Comments on: Is this the end of the car rental “ding” scam?

By: Daniel

Daniel — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:36:00 +0000

Rented from National Car rental Victoria airport BC Canada. in a hurry to get to my mother’s death bed.
Noticed a 500$ charge on Visa 3days after my return of the car. Inquired and said I scratched the bumper. No way , I checked before leaving . Was in the Emerald club so was used to coming and going thinking I had a level of trust with this company. This company has done this to me years ago but I always had their no fault extra coverage and just left it to them to take care of . Again it was a scratched bumper. What a racket. This time have ICBC roadstar but the attitude of the adjuster is poor and more fighting. I’m out 3-500$ and a pile of hassle and lost my mother.
Taxi for me from now on.
Dan
Houston BC Canada

By: Angela Matthews

Angela Matthews — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:26:28 +0000

I rented a Ford Focus from National Car Rental in Baltimore for one day. I chose a Focus because I own one and knew that I would be comfortable driving a familiar car in an unfamiliar area. I drove the car to Wilmington DE and parked it in the driveway of the person I was visiting. When I returned the car they charged me with a repair of $254 for the joint of the rear bumper being slightly off line with the frame. “Some clips that hold the frame pieces together are missing,” I was told. It’s “damage” that no one would have noticed. No dents, no scratches, no dings. All I can think is WHAT A SCAM. Anyone else out there with that rental car damage problem?

By: Carver

Carver — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 13:50:55 +0000

@Bill

That seems like an aweful lot of work. Why not invest in a credit card that allows you to generate a virtual credit card number. Until this week, Paypal had one. The credit card number is only good for one transaction so even if someone intercepts it, after your transaction its worthless to them

I’m not sure that the point of changing your e-mail address often is. An easier way is to use a disposable e-mail address.

By: bill

bill — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 06:46:12 +0000

After reading a rental car horror story in Chris’s weekly column, I emailed him a story of my own re a scam we encountered from Budget in Frankfort. After two weeks back in the states I was sent a letter claiming damage amounting to 800 Euros. I knew this was an attempted grand larceny and immediately canceled the credit card we had used on our trip and to rent the car. I also sent them an email accusing them of trying to rip me off and then changed my email address. I do this periodically to stay ahead of the scammers and after having done a lot of business on line. We also change our credit card number regularly, again after a lot of activity. The bank is more than happy to send you a card with a new number, usually overnight, as they don’t want you to be without their card any longer than necessary. I looked up Budget overseas on Google and read many horror stories about them. We’ll never use them again here or overseas.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:55:20 +0000

I worked for a rental car company for 8 years, and this kind of thing was, unfortunately, common. I have written a couple of articles that outline a) how to prevent this from happening and b) what to do if something like this happens to you. I hope that this is helpful to you and other readers:

How to prevent rental car damage claims:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5866562_prevent-rental-car-damage-claims.html

How to dispute rental car damage claims:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5866362_dispute-rental-car-damage-claims.html

Good luck.

By: Best of the Web – Roaming Tales: Travel links for 31 August | Roaming Tales

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:52:30 +0000

[...] rental. Protect yourself from the car rental “ding” scam. Christopher Elliott and the commenters on Elliott.org tell you [...]

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 06:48:28 +0000

I just got back from a trip, and when I rented my car (from Budget), the agent that checks you out is at the mouth of the lot in a little booth, right before the row of ground spikes that pop your tires if you reverse. I had to ask for a damage form to note the two big scratches, and she just randomly scribbled Xs all over the picture of the car, saying “that should cover it” before seeing the damage. I had never seen that before! There were cars waiting to exit the garage and she was irritated that I insisted on her walking around the car with me anyway.

By: John Burland

John Burland — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 06:08:16 +0000

ALWAYS get an agent from the car rental company to inspect the car on return and ALWAYS have the company print out your final bill

http://youmustbefromaway.blogspot.com/2007/04/avis-scam.html

By: JW

JW — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:52:35 +0000

Alamo is the worst.

Recently they did not give me a “dent” form to fill out and sign, and despite years working in the travel industry I just spaced that step of the rental process and didn’t ask for one. I inspected the car upon return and found not even a scratch, noting it to the return employee. Within 12 hours of returning the car a collections agency was on the phone filing damages. Luckily it was an in-town rental, although my drivers license was still from a previous state after a recent move. I don’t think they expected me to show back up at the airport an hour later and find the employee who processed the car return. When pressed, he said that the damage was “under the bumper” where “no one would notice it.” When I asked to see the car they said it was out on rental. When they said I filled out the form I asked to see it, and after an hour of waiting they came up with a blank one that wasn’t signed. Then they offered to look at previous damage forms to see if it had been noted, but since the car had “come from another city” they didn’t have a history at that location. 24 hours later they miraculously found a previous claim of damage under the bumper and voided my damage claim.

