Ask for documentation. A car rental company needs to substantiate any damage to the vehicle. That in

An Alamo representative at Orlando International Airport informed him that "none of that mattered" when he brought the minivan back and that his vehicle, which had a small scratch on the rear bumper, would be processed by the company's claims walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel department.
"Three weeks later a series of claim letters started arriving in the mail, demanding payment of over $750," says Carpenter, who works for a federal agency in Oklahoma City. "When I questioned the damage amount, based on the amount of damage that was noted, I was told that the entire rear bumper had to be replaced. And there was 'loss of use' associated with that. I asked for documentation of the repair, but was told that was 'company property'."
Carpenter's story is hardly unique. walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel Try as hard as motorists might, more of them are getting dinged by the dreaded car rental damage scheme. Although there are no reliable statistics on the number of these claims, walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel a recent reader poll found that just over half of respondents believe car rental companies are pursuing every claim, no matter how small, with greater walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel fervor. An almost equal number say the claim game is being played the same as it always has been.
Alamo eventually dropped its claim, walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel but only after Carpenter forwarded his photos to the company, along with an email promising he would file a complaint with the insurance commissioners in Florida and Oklahoma alleging insurance fraud. Alamo also apologized for the incident and sent him a free coupon for a weekend rental after he posted his story on my site.
I think it's important to acknowledge the car rental industry's side of this issue. When a car, truck or minivan is damaged, the company has every right to ask the customer walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel or its insurance walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel company to pay for the damages. If you didn't buy the optional insurance from the rental company, and you harmed the vehicle, you need to make things right.
But customers argue that many of the damages for which they're being dinged are minor – tiny chips, dents or scratches that, on any other car would be considered normal wear and tear. They're also turned off by what they see as a racket to sell optional (and to the car rental walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel companies, highly lucrative) insurance coverage. What's more, they regard the "no claim left behind" walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel philosophy walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel as nothing more than an effort to profit from inevitable damage that comes with using a car – not unlike a hotel charging its guests for wearing out a carpet or burning out light bulbs.
I can certainly walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel see both sides of this argument. If you damage a rental car, you should certainly pay up. But going after motorists for little scratches and adding hefty – and highly theoretical – "loss of use" surcharges, crosses a line. There are ways to push back, though.
Take video of the vehicle – before and after. Many phones now have the ability to take a high-definition video with the flip of a button. This is the time to use it. (If your phone can't record videos, then at least take picture.) Liz Brown credits the images of her SUV rented in Honolulu for saving her from an expensive damage claim. A rental associate had "forgotten" to record pre-existing damage to a bumper walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel on the paperwork, and her pictures made the claim go away eventually. "The car was already a piece of junk," she says. "The damage claim was a waste of time and energy."
Get the "all clear" when you return walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel the car. Give yourself a few extra minutes walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel when you return your wheels. Ask an associate to inspect the car and ask for a sign-off in writing. "I always wait for the on-site contract closeout," says Steve McEvoy, a consultant based in Little Falls, NJ, who rents dozens of cars a year. With written walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel proof that the vehicle was returned walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel in satisfactory condition, making a claim is far more difficult than if you simply slip the keys in a drop box.
Ask for documentation. walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel A car rental company walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel needs to substantiate any damage to the vehicle. That includes walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel time-stamped photos that show the damage to your car the day you returned it, and repair invoices that note the model, walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel make and license plate. Ro Spinelli, a researcher and occasional car renter, looks for other signs that the car rental company is being honest, such as a pre-repair damage estimate. "It may be eye-opening to see what other appraisals are," she says. I have yet to see an appraisal among the claim documents, unfortunately.
Discard the "loss of use". One real gotcha during this process is "loss of use" since it is almost never based in reality. Rather, it's a theoretical number that assumes the car would have been rented while it was being repaired. And that's not necessarily a valid assumption. walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel In order for such a claim to be on the up-and-up, a car rental walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel company would have to prove the vehicle would have been rented while it was being repaired, which can be exceedingly difficult.
