Q: On a trip to France earlier this year we rented a mid-sized Laguna Renault from Avis. We pre-paid $1,002 a month earlier, which was to be the final amount.
When we called for the car in Paris, the young lady in the Avis office asked for our credit card number. We explained that the vehicle was prepaid and that insurance was provided by our credit card.
She said the number of our card was required in case there was an accident and the car was totaled, in which case there would be an immediate charge of $13,000. So we gave her the number.
She indicated with a semi-circle where we needed to initial to authorize the $13,000, should the car be totaled.
We returned the car on schedule without a scratch. We had been satisfied in dealing with Avis at this point and since the car was returned intact, we felt the deal was concluded.
When we returned to the States, we found that Avis had charged us an additional $605. We identified the mistake to an Avis staff member from the Oklahoma office. He said that France requires the additional insurance.
When we asked that the office send us all papers regarding the transaction, the initials authorizing the insurance were under the semicircle drawn by the Avis woman at the airport office.
Can you help us recover the charge of $605 which we did not authorize?
– Roy Broughton
A: It looks as if you’ve been the victim of the old “sign here” scam.
That’s where a car rental agent asks you to initial a series of circles on a contract that’s faded, too small to read, or pushed under your nose in a hurry. It works even better when it’s done in another language.
Am I saying that’s what the rental agent in Paris did? No. I wasn’t there.
But it’s no secret that rental agents are trained to persuade you to add profitable extras to your bill, and the fact that she told you there would be “an immediate charge” of $13,000 suggests that’s exactly what she was trying to do.
There’s nothing wrong with making extra money off a rental – as long as it’s done in an honest way and with a customer’s consent. And you didn’t agree to the extra insurance.
In a perfect world, you should have been able to call Avis and settled your differences in a few minutes.
It’s not a perfect world.
I still don’t understand why any car rental company would stubbornly hold on to your money and risk losing a customer.
If there was a requirement that you carry additional insurance in France, then Avis failed to adequately disclose that to you at the time of your rental. In addition, the agent you dealt with shouldn’t have threatened you in order to get your credit card number. Those are tactics I would expect from an El Cheapo rental agency, not a reputable company like Avis.
Avis should have also explained what you were initialing and given you plenty of time to review the fine print of the contract.
And you should have taken the time to read it.
If you didn’t understand it, you should have asked for an English version or asked someone to translate for you.
If you were still unsure of what you were being asked to initial, you shouldn’t have signed the contract. (I could tell you stories about signing contracts overseas that would make your blood boil, but I’ll save that for another column.)
Here’s something else I don’t understand: Even when you pre-pay, you normally get a receipt at the end of a rental. Didn’t you? If so, then it would have reflected the additional charge.
That would have been the time to speak with a manager to adjust your bill – not after you returned to the States.
There are plenty of apparent mistakes to go around on this case. Yours and theirs.
I contacted Avis on your behalf and it promptly credited $530 to your account. Why not the full amount? It didn’t say, and try as hard as I might to write it off to currency fluctuations, I can’t. Avis kept $75 for reasons that aren’t entirely clear.
I would have liked to see you get all of your money back, but considering the specifics of this case, a partial refund is better than none at all.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I rented a car from Avis in Germany a few years back. I normally don’t purchase insurance since I place the rental on my CC (which covers auto insurance). When I got to the counter, I was asked to initial off on several areas “required” in order for me to get the car. I had my husband explain that I didn’t want insurance and would not pay for it — the agent said there was no insurance required but I needed to sign off anyway.
When I returned home I had an extra charge for the insurance (doubling the price of the car rental). Checking directly with Avis representatives, I learned there was no policy requirement to pay for insurance with the car rental in Germany, and yet I was charged for it.
Upon complaint, Avis credited my account, but this situation had thoroughly turned me off of any Avis rental.
From reading the other posts regarding rentals in the UK and France, I can see that Avis did not isolate me in this crappy treatment.
You have to be VERY forceful with travel companies, rental cars in particular. I’ve found the Avis franchised locations to be the worst when it comes to various insurance “issues” Namely my employer has a contract with Avis that gives us the CDW for free and oft times the franchised locations will refuse to honor it or at least try.
Chirs is dead bang correct that once you leave the counter your negotiating power is gone. So don’t leave, get to the airport early and if you have to hold up the entire line until you get what you contracted for, do so. Most will cave if you’re polite but firm in your request. I’ve had to mention that I had no problem filing a complaint with the Consumer Fraud Division in their state. That usually works. Telling them you’re going to write Chris Elliott also works nicely in some circles.
I’ve gone so far as to put the manager of the location on with our corporate travel manager who is one tough New York SOB. When this gentleman was told in no uncertain terms that he would be responsible for Avis losing several million dollars in rental business from a 30 BILLION plus international company all of the sudden he got “religion”.
BOTTOM LINE: Read the Contract BEFORE you sign or initial anything even if it takes 20 minutes. I just smile and tell the pushy hurry up ones that if they don’t have anything to hide then they should welcome my diligence
If you ever want to experience an abusive rental car upsale
environment;
Rent a car from Enterprise at Denver airport.
I have about forty years experience renting cars, but I’ve never
experienced anything like that Enterprise operation.
This is why I dont rent cars. I take transit, taxi’s or I walk, It drives my husband nuts because we sometiems end up waiting long times for taxies, but its worth the lack of stress. Rental cars are only worth it if your in an area out in the middle nowhere, other than that i recommend local transit (especially in europe, way more efficient (and cheaper) than driving..
It must be a common scam in Paris. In 1994 we had it happen with Hertz when we declined the insurance but ended up with a charge anyway. The contract was all in French and one place they had us initial turned out to be an acceptance of insurance for our personal property in the car. We are fans of the Rick Steves carryon style of travel and had nothing of value. Hertz would not help us of course because we had initialed as advised. Our only recourse has been to never rent from Hertz again and to be very careful in our subsequent 15 trips to Europe. Maybe the rental agents get to keep all the fees on these fraudulent transactions.
In the States, the easiest way to avoid funky charges is to join the loyalty program. You sign a master contract and you don’t have to deal with figuring out contract specs after a long flight. Usually the worse that you deal with is he guard asking you if you want the fuel option.