I should have known better. A family member had to return two Alamo rented vans during a vacation – one broke down and stranded them in a dangerous part of town and the second had a flat tire before they got out of the parking lot. The third was so dinged up they couldn’t note it all on the form. After she returned home, rather than an apology for the bad expereince she got a damage claims form. When she challenged it, saying there was no way to know whether any damage on the van was “new,” the Alamo employee suggested that since she had insurance on a major credit card, that card would “just pay for it.” She decided a letter to the PR department was in order and her claim was miraculously dropped.

I’m taking a flashlight, looking UNDER the bumpers, and videoing the car from now on. So unbelievably sad that we can’t just trust basic transaction decency.

By: Joe Farrell

Joe Farrell — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:39:36 +0000

@Don – sure the tire had sidewall damages – thats why it failed – the question to be proven is WHEN it got sidewall damage! I had a bubble on the sidewall of a tire for 4 years and it only failed [literally] as I drove over a bump going into the tire dealer to put 4 new tires on – how about that for timing!

By: Joe Farrell

Joe Farrell — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:32:47 +0000

The beauty of refusing to pay, and then challenging the credit card charge, is that the car rental company will sue you. Well, at that point they need to prove their case – and you get to do discovery. Discovery includes all prior rental agreements and damage receipts for the vehicle – plus the identity of the last 5 renters. You get that information and it often has interesting information on it.

Like the fact they charged the last 10 renters $775 for the damage – or – that a prior renter noted the damage on the vehicle form.

I had client charged over $1000 for ‘repainting’ scratches after a rental.

The cc company accepted the charge back and the local edition hertz company sued us. We asked for all prior rental forms and noted that a renter, some 4 rentals earlier, noted the scratches on the vehicle that my client was being sued for. The amazing thing is that the Hertz licensee still wanted to ‘settle’ for $200. Yes – we got attorneys fees for malicious prosecution – a rare event.

By: Don Kollmorgen

Don Kollmorgen — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:55:17 +0000

We got a flat tire on our car rented from Alamo. We changed the tire and drove on the little spare back to the rental place. They told us there was no problem, and gave us a different car rather than repairing our flat. About a month later we got a bill for $224, saying that they had to purchase and install a new tire and that the tire had sidewall damage. Can they retroactively send us this bill even though at the time we returned the car the agent said there was “No problem?”

By: DN

DN — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:09:37 +0000

I always carry a flashlight with me to inspect the cars (since the lights are getting worse and worse in the parking garages and lots where the rental cars are) and I now carry a camera. I’ll have to remember the odometer shot, but I think the best way is to use movie mode, walk around the car then end with the odometer shot. Too many small dings and dents don’t show on my photographs.

I use AmEx Premium Car Rental Insurance and I’ve had to use their services twice on legitimate car damage. One was a damaged driver’s side door lock where someone used a screwdriver to access the car (and I use the car alarm fob all the time, so I never use the key in the door locks). The second was a smashed driver’s side window (nothing stolen, just the window damaged). I immediately filed a police report, reported the damage to the car rental agency (Alamo the first time and National the second), reported it to AmEx…. and both cases are still sitting in limbo because AmEx has not received any damage claims or repair tickets. The first incident was in 2005 and the second over 60 days ago.

What’s interesting is that the car rental agencies seem to be very good at hitting you for dings that they never fix, but they don’t seem to be very good at following up on legitimate damage.

By: Caitlin (Roaming Tales)

Caitlin (Roaming Tales) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:37:39 +0000

The odometer photograph is sheer brilliance.

Carrying a flashlight or insisting that the inspection be done in daylight is also sensible.

Does anyone know if these scams are a problem with things like ZipCar?

By: Mr Bad Example

Mr Bad Example — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:29:42 +0000

I hate to say this but when you insist on having the rental agent accompany you for a walk around you’re costing them money as there are bonuses and commissions paid for upgrades and such. When you do that you cost them BIG money making opportunities.

I’m not certain but I think I’m in the Avis system. When I first started tre aveling I made myself a HUGE pain in the assets. insisting on a walk around and having the Rep sign off that their was no damage.

I think that they must have made note of it in my account as I’ve never been a vistim of that scam EVER and I’ve rented as many as 60 times per year so the law of averages is working against me.

The one time I actually did damage a car I told Budget I’d pay just as soon as I had a copy of the reciept from the repair facility. That went into the vapor and NOT on my credit report either.

Until people start wasting the counter reps time on long detailed inspections and dispute EVERY bill with damage on it. They will keep bludgeoning customers.