Get the authorities involved. A polite but firm response to the car rental company's claims department, with copies to the insurance commissioner in the state in which you rented the car, sends a clear message: If you don't drop this frivolous claim, I'll appeal my case to a higher authority. That's walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel what Nathan Smalley did when he was asked to pay $870 for damage neither he nor the car rental company associate could see when he returned his Enterprise vehicle in Arizona. "The pictures walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel essentially showed nothing," he says. "Absolutely nothing." In his correspondence with the company, he disputed the claim, threatened to contact walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel a lawyer, and copied the state's insurance commissioner. That seemed to work. Enterprise dropped its claim.
By keeping meticulous records, requesting a car rental company's repair paperwork, focusing on the actual damages and notifying the authorities when necessary, you can ensure you'll only have to pay for what you wrecked.
A word of warning to anyone considering using these strategies to avoid paying for honest damages: If you abuse these tips, you're no better than the car rental companies who are trying to make money from normal wear and tear. For what it's worth, I think most people who rent a car and damage it want to do the right thing.
What you described walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel is thievery. If Alamo is consistently behaving like this, the guys best bet would bring a suit either for insurance fraud or for racketeering under the RICO laws. With so many lawyers looking for work and Alamo s deep pockets, the Carpenters could soon be building their dream house.
I had many bad experiences with Alamo, including one incident not very different from this one. Eventually, I made the obvious decision to simply stop doing business with them. hertz has never tried anything funny with me, and I rent dozens of cars a year.
We rented a car from Budget at LAX and it was so full of scratches walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel and dings that we were there about 40 minutes walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel documenting them all with the video camera, along with a voice over. The sheet showed a few things walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel here and there.
We usually rent with Dollar (no problems) but we photograph every square inch of the vehicle and close-ups of any damage regardless of how small. I then mark it on the sheet Dollar gives you and take it back in. This usually adds about 10 minutes to the transaction but I ve never been hit for repairs.
Why did I decide to take the insurance for a one day rental last week? I do not know but am glad I did. When we inspected the car, it was in a downpour and neither of us saw the windshield walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel chip nor could we have been expected to in that rainstorm. It was certainly worth my $18.
Now along with the ding and dent scam, comes the mechanical repair money maker. I returned a rental vehicle due to a mechancal issue with the vehicle (wouldn t start/towed in by rental company) and received walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel a replacement. 2 weeks later I got a call from the claims department wanting to verify that the rental period had been official Government Travel , which it was. I was then informed that since it was, the Government rental coverage included insurance to cover the cost of the repairs. When I questioned what would have happened if I had been on leisure travel, I was told that the renter walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel is responsible for any mechanical issues, and associated costs to repair them, that occur while renting the vehicle . THAT made my hair stand up! Anyone else come across a similar situation?
Tim@OKC Which rental company was that? Totally unfair, how could a renter possible know what condition the car was in? If there was some sort of deliberate mechanical damage ok, but a simple lack of maintenance or worn out something walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel or other, no way! There was a column about this issue in the last few weeks.
Not the exact same thing, but similar. Years ago my family and I rented a car for a trip since ours was in for repairs. Halfway through the trip black smoke started coming out of the exhaust and we smelled burning so we pulled over and called the company. walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel We ended up exchanging the car, but they tried to charge us when we finally returned a different walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel car than we had taken out. Our response: you re welcome to take us to court, walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel but you gave us a faulty vehicle so we re not paying extra They dropped the charges.
What they TELL you is your responsibility and what is ACTUALLY your responsibility may be two different things. Sure, they ll try to get you to pay for mechanical defects, but I think any resistance from the renter would prompt them to drop the claim. There s just no way I m gonna pay for, say, engine damamge done because the oil level was low. It s not the renter s responsibility walt disney world swan and dolphin hotel to make sure the car is well-maintained and in good mechanical condition. Any attempt to foist this responsibility on the renter would, I think, fall flat in any official jurisdiction.
Chris, thanks to your articles about the high instances of car rental companies trying to pass off damages to clients, I now note every single ding, dent, and scratch when I pick up a car. On a recent trip to Las Vegas, we were given a car from Avis with 22,000 miles on it. It had numerous dings, dents and scratches and I had the agent note every