Cautionary tale for Car Hire in USA
Cautionary tale for Car Hire in USA
Author
Discussion

Mattlan

Original Poster:

394 posts

235 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
Picture the scene, 18 travelling hours into the day, landed at Sanford (Orlando) after an ( admittedly good) 10 hour flight, bags collected, immigration cleared, family walk out into 90f heat and 40% humidity to be passed around for 15 minutes until we find the rep, who then directs us 300 metres to the Care Hire shed to pick up our "free" hire car ( Company = famous/ infamous american battleground as in "The xxxxx" ). Big sign on door advising that luggage cannot be brought into the air conditioned comfort of their office so end up leaving the wife and kid outside in the baking heat whilst I join the other 30 poor sods waiting to sign their souls away.

Finally get to the front to be allocated to a young man who whilst having a charming smile speaks almost unitelligeable english.

Cautionary tales abound of the need for "CDW" insurance or collision damage waiver requirement for driving the US, so I request that this is added to my "free" car cost (along with the other manatory costs of Florida surcharge, concession recoup fee, customer facility charge, tire (sic) / battery fee and vehicle licence fee) not forgetting sales tax at 7% on the total. And the Fuel service option $36 dollars for a full tank , bring it back empty ( or as near as you dare!!)

No problem ( I think he said) I'll sort that for you straight away, but surely you want to upgrade to a better car, only $15 dollars extra? Is that for a week I ask, yes Sir, mmmmh I think a catch here, surely you mean $15 dollars a day. Yes Sir he says flashing his by now less dazzling smile. 15 minutes later, with my wife and son wilting away behind me in the heat he returns with a document for me to sign here, here, here, here, and here.

One moment I said, attempting to make sense of the acronymed description of the services I had requested and their resultant cost of $613.25 US dollars!! Is this what I asked for? Oh yes Sir, I've included everything. What's "Perspro" at $70 dollars I ask? What you asked for Sir. So it's CDW then? It's what you asked for Sir! You get the rest! After another painful 10 minutes I gather that this is insurance for things I'm already insured for under my holiday travel insurance so it's finally removed and I am left with a docket indicating that I owe $513.12.

By this stage I'm knackered, the wife and son have dissolved into pools of misery outside and I am ready to throw in the towel. Fine, just give me the keys I say having signed here, here, here, here and here. He inserts the docket into a folded A4 Rental Agreement Jacket and point us in the direction of our "compact" chariot, pick any one out there sir. There is only one left, a bright blue hyundai Accent 4 door auto. ( Actually perfectly okay for pootling about out there but with manual windows and no central locking which was a pain in the *ss)

We have a great holiday, Harry Potter has opened early at Universal and made my son's day, week, year! and in the meantime I have read the Rental Agreement Jacket three times over. This as it happens fold's out into 4 A4 pages of the most minute and unitelligable legalise I have ever had the misfortune to have to read.

On the day of leaving I suggested to the wife that we would leave half an hour early and having dropped them both in the air conditioned terminal I returned the car to the hire firm. Waiting for me was a lady with little english and even less charm ( although to be fair if I had to stand out in the heat all day scanning cars with a bar code reader on their return I would be less than amused!) who took my docket from me and gave me a print off from her reader. Thus armed I took myself off to face up to the bod's in the office. I walked in to find that there was no one behind the desks at all, but I could see someone squatting behind a computer screen in a back office. After 5 minutes of waiting, when it was clear that I was not going to leave, they heaved their not inconsiderable bulk out of their seat and meandered out into the main office with a clear reluctance. I explained that I believed having read their Rental Terms document I had been shafted for want of a better word for items that I had not requested. O gee Sir, do you think so, let me look at it for you. 15 minutes of heavy keyboard action later and no argument he returns with an amended bill for $300 ( for a "free" car remember) So, a saving overall of $300 dollars or £200 ! Result!!

So a cautionary tale for any of you planning to hire cars in the good old USA, check your bill thoroughly and question everything ( preferably with someone who can speak english!)

Apologies for length, feel much better for getting it off my chest though!!

