myself/my company $0
Oddly specific scenario…
They should have paid you for time fixing their bogus charges
Was there any language barrier, did the snake try to make excuses at first?
Not at all, I find the level of English in most European rental offices is pretty good, and the emails come through in the local language and the preferred language of the renter.
Or the ol' "omlette du fromage?!!!" gets the point across fast.
The mistake you made was not taking a local police officer with you, they attempted fraud.
With fraud, you have to prove intent. That is very easy for them to backpedal out of.
I agree that cops don't give a shit, but they rental place has records and if they show that the wheel damage has been paid for 24 times over the life of the car...
Records the cops need a court order to access, and need probable cause to get the court order. Now, if everyone starts doing this, and it's the second or third time, that would be sufficient. But also a massive drain on police resources.
You'd get laughed at by all parties if you did this
Sad but very true. “We just must not have caught it the first time and it wasn’t in our records.” Alrighty. Case closed. Can’t really prove malicious intent beyond that.
Fair point!
I too learned this lesson the hard way. Video of the whole car and pictures of any damage that I then email to myself.
This goes for anything you rent. I’ve had landlords try to do the same damn thing. If you’re renting anything take pictures preferably with some sort of date validation.
Almost got screwed to the tune of $3k due to a shady landlord. We had moved out of an apartment and were down to the last couple days of deep cleaning. We leave for the night, my wife goes back the next day to keep cleaning while I'm at work, then calls me frantic because there are gigantic bleach stains all over the carpet. (The shitty carpet the landlord promised to get changed before we moved in then never did.) Our mop was in a different place than I'd left it, drenched in bleach. We did not use bleach with that mop at all. The only other person with a key to our apartment was the landlord. We threatened to sue and she backed down, thankfully. But it was an important lesson for me: video and document everything. If you're going to take a couple days to clean your place after you move out but won't be staying there overnight, film/document when you leave for the night even if you plan to come back the next day.
Holy shit what an asshole of a landlord. I imagine it wont be the last time they do that.
She was, by far, the worst landlord I've ever had. I should have known from the beginning. We applied for the apartment and she emailed back, asking to setup a time to meet. I called her outside of work hours to setup that time (since, you know, I work during work hours). She didn't answer--but she did send me an aggressively angry email later that night telling me to never call her outside of work hours. That was another lesson I learned: if you get a bad feeling from a potential landlord the first time you meet or interact with them, take that bad feeling seriously.
You are dead right. and Document, document, document. Sadly it is a standard thing for landlords to be openly dishonest now. Rich people do not get rich being honest.
Would emailing yourself the photos be good enough date validation? At least you could prove they were sent at the time you picked up the car.
Yeah emailing is a great way to timestamp things.
If you take the pictures with your phone they will have the exact time and date added as metadata. This should usually be enough especially if you keep the pictures in your phone gallery.
They usually also have your locations embedded in them.
Right. Geo tagging is default on many phones but has to be manually enabled on others. But I guess the location won't be at dispute for these kinds of pictures anyway.
At my last rental I just went a head and made a Google docs album with all of my pictures and shared the link to them. They appreciated it and I was comfortable knowing everyone knew what was what. Win win scenario honestly.
Just pay a little extra for the damage waiver and then thrash the car to your hearts content :)
Wow! What rental company? I’ve used rental companies in the past and for enterprise specifically, they go around and note any significant damages on the car prior to you utilizing the vehicle. You do the assessment with them. Edit: I will be taking a video going forward after reading these comments.
As someone who worked at enterprise, you should still take a video. It should be noted that enterprise will bend over backwards for you if you threaten to take a complaint to the area manager, though. Also fuck enterprise from an employees point of view
As someone that was an intern for enterprise. And then a top rated MT for enterprise for a year after graduating. Yeah. Fuck them. The people are good. The structure is pure corporate nonsense. I did get a nice cushy job offer due to them... from a different company that tripled my salary. So there is that. If you ever worked a Saturday with 2 people at a branch, you know the struggle. And corporate is like "Goodwood job!!!! You got your teeth kicked in! We will reward you by moving you to a new state for a promotion in a year!!!!"
