Here’s a trial to watch: In Billings, Mont., the former owner of a Thrifty franchise stands accused of recycling damage claims on cracked windshields.
Prosecutors charge Michael W. Ryan with conspiring with a former employee and an auto glass repair shop owner to overbill customers for windshield repairs on rental cars and then split the profits from the fraudulent scheme. I referenced this case earlier this year, when two other employees of the same franchise pleaded guilty to participating in this scheme.
Two quick points need to be made here. Whether Ryan walks away from this is sent to the slammer, it seems clear that authorities have already established that customers were being fraudulently overcharged at this Thrifty location.
And I’ve heard from lots of other car rental customers about similar schemes at other rental companies — meaning, this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Second, I’m convinced that this isn’t the only case involving fraudulent overcharges and double-billing that federal officials are looking into. I predict we’ll be seeing a lot more about this in the near future.
If you think you’ve been a victim of a chipped windshield scam, contact me and go to the authorities immediately. Here are a few other ideas.
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Last year a friend rented a car and then picked me up for a short trip upstate. She said that when she rented the car, it was wet from the car wash, and she hadn’t noticed a chip in the windshield. We decided that we should let the rental company know what happened, so I called them on my cell phone. I wrote down the name of the person I spoke with, who said we would not be held responsible for the chip. I realize now that we should have confirmed this with the agent when we returned the car because apparently the person I spoke with did not pass along the details of our conversation. The next thing we knew, my friend got a letter from the rental company (don’t remember which one) stating that she owed them for a new windshield. I drafted a strongly worded letter describing what had happened that stating that we were not going to pay for a new windshield. That was the last we heard from them, and we don’t rent from that company any more. Now I just need to ask her which one it was so I don’t accidentally make a reservation with them!