LuS1fer

43,517 posts

275 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
Surely easier to just rent a car through someone like www.carhire3000.com. Get your docket, turn up, pick up your Dodge Charger and return it at the end. Less than $300 all in IIRC including CDW. There is no such thing as a free ride.
I know a lot of folk who book the fly-drive holidays who would never dream of taking the car at the other end.

J4CKO

46,855 posts

230 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
I just get the company to pay, Mustang first time, Camaro last time, going all out for a Vette next time !

Kentish

15,169 posts

264 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
We hired a car from Europcar in Turkey last week.

They were brilliant, pointed out where our travel insurance covered us so did not need to buy any extra cover, he delivered it right on time, showed me over the car controls, collected it at the exact time he said he would a few days later and best of all it was a brand new Toyota Auris with 1000k on the clock and a full tank of petrol.

In contrast, avis have given very poor service several times and provided some really badly maintained cars.
I was once told in Tunisia that a Saxo was new, just 6 months old and had not faults or dents, before he asked me to sign, here, here, here, here & here and then said he had to rush and pointed out that the car was parked around the rear as he sped off in another car.

Hilarious!

It was obviously older than he said and on closer inspection, proved to in fact be over 4 YEARS old, covered in dents and many things not working!

daz4m

2,915 posts

225 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
I have some experience on what the OP has just been through and after a long flight it's the last thing you are equipped to deal with.

Best advice is to book online before you go and add all the additional items you want at the time of booking. You can prepay with the likes of Dollar and Hertz from their UK based websites which is a good idea as it covers all the insurances etc.

You may still find they will try to add a few on when your tired though. The fuel thing is a bit of a rip off in my experience the other one is towing insurance so check the small print carefully.

I had a good experience with Budget who could at least communicate but a poor experience with Dollar who were out to rip me off from the outset. However, on both these occasions I have had to endure waiting in a queue longer than I would have liked.

Stig

11,823 posts

314 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
LuS1fer said:
Surely easier to just rent a car through someone like www.carhire3000.com. Get your docket, turn up, pick up your Dodge Charger and return it at the end. Less than $300 all in IIRC including CDW. There is no such thing as a free ride.
I know a lot of folk who book the fly-drive holidays who would never dream of taking the car at the other end.
Spot on. It cost me as much for 2 weeks in a Camaro with carhire3000 as it did for a weekend's rental in Houston where I just turned up at the desk.

Raffles

1,931 posts

260 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
I've always had a good experience with the car hire places in the US. Last time I hired a Silverado and time before that an F150 (both brilliant as I drive an MX-5 at home!). It's so cheap, I paid about $300 for Thursday - Monday. This was in Houston though where they don't really get tourists so they're not set up for conning people...

robm3

4,930 posts

257 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
I rent cars weekly all over the world with only Dublin Airport fuel scam (return the car full and they still charge you between €5-€10, its a tip for the service lads you see) and one SIXT issue impacting me.

The SIXT issue they charged my credit card €280 for windscreen damage, my response as per below got the matter resolved:



We do not accept any liability for damage to vehicle W -58764W listed in your reference number 0882023964, hire contract 882634672

This is due to the following reasons:
1. The car was checked back into SIXT premises on December 11th 2009 with no issues. Inspection was carried out at this time by SIXT employee and agreement was made that car was in good condition and fully fuelled. It should be noted that your employee did a full ‘walk around’ inspection.

2. You have sent through photos of the damage at 11am on January 2010. These photos were taken 3 hours prior to this time, this is clear to see as each photo has a date stamp. We believe any damage has occurred in the 33 days you’ve had the vehicle after we returned it in good condition and signed off as such by your SIXT employee.

(my company name) uses SIXT extensively throughout the world due to your competitive rates and good service; this is the first incorrect issue we’ve had with SIXT and now hope your error is resolved to allow our companies to continue the successful trading we’ve both enjoyed.




Muzzer

3,814 posts

251 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
I flew to Sanford and hired from the same company as the OP.

They were on site and I just said no to all the extras and took what I ordered. Ignore all the crap about extra insurance and stuff.

I chose a Chevy Cobalt Coupe with chrome wheels which was actually quite nice, although covered in scratches.

It was a relatively painless process and when I returned it they barely looked around the car.

In contrast, Hertz were off-site, allocated me a rancid Nissan and charged more. They were a bit more professional but the car and price were less satisfactory.