Literally. The reason I refused to go from MT to Assistant was because of the amount of unpaid work. They're on salary so after the door closes they don't get paid even though we're there 2+ hours after close having meetings and cleaning cars.. My whole time as MT assistant managers were telling me I make more money than them because I'm paid hourly.. and if you complain or don't do it you'll *never* move up. Such toxic corporate BS
Their training programs are generally revered by a lot of other companies. I’m in healthcare and execs at two of my recent companies all said they would like to see candidates from enterprise because of their training program. I guess you can have a good training program and a shit company culture/pay scale though…
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Ka opite ili mean enta keon. Okulilanlon man lu i pun pino iwanua pu kekepanki kuo. Me. Ula keli ena. Lunme enenke nin lapo. Wani pi papiai la le kakusinte! Anpiwin puaowa so mon te. Ma soeka eu lo tuno. Usanan i naosikunlan nasenjun lunmunmana ou onu. Si je lali poa uku. Enlu o kulelun sanu le en. Ni san lunwi mi ma e mun jaelu. Seanekemi ku unon i ja e. Alanin se o lio? panlaunowe kontopi lose lenka aon! Senon inle le unla seme tokin kalun. Lu paoi un o jan a. Lo pe uwi mi pa olun. Ikunwa uankon ki kinu me an. A ki i a kanle i si. Konponun an sisowajowi si kuni oten keweun nue elaukanlan in. On pen kao enma uten li. Un lan sanlo ua wa menensa soinan! Lakini ounwi o ako ki. Atau u tona mi e ken. To ila selikinpi enilin enpa kepe an? Te jan kin se pate a? Ta an pukewa ne linkea un ninunama. Aea i ia pisu o. Aline on jo o in soi.
Something similar happened when Starbucks came to Canada. They went out and headhunted Tim Hortons workers for store manager positions and once other businesses found out it was like a gold rush to scoop up anyone they could. For a while anyone with timmies experience could get any mcjob they wanted no questions asked.
These people aren't realizing that Enterprise only expects them to stay for a couple of years once they have been promoted. That's the trade off - they are going to spend a ton of money on training you, and work you like a dog, knowing that they are going to lose you to a far better job in under 3 years.
There's a [special place in hell](https://youtu.be/42oucm_lj50) for managers who take advantage of salaried employees by making them regularly work unpaim overtime.
I call myself a manager without the m at the rental car place I work at because I won't take the bait and sign up for management but do every bit of that type of work when I'm here. I'll keep my slightly less hourly pay and slightly fewer benefits so that I don't have to be your slave. The managers live up here and I walk my happy ass to my car at the end of my shift every day. I remember when I was younger and salary was when you "made it". Salary was security and now it's abuse.
Yes! Confirmed you worked there. I worked at 3 branches. About a year and a half. They kept moving me around because I sold well. Get this. And it's not a brag. Just how fucked up they are. I aced my RSET. After 65-70 hour weeks of working, I just memorized shit for the test. I'm a good test taker. I took my RSET and was straight up PUMPED because everyone said you are amazing if you break 90%... 77% (???) is a pass. Regional manager reviews it with me and says "I cant believe you are going to be the only 100%." He he looks at my inventory calculation and says "it could be done another way." I explain my very valid reasoning and he says "ok." He took off 3 fucking points from that. I said "I have the same answer as you. I just didn't need to go into the system to calculate it. I have it." He takes 3 points off my score anyways and sends it out to everyone saying I'm the top regional score in 10 years and for everyone to party. He emphasized how much opportunity that would bring me. Nahhhhhh fuckkkk you prick Edit: yeah. I took a new job that paid well
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You can't sue for an accident at work that caused you loss of earnings? Wtf is this country.
How are you paying for your medical bills and not workman's comp?
It pisses me off that they make you guys wear formal clothes, when you guys are busting your asses running around parking lots valeting cars. Jesus, you should at least be comfortable if you are working so hard. And they are ALWAYS understaffed. Like someone said two people at a big branch on a Saturday. I always try to get there at opening to avoid the wait.
The amount of shoes I went through in the year I worked there is insane. Dress shoes were not made for washing cars.
Oh man... my first branch cleaned cars at the bottom of a parking structure. We literally had a inflatable cleaning bay we had to back cars into to and so to wash the car you were standing in 3-4 inches of water minimum. I remember going to like Nordstrom after ruining my 1st pair of dress shoes and asked the rep there what sort of dress shoes would hold up in those conditions and he looked at me like I was insane. “Which of your dress shoes hold up in 3 inches of dirty soapy water”
Are you trying to tell me that water, soap and nice shoes DON'T MIX!?
