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The latest car rental scam? Oops, I flooded the engine

October 8, 2008

Just when you thought you’d seen every car rental scam in the book — and if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you probably do — along comes another clever way of separating drivers from their money. Call this one the flooded engine rip-off.

It happened to Kathleen Cameron when she rented a car in Europe from a multinational agency recently. Cameron has asked me not to name the company because she believes it could have happened anywhere. She picks up the story:

When we returned the car, one of the lot managers tried ostentatiously to start the car.

The lot manager, an Eastern European whose name I did not get, flooded the car, then announced loudly that there was something wrong with it. He ran it forward and backward on the starter motor until the battery went dead, after which he tried to jump it. He took the fuel cap off and said he could smell gasoline. I could not, of course.

He ordered my mother off the shuttle van, unloaded our bags, and insisted that one of us accompany him to pay for the “damage.”

He argued loudly with me. Finally he demanded to take “a thousand euros” on my credit card, without which he would not let us leave.

I kept saying “no.” He then hauled in the manager, who was clearly reluctant to act. She finally took a 200 euro “deposit” on a credit card, which I permitted in order to get to our flight.

The lot manager who was trying to extort money from Cameron clearly wasn’t used to being questioned. I wonder how many hapless tourists coughed up a thousand euros because of a flooded engine, or maybe because they had a plane to catch and were in a hurry.

Fortunately, Cameron’s story has a happy ending.

Our “deposit” was refunded three days later without further prompting. I have written to the company to complain about the lot manager’s behavior, and that they would be well off to fire him, either for trying this scam us or simply for his rude and threatening behavior toward us.

Note: the flooding scheme is most likely to be used on diesel cars, because renters sometimes fill the tanks with the wrong gas. The way around it? Keep gas station receipts — and remember to fill the vehicle with the correct fuel, of course.

Also, if a car rental associate starts getting pushy, don’t hesitate to escalate your complaint to a manger quickly. Cameron could have probably saved herself a lot of time by asking to speak with the lot manager’s boss right away.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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5 comments

  • Drew

    Something’s got me wondering here…
    “renters sometimes fill the tanks with the wrong gas”, referring to diesel vs gasoline…
    How does this happen? In Europe, the nozzles are different sizes (and slightly different shapes) to keep this from happening. I know that the gasoline nozzle won’t fit in a diesel car over there, but I don’t know if the reverse is true.

    I’ve noticed that the rental agencies in Europe tend to be a LOT pickier than the ones in the US. I’ve had Avis in Germany demand damages for a quarter-inch scrape on a bumper that I could barely see (and was probably there when I picked up the car!)…

  • GG

    One detail that is not mentioned is where the incident took place. In most of western Europe, especially Scandinavia, they take consumer rights seriously. I would recommend sending a letter to the concerned Embassy and also send one to the local consumer agency.

    The behaviour of the lot manager was nothing but threatening and fraudulent. I assume that Ms. Cameron is a US citizen; so I also suggest sending a letter to the Department of State. If nothing else, this might result in a travel warning for the corresponding country.

  • Clive

    Sadly, the answer to the question ‘How could a user refuel a diesel car from the wrong nozzle?’ is ‘Quite easily’. A few makers (including Ford) now fit a device to prevent a petrol / gasoline nozzle from fitting into the mouth of the filler, but this is still the exception.

    If the aggressive lot manager was trying to suggest the car had been misfuelled, then ironically he undermined his own case by asking for too little. Most modern diesel cars use high-pressure ‘common rail’ fuel pumps that rely on the oiliness of the diesel fuel for lubrication, and even a small amount of petrol in the system can cause damage that a thousand euros would not begin to cover.

    One last thing – I doubt the engine was ‘flooded’. That problem disappeared with the carburettor – and diesel engines never had those anyway. But many modern cars have engine control computers that will temporarily disable the engine after it has been started and stopped in quick succession, to prevent unburnt fuel running from the cylinders to the exhaust, where it can damage the emissions control equipment. It may be that the lot manager inadvertently created this situation himself, and then saw an opportunity to cover his mistake.

  • Dave

    I rented a car in Italy, picked it up in Rome and dropped it off two weeks later on Venice. That was at the end of April 2008. A charge of 300 Euros appeared on my credit card statement in Sept. I called the travel agent and checked if my rental was pre-paid and indeed it was. So I reversed the charges and reported credit card fraud and got a new card. I then recieved a letter this month (October) from the car rental company in Italy stating that I owed the money becasue of damage to the front left door. This was B>S>.. . When I dropped the car off it was perfect.. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop– I am insisting that my agent get to the bottom of this– I suggest photos of the car should be taken before and after you drive the car with a dated newspaper inf the foreground

  • Rick Damiani

    Clive is right – you cannot ‘flood’ any automobile – gas or diesel – built after the mid-eighties. They all have fuel injectors and don’t have accelerator pumps. Accelerator pumps were the part in a carb that squirted fuel into the manifold when you mashed on the go pedal. Pumping the gas with the engine off in a modern car accomplishes nothing.

    If the return agent actually did run the car forwards and backwards with the starter motor untll the battery ran down, he did far more damage to the drive train than the renter did.

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