Motorrad

6,811 posts

217 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
You got shafted. It's usually better for UK residents to use someone like holiday autos that includes the insurance/taxes and offers their own CDW product. Depending on your location you can often find that asking for an upgrade will produce one, particularly if you back up the request with a $20 bill handed over with your documents as you ask the question.

As an aside I rented a Jeep Commander from Denver using National's 'Emerald Club' for $160 a week- was covered by my C/C for all insurances and NEVER take the pre pay fuel option as you're paying tax on it as well.

Beefmeister

16,482 posts

260 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
Kentish said:
it was a brand new Toyota Auris with 1000k on the clock
A million miles? Wow, these Japs do a lot of PDI testing don't they?

wink

Key

146 posts

199 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
I've hired cars in America on a number of occasions and I've found it best to avoid airport branches if at all possible.

Sounds like you didn't have much choice but the people there are like robots. You get better service, more chance of an upgrade and a few other benefits from going to a rental location outwith airports.

Well done for getting the price down though, alot of folk would have paid.

5potTurbo

13,681 posts

198 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
Car hire firms, particularly in the U.S., do tend to "hide" a lot fo the real cost of renting a car (CDW, fuel at end of rental, one way rental charges, etc.)

I've been very fortunate that my brother in the U.S. (rents a lot of cars for customers from his 'autobody and paint business') has a good deal with Enterprise. I'm getting a GMC Yukon in 3weeks time for $40/day incl. CDW, no 1 way rental fee, unlimited mileage, etc... I expect it to handle badly, being a mahoosive machine, but there aren't many "challenging" roads in the mid-West U.S.! laugh

madala

5,063 posts

228 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
Mattlan said:
Picture the scene, 18 travelling hours into the day, landed at Sanford (Orlando) after an ( admittedly good) 10 hour flight, bags collected, immigration cleared, family walk out into 90f heat and 40% humidity to be passed around for 15 minutes until we find the rep, who then directs us 300 metres to the Care Hire shed to pick up our "free" hire car ( Company = famous/ infamous american battleground as in "The xxxxx" ). Big sign on door advising that luggage cannot be brought into the air conditioned comfort of their office so end up leaving the wife and kid outside in the baking heat whilst I join the other 30 poor sods waiting to sign their souls away.

Finally get to the front to be allocated to a young man who whilst having a charming smile speaks almost unitelligeable english.

Cautionary tales abound of the need for "CDW" insurance or collision damage waiver requirement for driving the US, so I request that this is added to my "free" car cost (along with the other manatory costs of Florida surcharge, concession recoup fee, customer facility charge, tire (sic) / battery fee and vehicle licence fee) not forgetting sales tax at 7% on the total. And the Fuel service option $36 dollars for a full tank , bring it back empty ( or as near as you dare!!)

No problem ( I think he said) I'll sort that for you straight away, but surely you want to upgrade to a better car, only $15 dollars extra? Is that for a week I ask, yes Sir, mmmmh I think a catch here, surely you mean $15 dollars a day. Yes Sir he says flashing his by now less dazzling smile. 15 minutes later, with my wife and son wilting away behind me in the heat he returns with a document for me to sign here, here, here, here, and here.

One moment I said, attempting to make sense of the acronymed description of the services I had requested and their resultant cost of $613.25 US dollars!! Is this what I asked for? Oh yes Sir, I've included everything. What's "Perspro" at $70 dollars I ask? What you asked for Sir. So it's CDW then? It's what you asked for Sir! You get the rest! After another painful 10 minutes I gather that this is insurance for things I'm already insured for under my holiday travel insurance so it's finally removed and I am left with a docket indicating that I owe $513.12.

By this stage I'm knackered, the wife and son have dissolved into pools of misery outside and I am ready to throw in the towel. Fine, just give me the keys I say having signed here, here, here, here and here. He inserts the docket into a folded A4 Rental Agreement Jacket and point us in the direction of our "compact" chariot, pick any one out there sir. There is only one left, a bright blue hyundai Accent 4 door auto. ( Actually perfectly okay for pootling about out there but with manual windows and no central locking which was a pain in the *ss)

We have a great holiday, Harry Potter has opened early at Universal and made my son's day, week, year! and in the meantime I have read the Rental Agreement Jacket three times over. This as it happens fold's out into 4 A4 pages of the most minute and unitelligable legalise I have ever had the misfortune to have to read.