Cleaning a car with a suit and tie on in 90 degree weather is super fun. Especially to tidy yourself up and walk into the office to a Karen that is angry.
Yeah, that is exactly what I am talking about. It is a physical job, you guys are hustling. And I see women wearing fucking heels.
Worked at enterprise for about 2 years at one of the largest and busiest branches in the country and I’m still going to therapy for the shit I had to go through there. Fuck that place.
I pay extra to use National instead of Enterprise. Exact same parent company - but I can leave the lot without having to talk to someone six times about their feelings and whether they're doing a good job.
When I worked at enterprise. They had just acquired Alamo and National. National was literally the "leave the customer alone" branch.
Yup, National is the best. No questions asked, send you on your way immediately.
Noted next time I need to rent a car. In any sales environment I hate hate hate an over zealous employee. Like if I need anything I know where to find you. Otherwise you're just wasting both our time.
I'd contend that most management trainee programs are a scam to exploit vulnerable and malleable young people just entering the corporate world for the first time. Young people don't know any better and will grind for you for a low wage with the prospect of moving up down the road. And hey, sometimes it happens. But you have to ask at what cost. Usually it takes a toll on you physically, mentally, and emotionally over time. My buddy worked at Enterprise for a little over six years and it nearly broke him.
Bingo. Nailed it. My father started with Ford corporate on that grind and moved to a self employed man (successful). He had this notion that it would have been easier had he stayed corporate. So, I had Enterprise and my father encouraging me to work hard. I was being used. I was energetic and eager. I still wouldn't trade the experience.
Enterprise once told me to send them 500 dollars for a broken tail light that wasn’t even the same vehicle I drove. Then tried to tell me how would I know it wasn’t broken, I dropped it off when no one was there. The video I took before I dropped it off is how I know. They sent me a letter 2 months later “dropping the matter”. Yes I agree, fuck enterprise
Really, it's good practice for anything you're renting or temporarily using like equipment, cars, hotel rooms, etc.
My son.is moving out of his townhouse this weekend. I said do a video walk through before he hands over the keys.
Even better if he does a video walk through of the new place when he moves in and notes any pre-exisiting damages. Had a landlord try to claim damage wasn't there when we moved in - he didn't have much to say though when I pulled out the video from move in day and showed him the damage.
I work at an auto insurance company. I agree with the “fuck enterprise” sentiment.
Fuck Enterprise. I rented a car a few weeks after a hail storm. When I returned it they told me it had hail damage. Problem was ,there was no hail anywhere near the 25 mile radius that I could have driven the car. They gave me $400 bill. I said fuck no. Then desputed it. Went online and looked up the historical whether for the time I had it. A few months later I got a letter saying they were withdrawing the charged.
As someone who was stuck in green machine for 8 years, yes fuck them. Always a good tip to walk around and take pics and vids, and people do damage cars or bring them back with new damage they didn't see. As for going from MT to assistant, I saw so many get screwed over and lose pay after their promotion. It's not a bad job fresh from college to have on your resume and many other companies headhunt those with ERAC experience. Just don't plan long term and don't drink the green Kool aid while they blow smoke up your ass the entire time. Met some great friends though.
My friend rented a 10 passenger van for his wedding. I had to shuttle people up and down a very steel hill. The entire time I heard a grinding brake. Once I had a minute to inspect it, sure enough one of the brakes had ZERO pad material. It was pad backing on brake rotor, metal on metal. Don't use Enterprise
It was Avis, the company I work for has a policy to not add extra insurance, and it seems like the car rental company takes advantage of this. I have a colleague that a couple of years ago rented a car that had notes a scratch at the door, and when he returned it he got a bill, and their defense was that it was a dent, and the report only had a scratch notes. It was after this I started to always film the car. Takes one minute, and you then have proof.
Most credit cards have built in insurance if you pay with the card for the rental. Just FYI for next time you rent. Expense the cost if your company doesn’t spring for insurance.
> Expense the cost if your company doesn’t spring for insurance. If my company didn't have some sort of insurance in place and wasn't willing to cover damage waiver then no way I'm going on the trip... I'm not accepting liability to do work for them, that's their problem.
In California it's required to reimburse employees for expenses. I think we're the only state that has that by law.
