# Car rental sort of scam



## Patri (Jun 13, 2012)

We rented two cars in Milwaukee last week. Good prices from Enterprise, booked online. I had my receipts with me. The desk in the terminal took our info and sent us to the lot, where the gal gave us the keys and contract to sign.  Cautious that I ever am, I scanned to find the total price. Each car was $14 more than contracted. The sweet young girl said, "Oh, that's for XXX fees we tacked on. (Roadside assistance etc.) If you waive them, you get your original price."
Of course we signed off on all the fees. I was just surprised they pulled this. Has never happened before. The fees should have been discussed at the front desk, or mentioned before they stuck the papers in our face to sign.


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## x3 skier (Jun 13, 2012)

I guess they are learning from Spirit Airlines. 

Cheers


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## dougp26364 (Jun 13, 2012)

Patri said:


> We rented two cars in Milwaukee last week. Good prices from Enterprise, booked online. I had my receipts with me. The desk in the terminal took our info and sent us to the lot, where the gal gave us the keys and contract to sign.  Cautious that I ever am, I scanned to find the total price. Each car was $14 more than contracted. The sweet young girl said, "Oh, that's for XXX fees we tacked on. (Roadside assistance etc.) If you waive them, you get your original price."
> Of course we signed off on all the fees. I was just surprised they pulled this. Has never happened before. The fees should have been discussed at the front desk, or mentioned before they stuck the papers in our face to sign.



I had this happen with Thrifty in SLC. In my case, I didn't notice it until after we returned the car. Since we're Blue Chip members and have a standing agreement which is suppose to allow us to sign and drive, I complained and eventually received a refund of the unwanted charges. 

I should have known better but, things had been going very smoothly with Thrifty for several years. Before that, I had learned that if I cancel and re-reserve, I needed to look at the final price. Thrifty was keeping all the reservations, including the canceled reservations, and in one case attempted to charge us the highest price rather than the lowest price. Fortunately I caught that one before we left the lot.


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## Rent_Share (Jun 13, 2012)

My worst ever was a drop charge from National on a One way rental


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## silverfox82 (Jun 14, 2012)

While renting from Thrifty in Wichita recently I was advised that if I brought it back 1 minute late I would be charged for an hour, a whopping 5 bucks. I did bring it back 10 minutes early but the agent was on a bathroom break so the helper said to just write the miles and time down and I would be e mailed the final bill. As I expected I was billed for the extra 5 dollars but disputed it and was credited. It certainly wasn't about the money, just the whole silliness factor of 1 minute late, really.


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## Icc5 (Jun 15, 2012)

*Budget*

We recently were at Budget and they wanted to charge aprox. $90 more for our two week rental.  When we caught it before signing and the counter person had to talk to their mgr. who looked it up and said because the time difference of when we were renting it, it defaulted to this higher rate.  In my mind it is total BS and they would have taken advantage of us if we didn't catch it.
Bart


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## Carolinian (Jun 15, 2012)

The worst con I ever had from a car rental company was Gold Car Rentals in the Canary Islands.  Google them and it will amaze you.

The contract not only added an inappropriate fee, but it also arbitrarily converted currency on the transaction at an awful rate, and had a retrun empty policy where they precharged for the tank of fuel at an exhorbitant price.  When I complained they said that all of that was ''in the computer'' and they could not change it.  All I could do was cancell, pay walk up prices elsewhere, and lose the deposit that the consolidator charged.  Ultimately, I got the consolidator to get them to refund the extra fee, and my bank reveresed the currency conversion part, but I got stuck with that very expensive tank of fuel.  

Goldcar operates all over Spain, and should be avoided like the plague, even if their internet price looks tempting.


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## sfwilshire (Jul 2, 2012)

Rent_Share said:


> My worst ever was a drop charge from National on a One way rental



Drop charges are typical most places. Florida is the only place I've found that doesn't have them.

I've always liked National because they always charge exactly what I expect. Unfortunately, they never seem to have the lowest rates any more.

I wanted to add another day to an October reservation, think it was with Thrifty, and they tried to raise the rate on the whole reservation making it go up by more than $100. I told the guy to leave the reservation alone as it was and I'd look for another company and maybe cancel. He put me on hold for a while, came back and said he could add the day and keep the rate.

Sheila


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## rrsafety (Jul 2, 2012)

Patri said:


> Of course we signed off on all the fees.



You approved them or rejected them?


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## hajjah (Jul 6, 2012)

We had a recent problem after renting in Dubai last April.  I rented the car from Alamo/National online at a great rate.  Once we arrived in Dubai, there was an affiliate agency, which I had no problem during our stay.  It wasn't until June that I noticed that the car rental agency charged me twice for the same rental.  Since I used my American Express, I quickly contacted them to dispute the additional charge.  I was charged in May by National and then again in June by their affiliate company.

Sometimes we may not throughly check our monthly statements, but this was a good lesson.  Check your statements monthly to make sure that you have not been charged twice.

Btw, the same thing happened when I checked a second bag with Delta from Dubai.  I was charged twice, $60.00 for one baggage check.  I straightened this out as soon as I checked my statement online.  It was already a shame that I was charged $60.00 for a second bag, international flight of 7,500 miles.  That was ridiculous.  I've noticed that most airlines like United, do not charge for a second bag on international flights.  We're in Barbados now and flew here via American Airlines with no charge for the first bag.  We also have a car rental here, but the steering wheel is on the right and driving is on the left.  This has been so different, but i've been taking my time.  Here, you are only given a half tank of gas and must return empty.  We're leaving tomorrow and the tank still has a quarter gas, more than enough to get us back to the airport.  Sorry I got off the topic.

Happy and safe travels to all.


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## Patri (Jul 7, 2012)

rrsafety said:


> You approved them or rejected them?



Rejected. Paid original price (verified when credit card statement came).


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