Maui Rental Auto Damage

[Kauai Kid]

We came out from Buzz's Restaurant and there was white paint on the mirror and a blue streak on the front fender. Someone had misjudged when parking and scraped us.

Good thing I'd been a teenager once. Went to an auto parts store, got some fine polishing compound and a rag and in 30 minutes and some sweat the streaks were gone. Thank goodness for plastic fenders.

Still don't understand how the paint could be two different colors.

"Middle Age is when your age starts to show around your middle" Bob Hope

Sterling

 

[GeorgeJ.]

Good thing you took care of it, or the rental company would probably have charged you a few thousand for the damage!

I rented a car last week in Texas and while driving from Dallas to Houston on I-45, a piece of road debris came flying across my lane & hit the front of the car. It originally looked like a piece of tire; it hit hard enough that I then thought it was a piece of concrete. (Apparently it was a piece of pipe of some sort). When I later stopped & looked at the damage, there was a slightly jagged hole torn through the bumper about 1" x 2". I thought a few times about stopping at a Walmart & picking up a roll of duct tape to cover the hole but fessed up when returning the car since I had charged it to Diner's Club with Primary rental car insurance..

Here's the good part; sleazy EZ-Rent-A-Car sent a repair estimate for, get this, $3500! Besides $500 to replace the bumper. they planned to replace the grill, the headlamps, radiator, AC condensor, etc!! The grill & headlamps had no damage, and since I drove 500 miles after the incident, I doubt if there was any damage to radiator or AC....! The only visable damage was a 1x2" hole in the silver rubber bumper...Guess I should have gotten that duct tape - probably would have taken these geniuses months to find that there was a hole in the bumper after all...

 

[Kauai Kid]

Just read today that one should take pictures of the car before and after renting it. All four sides. Sounds like excellent advice.

The horn on our Ford van wouldn't honk. Local mechanic said horn is ok, relay is ok, got to be the switch under the horn pad and I don't work on those because of the air bag.

Ford dealer estimated the repair at $1200--that's twelve hundred dollars--to make the horn honk! Then the incompetent mechanic screwed up the cruise control so that didn't work either. (It worked when I took it in the garage).

That's why I drive a Honda now. But my 19 year old F150 runs fine. Go figure.

Sterling

 

[MikeM132]

they must have thought your rental insurance claim would not be investigated. Claims like that are insurance fraud and are a felony. People try this stuff all the time, though. Some get caught, many do not.

 

[MikeM132]

We came out from Buzz's Restaurant and there was white paint on the mirror and a blue streak on the front fender. Someone had misjudged when parking and scraped us.

Good thing I'd been a teenager once. Went to an auto parts store, got some fine polishing compound and a rag and in 30 minutes and some sweat the streaks were gone. Thank goodness for plastic fenders.

Still don't understand how the paint could be two different colors.

"Middle Age is when your age starts to show around your middle" Bob Hope

Sterling

My wife hits the side of the garage entrance with great regularity. I am far from a teenager, but have a couple grades of rubbing compound in the garage all the time. If I were really smart I would paint the garage door frames the same color as her car.

 

[Kauai Kid]

Good thing you took care of it, or the rental company would probably have charged you a few thousand for the damage!

I rented a car last week in Texas and while driving from Dallas to Houston on I-45, a piece of road debris came flying across my lane & hit the front of the car. It originally looked like a piece of tire; it hit hard enough that I then thought it was a piece of concrete. (Apparently it was a piece of pipe of some sort). When I later stopped & looked at the damage, there was a slightly jagged hole torn through the bumper about 1" x 2". I thought a few times about stopping at a Walmart & picking up a roll of duct tape to cover the hole but fessed up when returning the car since I had charged it to Diner's Club with Primary rental car insurance..

Here's the good part; sleazy EZ-Rent-A-Car sent a repair estimate for, get this, $3500! Besides $500 to replace the bumper. they planned to replace the grill, the headlamps, radiator, AC condensor, etc!! The grill & headlamps had no damage, and since I drove 500 miles after the incident, I doubt if there was any damage to radiator or AC....! The only visable damage was a 1x2" hole in the silver rubber bumper...Guess I should have gotten that duct tape - probably would have taken these geniuses months to find that there was a hole in the bumper after all...

George: I hope you contacted Diner's Club about the apparent fraud EZ-rent a car is trying to commit.

Sterling

 

[ricoba]

Just read today that one should take pictures of the car before and after renting it. All four sides. Sounds like excellent advice.

That's exactly what I did on our recent trip to Kona.

The service and treatment we got at Alamo gave me the impression, I had better protect myself from any potential claims by them. Thankfully there was no damage or problem. If there had been I had lots of pictures, that I took right at the rental location.

But unless their rates were superior to everyone else, I wouldn't rent from them again. The cars were in bad shape and service personnel just did not seem to care in the least.

 

[Icc5]

I drive a Honda

Just read today that one should take pictures of the car before and after renting it. All four sides. Sounds like excellent advice.

The horn on our Ford van wouldn't honk. Local mechanic said horn is ok, relay is ok, got to be the switch under the horn pad and I don't work on those because of the air bag.

Ford dealer estimated the repair at $1200--that's twelve hundred dollars--to make the horn honk! Then the incompetent mechanic screwed up the cruise control so that didn't work either. (It worked when I took it in the garage).

That's why I drive a Honda now. But my 19 year old F150 runs fine. Go figure.

Sterling

I have a Honda Accord and my horn wouldn't work. They said it would cost something like $500 to fix. They also said there are two horns and did something so one of them works (didn't charge) but is isn't as loud as reg. horn.
Bart

 

[Kauai Kid]

That's exactly what I did on our recent trip to Kona.

The service and treatment we got at Alamo gave me the impression, I had better protect myself from any potential claims by them. Thankfully there was no damage or problem. If there had been I had lots of pictures, that I took right at the rental location.

But unless their rates were superior to everyone else, I wouldn't rent from them again. The cars were in bad shape and service personnel just did not seem to care in the least.

Which Alamo location? Maui has been fine and Kauai sucks.

Sterling

 

[Hoc]

Just read today that one should take pictures of the car before and after renting it. All four sides. Sounds like excellent advice.

A poor-service location will just claim that you took the pictures after the damage occurred.

 

[Hoc]

By the way, I once rented a car from Enterprise (it was actually given to me as a loaner while my car was being repaired), and it had a dent in the driver's side door. There was no sheet on which to note damage when I rented it. However, when I returned it, they tried to make a big noise about the damage, claiming that the car was unrentable and that the door would not even open. Tried to charge me thousands. I just had my auto shop deal with it, and determined never to rent from that Enterprise location again.

 

[ricoba]

Which Alamo location? Maui has been fine and Kauai sucks.

Sterling

It was at the Kona airport.

I took pictures before we even left the lot.