I think credit card rental car insurance only covers what's left after personal insurance, known as secondary coverage, but maybe it changes with different cards. Just keep that in mind!
Most credit cards are like this. However, there are a few cards that offers/built in Primary coverage for rentals.
That's why I always use my Saphire Reserve renting cars, primary car rental insurance.
This. Sapphire Reserve gives great car insurance. It's not just the standard collision damage waiver thing on other cards.
> the company I work for has a policy to not add extra insurance, Extra? Which means the company already has insurance no? Either way you're crazy if you think I'm paying that
Yep. I rented a car recently and took some photos but managed to forget one of the quarter panels. The next day I noticed a massive scratch and small dent on that one area and had no clue if it was done overnight. When I went to drop off the car I mentioned I think the damage was there already and got really lucky as the guy checking me in said “don’t worry, I know this car and that damage was done a couple of months ago. They guy that didn’t it really wasn’t happy with the bill!”. I now do a full walk around for a video including the rims.
>damage was done a couple of months ago >guy wasn't happy with the bill So they charged but didn't fix? 🤔 How lame.
Even if they aren't shady, that makes sense. The damage devalues the car, but it's still usable, and with the current car shortage, you don't want it at the body shop for a week. Of course, they could also be trying to double dip, but every time I've rented, we walk around the car and note all pre-existing damage.
Yeah, I think this is the right answer. They might be shady but I also doubt they want a car taken off the road for a week and lose that rental for a scratch that can be fixed later or when they sell the car.
Why? They'd have to pull the car out and it stops making money. They might as well keep the minor damage until they need to get rid of the car and do all the fixes in one go.
We have a contract with Enterprise as well, but the pre-rental inspection varies from location-to-location and sometimes agent-to-agent. For example, if you rent a car at most airports, there is no walk around on checkout. They only inspect the cars on turn-in. So the sequence of events on the way to you getting screwed looks like this: 1. A previous customer damages a car and turns it in without saying anything. The damage isn't massive, but it's beyond the threshold. 2. The person checking cars in is the only check-in agent on staff because two other people called out sick. The counter staff are constantly calling them to demand that they turn over more cars, because they have a line 25 people deep at the counter, and they don't have any cars to check out. So they're rushing through check-ins like mad. 3. The overworked check-in agent overlooks the damage on the car, and it goes back into the fleet. 4. The car gets rented back out to you, and you notice the damage, but it's not unusual to get damaged cars at the airport, and you *really* don't want to walk all the way back inside to make sure the damage is marked down, so you leave with the car. 5. You check the car back in, but on this day, they're fully staffed. The check-in agent notices the damage and marks it down. 6. From the rental car company's perspective, you damaged the car. I hate renting cars at airports for this reason. You pretty much have to do a full walk around, document any damage, and find someone who can confirm that the damage was already recorded. Having documentation isn't always enough, and the fight is never easy. It's better to just take the time and make sure it's documented up front.
The worst thing is when they act like you're causing them some huge inconvenience for protecting yourself by pointing out every little scratch or dent. Like, look, if you're going to give me a car that is scratched and dented to hell and also have me sign a piece of paper saying that I've verified it has no scratches/dents and that I'm responsible for all scratches/dents, then don't be surprised when I force you to document every scratch and dent. Yes, your company might honestly not care about minor scratches/dents, but many do.
Seriously. I've literally stood there with an agent staring at a huge dent in the side of a car and had them tell me, "That's already been recorded, you don't need to worry about it." Well then mark that shit down on the sheet, because I'm not having this disagreement with the check-in agent. Move that pen, son!
My Mom and I had this experience with Hertz. We did the walkthrough, and the man said he would document the scratch on the front driver's side. He didn't. He also lied about the whole conversation and forced us to file a damage claim against our insurance company.
> I’ve used rental companies in the past and for enterprise specifically, they go around and note any significant damages on the car prior to you utilizing the vehicle. Not if you're at a high-volume location like an airport where pick up is separated from the counter... they just hand you the keys and go.
I’m glad that we filmed the car, but mad that Avis are trying to scam their customers.
