Ask George Mayo about car insurance, and he’ll tell you that his State Farm policy covers rentals. He’s certain of it. And he’s also certain that when he rented a car from Avis in Nashville, recently, he declined the optional insurance.
AVIS
With all the recent stories about questionable damage claims on rental cars, it’s no surprise that motorists like Mike Weaver would insist on inspecting his vehicle before renting it. Or that he expects to note every ding and dent before he drives away.
Carla Dorsey didn’t order the optional insurance on her Avis rental car in Tampa. But her car rental company charged her for it, anyway. Now it won’t refund the money, insisting she signed a contract. Is Avis right?
Two weeks after Mary Garrow rented a car from Budget Rent a Car in Tulsa, she got an unpleasant surprise: A $250 cleaning charge for her vehicle. Budget claimed someone had been smoking in the car.
When Lidia Conte returns her Avis rental to Frankfurt, Germany, a representative points to a small ding on the car. Even though another employee lets Conte off the hook, she gets a bill for 800 euros a few weeks later. Does she still have to pay?
This is Kathyria Padilla’s rental car. When she returned it to Avis last April, she took a few snapshots of the vehicle, just in case. Good thing she did.
When you return your rental car, your liability for the vehicle ends, right? Wrong. Jessica Siegel brought her sedan back to Avis in London recently. A few weeks later, she got a bill for triple the amount she’d expected. What happened? She’d dropped off the car after hours, and during the night, someone broke a [...]
When Drew Tipton tried to add a few more days to his Avis rental, he expected to pay the daily rate. But wait, what’s this on the bill? A $10 rental extension fee?
When it comes to fees, never underestimate the car rental industry’s creativity. If you do, you might miss the six percent surcharge that Avis slipped on Monica Huchro’s bill last week.
Here are two recent stories of car rental employees going the extra mile for their customers. I’m sharing them with you for two reasons: First, because car rental employees rarely get any recognition for a job well done; and second, because I just filed a column that’s critical of certain car rental franchises. Maybe I’m feeling a little guilty.
The words “highway robbery” come to mind when hearing the story of John Floss, who was charged about $336 an hour to rent a car from Avis during the holidays. Is that legal?
Are the car rental companies taking a page from the airlines’ playbook, when it comes to fees and surcharges? Charles Locher thinks so. First, Hertz billed him an extra $26 for gas and fuel service, even though he had prepaid for both. Then another car rental company socked his friend with a $120 “interior cleaning” charge, even though the vehicle was returned in good shape.
Elliott is consumer advocate 
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