On the day of leaving I suggested to the wife that we would leave half an hour early and having dropped them both in the air conditioned terminal I returned the car to the hire firm. Waiting for me was a lady with little english and even less charm ( although to be fair if I had to stand out in the heat all day scanning cars with a bar code reader on their return I would be less than amused!) who took my docket from me and gave me a print off from her reader. Thus armed I took myself off to face up to the bod's in the office. I walked in to find that there was no one behind the desks at all, but I could see someone squatting behind a computer screen in a back office. After 5 minutes of waiting, when it was clear that I was not going to leave, they heaved their not inconsiderable bulk out of their seat and meandered out into the main office with a clear reluctance. I explained that I believed having read their Rental Terms document I had been shafted for want of a better word for items that I had not requested. O gee Sir, do you think so, let me look at it for you. 15 minutes of heavy keyboard action later and no argument he returns with an amended bill for $300 ( for a "free" car remember) So, a saving overall of $300 dollars or £200 ! Result!!

So a cautionary tale for any of you planning to hire cars in the good old USA, check your bill thoroughly and question everything ( preferably with someone who can speak english!)

Apologies for length, feel much better for getting it off my chest though!!
....I have never had a problem......

daveake

687 posts

256 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
Only trouble I've ever had was a Budget rental where I had a change of plans and ended up dropping the car off at a different airport a couple of states away. I called them to say so, and was told "n problem". When I returned the car it was very early in the morning and there was nobody at the desk so I dropped the keys into their key box. A couple of weeks later I had a "Where's our car gone?" letter! I faxed back with details of when and where I left the car and heard nothing more of it.

mattman

3,192 posts

252 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
I always use usrentacar.co.uk - cheaper to hire a car for 2 weeks than it is to take the 2nd week of car hire from the holiday operator (usually only come with 7 days and you have to top up the rest)

Saying that, my dad recently got stitched for $95 dollars roadside assistance which he tool just to shut them up and get the car.
Apparently there is a big push for roadside assistance at the moment - be warned

daz4m

2,915 posts

225 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
mattman said:
I always use usrentacar.co.uk - cheaper to hire a car for 2 weeks than it is to take the 2nd week of car hire from the holiday operator (usually only come with 7 days and you have to top up the rest)

Saying that, my dad recently got stitched for $95 dollars roadside assistance which he tool just to shut them up and get the car.
Apparently there is a big push for roadside assistance at the moment - be warned
Yeah thats what they tried with me, I asked them to take it off my bill after returning and they did.

davidjpowell

18,691 posts

214 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
Muzzer said:
I flew to Sanford and hired from the same company as the OP.

They were on site and I just said no to all the extras and took what I ordered. Ignore all the crap about extra insurance and stuff.

I chose a Chevy Cobalt Coupe with chrome wheels which was actually quite nice, although covered in scratches.

It was a relatively painless process and when I returned it they barely looked around the car.

In contrast, Hertz were off-site, allocated me a rancid Nissan and charged more. They were a bit more professional but the car and price were less satisfactory.
We flew to Sanford last year.

Very quickly worked out that upgrading from the free stbox with the insurance was not worth it. Plus heard bad things about arriving with a plane full of people wanting their car at the same time.

Booked direct with Hertz (who are, or at least were on site at Sanford), for less than the 'Free' car after the upgrades with no queue.

But then I never really believe in 'Free'.

Kentish

15,169 posts

264 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
Beefmeister said:
Kentish said:
it was a brand new Toyota Auris with 1000k on the clock
A million miles? Wow, these Japs do a lot of PDI testing don't they?

wink
k for km's wink

Not even 1000 miles smile

Beefmeister

16,482 posts

260 months

Thursday 24th June 2010
quotequote all
I have a Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Edge as a hire car this week for a trip over to Brugge.

This one had 750 miles on it, and by God it's as rough as a badger's ringpeice.

Those 750 miles have obviously been driven on the limiter, as its a dog and no mistake. No power, juddery, splutters awful.