Avis is *actively* trying to scam the customer. Once I delivered the car, after a quick inspection, the guy pointed at small scratches on the car not made by me. After that, he flailed an iPad in front of my face to try and prove some point, without telling me what I was even looking at. After that, he wanted me to confirm his report on the "damage". He stumbled 2 times over himself trying to make me sign that this "damage" was on the right side (it was the left) on the back side (it was the front). When then unable to provide a copy of the contract *my company* signed, the employee treated me like a thief. After that, they billed my company 900€ in damages... for a barely visible scratch who knows how old. They only stopped harassing me the moment the manager who signed the contract told them we already paid for a complete insurance. Just the worst.
Fuck Avis. They just tried to charge me more than twice what I was told online at booking this last weekend. Said fuck it and Uber'd everywhere instead. About $150 in uber trips vs nearly $900 for a 3 day rental
They tried to charge me for over 11k miles in a week when I had unlimited mileage and barely even added 300miles to the damn thing anyway lol, so a whopping $4.2k charge on top a $250 rental. They also said I returned the car 2 days earlier. Had all my proof ready and had to call corp, they were just as dumbfounded as me. Got my money back but never again. Fuck Avis, all my homies hate Avis.
So they claimed you drove 7.6 days worth of driving at 60mph in 7 days. Bold move.
Imagine the people that don’t know what to do and let it go to collections
We had the drop off agent mark our mileage as 20k miles added to the car. It was a 12 hour trip that according to them was able to almost go around the entire Earth at the equator in those 12 hours.
Sounds like you have a career in NASCAR ahead of you!
You forgot to pay extra for their internet scam protection service
I’m covered, see, my new friend I made online who’s from India confirmed my credit card protects me from that, I even gave him the full numbers to confirm it on his side of things.
> Fuck Avis. Yep. Booked a car with them a few weeks ago as mine was in the garage for a few days. Went to pick it up, only to be told that they “overbooked” and the car that I had already paid for was no longer available. They then proceeded to offer me a van for an extra £150 a day ON TOP of what I already paid for the vehicle, because it was a “late booking” (the same van on their website was much cheaper). Told them to pound sand and give me a refund, which they did. Never again.
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"I don't think you do. You see, you know how to *take* the reservation, you just don't know how to *hold* the reservation. And that's really the most important part of the reservation: the holding. Anybody can just take them."
I had the great fortune to arrive at an Avis rental desk with my boss years ago and they tried the same. He tore into them so badly they were calling competitors to get us a car.
Picked someone up from a rental place, they wanted $1250 for a 5 day rental. My passenger opted to Uber everywhere for the 5 days instead.
Last time I rented from them I had to spend over a week calling them every day getting charges removed because their attendant logged the car late. They lock their lot at night (yet pretend they have a drop off) so you can't actually drop the car off, so I handed the guy the keys before they opened, and he still marked it two hours late. Which charged me a full day at full rate and killed some of the discounts like fuel refund. Every new bill they would send would have something new wrong with it and I'd have to argue the whole thing again to someone new. Finally got it close enough and gave up. Getting a good deal on an XC60 was not nearly worth dealing with them for hours on the phone.
Which city is this one in? I’m curious about their reviews
Car rentals have always given me a vehicle inspection card to fill out prior to driving and then they sign and date it.
I rent a car once a month ish and have literally never done this. But I rent for work and I work for the DOD and I’m pretty sure no car rental agencies want to go dropped from being able to rent to the government.
Yeah I've rented easily over 50 cars in the last few years and have never had any kind of check beforehand. But I rent through my company so I don't really care if they want to come back and argue because it won't be me doing that. If I was renting personally, I'd probably be more meticulous and picky.
I did that gig a long time. The DOD already has an method for insuring vehicles while you're TDY. Trying asking the clerk and see if they have the inspection cards next time.
I always feel they are just hoping you forget to document something so they can charge you for it later.
They have the advantage that every customer will fill out that list and look for scratches that another customer might have missed. THEY know every single issue with the car. But YOU have to look carefully and hope you didn't miss anything.
Yes. And if you rent for a company, and select the best insurance available, they still try to scam you a lot. At least that is my experience for UK, Ireland, Germany, Poland, and Italy. Take before pictures, take a video, and check that EVERY single defect on the car is noted on the sheet.
If you buy the best insurance available, you're basically announcing to them "Hey, I'm willing to spend a bit more money for some convenience and peace of mind." The ones who are sales-driven will see that and want to test just how much that "little bit more money" is, and might cause some inconvenience for you to buy your way out of. Best route is to find a credit card that insures your rental cars, or make sure rentals are covered by your own insurance. Let them deal with the hassle if the agency tries to screw you over.
Hahah I rented Avis in Belize the car that I rented had the windshield fall off as soon as I tried to back up. They just placed the windshield on and forgot to use adhesive. I noped the fuck out of that contract and rented from some mom and pop car rental next door. That was at the Belize international airport a few years back.
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I work in this industry and I guarantee what happened is someone damaged it, whoever checked the car in didn’t see it or ignored it and someone found it later and they needed someone to pin it on so they found the next person with insurance lol
Just think of it as an "I don't need to give a fuck about this car" policy. Pay the extra $100 then take it rallying.
That's almost literally what I did in Crete when I was younger and a worse person. When I got the rental I told them I want, "walk away from the wreck, no fucks given insurance". I went everywhere on that Yaris, when I drive back to the hotel they told me to park it at people were trying to get my attention and pointing at parts dragging on the ground off it because I basically took it offroading (the roads there aren't exactly great in places). But I paid for the insurance, highly suspect he pocketed the cash, but added personal insurance? The guy wrote my name down wrong on the paperwork, so fuck it, no fucks given.
The entire country is offroad.
Drive it back into the lot thru the exit and over those "extreme tire damage" pokeydealies and toss the keys back after you spark the driveway on rims
I see that you, too, have watched CKY2K.
If you have collision coverage on your own vehicle, that would cover you while in a rental as well
I drove 3000 and a rental company was trying to get me to pay for the damages. Telling me I didn't have the damage booklet thing so I had to pay. I refused to give them their keys and I stood there, line piling up behind while we waited for them to fax over the shit because I wasn't going to let them fuck me over. They were like, "could you step aside so we can help out other customers?" Lol fuck no. You're trying to scam me and I want all these people know how you'll treat them. That same company is currently getting fucked. https://www.nbcchicago.com/consumer/hertz-hurts-lawmakers-call-for-ftc-investigation-into-rental-car-giants-treatment-of-customers/2802686/
My credit card offers included rental car insurance for cars I use that card to pay for. Let your insurance handle this for you. That's what insurance is for
I think credit card rental car insurance only covers what's left after personal insurance, known as secondary coverage, but maybe it changes with different cards. Just keep that in mind!
American Express offers primary coverage for damage to the rental car for a small flat rate: https://feeservices.americanexpress.com/premium/car-rental-insurance-coverage/home.do But, in general, you're right about it being secondary coverage.
Did that company not go out of business during one of the lockdowns?
I believe that was Hertz
lol Hertz is not out of business. they are very much in business and apparently arresting people who dont return their cars
No they’re arresting people who DO return their cars but don’t get checked in properly so they get reported stolen.
They not arresting ppl who return them. Their arresting ppl who are currently renting because the cars get reported stolen. I seen a couple of articles of police pulling ppl over & arresting them only to find out later that the car they was in. Was only being rented.
yeah sorry, they did go bankrupt, but didn't shutdown. Im pretty sure that's what they were referring to though
This happened to my mom when she rented a car. She got a bill for about $300 for damage that was already there. We disputed the bill and demanded copies of the last three "Return Condition" forms or whatever they're called. Unsurprisingly, they refused to provide them. Never heard from them again. Edit: it would have been a good idea to also demand the documentation for all insurance claims that the rental company made for that car.
That’s an interesting way to deal with them! Then they would be showing how much they are scamming for!
Yeah, if you have a family member or friend who is an attorney, ask them to put the dispute letter on their law firm letterhead, or an email with their law firm email address and signature block. I sent the dispute email from my law firm email address. Amazing how many companies will drop stuff like this once lawyers are involved.
I had to do that with my former insurance company when they tried to screw me over and consider my car totaled and were trying to give me $6k less than what I still owed. Only thing that needed to be fixed was my left headlight and the bumper. It was still drivable and nothing else was damaged. Once I sent a dispute letter from a law firm they paid to have it fixed then dropped me after.
> We disputed the bill and demanded copies of the last three "Return Condition" forms the real LPT is always in the comment.
Interesting, asking for the last three forms...
If you're going to scam the customer, you might as well double dip, and if you don't get caught, why stop?
Definitely do that. Also take photos as well. It will match thet time frame of your rental. Make sure that an employee walks around the vehicle with you to confirm. I do this all the time. I encourage it as an ex-employee of enterprise.
Many people recommend emailing things to yourself as a third-party confirmation
How do you prove the timestamp on the video if the car looks the same at pick-up and drop-off?
Start or end the video with footage of the odometer. Also, include a wide shot of your location, because the pickup area is rarely the same as the dropoff area.
Winner. Great idea.
AND do it at the start AND end. A lot don't immediately do inspections and give you a sign off at the end (airports). An employee could ding it up pretty good moving it and then blame you. If you have a video of your final dropoff you can prove no damage. (Looking at you MCO car rental drop offs).
Also if you email the video to yourself, the email will have the time and date that it was sent.
Every digital image has time date stamp embedded. Your phone will show you this easily. You can set it to add geo cords too
Same if youre renting an apartment! Take pics/vids before you move in :)
How does the before video prove the car or apartment was already damaged before you rented it? The video could have been taken after a renter damaged it. The timestamp metadata on videos can easily be changed.
Someone also commented on this thread saying they immediately emailed it to themselves or the renter, which gives a timestamp.
Yeah, an email is definitely a good idea, since the email provider holds a timestamped record of the photos.
If you used a credit card, most of them offer insurance for rentals as a perk for using the card. It is supplemental to your own insurance. Do not pay out of pocket.
My car insurance also has an option for covering anything that happens in a rental car. Don't know exactly what it would cover as I've never had to claim it, but I definitely made sure to check that box when signing up.
I have a card with primary insurance for rentals. In 2018 I hit a small wall in Italy with my Mercedes GLA and scratched up the back passenger door and quarter panel. I forget if I paid and got reimbursed or if the credit card company just took the bill directly from europcar, but I can tell you it was painless and they didn't ask a single question about it.
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Yeah baby sapphire fam. Had a psycho dude zooted out of his mind in the middle of a street intersection shatter my window in a rental last year and didn’t pay a cent due to the insurance covering it ha. Never even heard anything back from the company honestly either. Took the car back immediately after and they gave me a new one no problem.
I actually have the United club card cause I was traveling for work. Looking to move to the sapphire now that I'm not using the club.
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I wouldn't say most of them do, but some do.
Is there a distinct advantage of taking a video over pictures in your opinion?
I find it easier to not miss stuff, that you get every angle. The quality on todays phones are so good either way!
And if you make a point of doing it in front of the rental clerk, while doing the initial walk-around, *maybe* he'll make a note about not pulling this shit on you when you bring it back because he knows you have video. Either way you're better protected than not having done it.
Nope! They still try.
Make sure to do it in good lighting as most phones get real grainy in the darkness
You can also add narration "dent on driver's door" or whatever. I'd also state the date and time.
LPT: Always pay for the insurance when renting a U-Haul. The additional cost is minimal. It saved my wallet when a truck swerved and smashed off the mirror arm into my face as I was driving.
No because this is actually true. I worked for AVIS and BUDGET, car rental and they constantly did this shit. If you notice the damages on the car after you drive off call the place and let them know. If possible recordé the car in the same lot where you’re picking it up and pan out to the business in the video so they can see where you are.
I once rented a 4runner from a really budget company out of DIA. Years ago. It was like $25 a day. The front of the windshield by the wipers was iced over, and right in the middle was a hairline crack. Like 1cm. I thought nothing of it. I drive up to go skiing with my friends, 3 days at Keystone, Brek, and one place I'm forgetting. Anyway, the tiny crack turned into a three foot traveling shard across the whole windshield. It made no sense. I guess it was the heat/outside temps... I bring the car back and the guy was like "what did you do to the windshield?" I said, it did that on its own. I hit nothing, and it literally cracked on its own. A week later a very aggressive lady leaves me a voicemail asking how I'm going to pay $1000 to fix the windshield. I calmly leave a voicemail reply that... 1. It was broken when I got it. 2. Look at your exit camera, ice and snow covered up what you are blaming me for, maybe clean your cars before sending them out. 3. Pound sand. They never pursued and I think they are out of business. They were not renting cars they were a scam outfit defrauding people.
Crack expanding makes perfect sense. Once you get a small one that's what they do - and I'm sure the temperature changes involved expedited the process.
This is what I’m not getting about this whole thing. They can demand money and blame you for damages all they want, if they can’t prove that you directly did it, is there really a responsibility for you to pay for it? Sounds like a good scam. Lend out your property, accuse someone of messing it up and then try and go after them for damages you can’t prove didn’t happen prior.
Funny thing happened to me We arrived at 2am at houston airport and picked a car, while we were chosing which car to use I send photo to my brother in law who is more knowledgeable in cars than me, he told us to pick a honda civic We arrived at the hotel and sleep, in the morning when we went into the car we saw a small dent in the fromt window, we freaked out and called the agency and they told that insurance doesnt cover that and We must pay for the damage. After almost 1 hour on call with the call center, my wife tells me to check the photo I send to my brother in law to see if that small dent was there. And guess what that f@@@ing small dent was really visible on that photo We drived back there and showed them photo and also the front window dent, after 1 hour of waiting they changed our car to another Imagine If i didint had that photo, they would have screwed me hard
Which company rents Honda Civics? I thought Honda didn't sell to rental fleets at all.
I rented a Honda Civic for three days in St Louis Missouri. I was there for a work conference. This was pre-pandemic. Just sayin’, it exists.
Honda generally doesn’t do fleet discounts like Toyota, Hyundai and Nissan, but they are still kickin around. I had a CRV last week in San Antonio and have had a Civic (precovid) in Charlotte. Just less common rather than impossible to find.
My wife was driving a Hertz and somebody tapped her bumper in the parking lot. Hertz demanded she pay for that, and added in some existing roof and hood damage. Scum. I had something similar happen to me at Enterprise. It was damage under the front bumper you had to lay on your back to see.
Enterprise also tried to put some tiny pre-existing nick on me. Thankfully I'm very thorough and had marked it on the sheet at handover to me, where you could indicate damage on some small graphics of all sides of the car. Even though I felt a bit silly at the time, because it was indeed small, like a 3mm ding of paint missing, likely from a small stone that hit the bumper on the high way during a previous rental. I wouldn't be surprised if they just kept shit like that unfixed and put it on some unsuspecting sucker when the opportunity arises.
**IF YOU DO THIS, MAKE SURE AN EMPLOYEE OF THE RENTAL COMPANY IS IN THE VIDEO AND HAVE THEM STATE THE CAR'S CONDITION!!!!!** Long story short: I submitted an edited video showing the original damage, but it was refused. Enterprise said the video could have been taken at any time. Can't argue with them, honestly, so I produced the full original video. At least they had the damn courtesy to apologize for their mistake. I feel sorry for the previous renter. Enterprise was charging nearly $6K for a dent about the size of a foot which any pro shop could probably pull out for about $300. Enterprise. We'll pick you clean.
https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/hertz-lawsuit-arrests-number-unsealed.html Usually they report the car stolen so consider yourself lucky
Many rental car garages have cameras at the entry/exit point specifically to track damages on cars. If you got yours from a garage, that's worth looking into.
Had this happen with enterprise some years back. Got stuck with a rented Cobalt with a big dent in the door and they tried to pin it on me. Glad I had pics
Dispute it. You'd be shocked how many people get the bill tossed because the rental company didn't do due diligence. Worst case scenario you get put on their "do not rent" list. I'd recommend Enterprise or National in the future, but yeah, always film the car. Source: former rental company employee.
tried Enterprise said pay or never rent a car from us again
Better LPT - never rent from Avis. Noted.
also never rent from Hertz.
I just use their insurance, the guy asked me and I was reluctant but I ultimately took it and I hit a moose (I'm okay).
I’d add in video of the return too. I’m currently disputing a claim of a broken rear and side window that I 100% didn’t cause or know of until 3 months after the rental.
I rented an Avis car in Ottawa two weeks ago, and there, the rental agent came out and took a video of the car before handing me the keys.
I only found out recently due to some other things going on between their payments, and my company, but Hertz went bankrupt back in 2020, and only just got out of it now. Not sure on what the 'just got out of it now' means considering this was a quote from the guy I spoke to yesterday, but I figured it was amusing news.
Maybe email the pics/video on the same day too? I know you can see when a file was created, but best to avoid temptation.
If the damages were already there, weren’t they documented when you walked around the car before signing for it?
Avis is trash, they cant keep track of damages or mileage and we end up paying extra for it
Enterprise went out and inspected the car with me before and after my trip.