Car Hire Nightmares

In the world of car hire, that is to say car rental, people have their share of rip-offs and bad experiences. Indeed, these can be real car hire nightmares. While it’s certainly unfortunate that these experiences occur, they sometimes make good stories and they can also be instructive regarding what to avoid in auto rental and how to make sure your car hire experiences are the best that they can be. Let’s take a look at some of the things that can and have gone wrong for people when they tried to rent vehicles and were unpleasantly surprised at the outcome. Some are relatively minor and common, others more exotic and genuinely nightmarish.

You show up a little late, your car has been given away, and they have no others to rent to you.

In the Daily Travel and Deal Blog in the Los Angeles Times one user reports renting a car before hand at very low rates from Ace Car Rental. It was a 10 day rental and was to cost only $264. He said the larger companies (Avis, Hertz, etc.) were all around $700 for the same time frame. Due to being unfamiliar with public transportation, he arrived about 1 hour and 15 minutes late. He even called the rental from on his way and got directions. However, by the time he arrived they had already rented his car to somebody else. He asked if he could rent another and they told him they didn’t have any available. He asked when they might have one, and they told him they didn’t know. He went to look online for the same sort of deal and with the same company the rates were considerable higher.

Lesson to be learned: Be suspicious in advance if you find something at an extremely cheap rate. If you do decide to rent it, show up on time.

You are charged a gas bill because the tank isn’t exactly topped off or even if it is.

Car hire companies can try all sorts of sneaky tricks to get a little more per rental. If your gas tank is not topped off, the rental company sometimes tries to charge you a gas fee. This isn’t usually even the amount that would fill the tank, but a generalized fee such as $10.
In other cases they may even try to charge you if the needle is on full but you can’t prove that you have filled the tank. In this case they may ask for receipts, and if you don’t have them, you could end up paying the same gas charge.

Lesson to be learned: always fill up the tank right before returning and bring receipts to prove it.

The car hire company doubles your fee for showing up late.

Seems amazing but that happens. One woman complained of showing up 24 hours late and being charged almost double for a car rental time frame that was a day shorter. There was nothing illegal going on here. There was some fine print that allowed them to do this. But the agent had assured her when she called that her reservation would be honored and her rate would stay the same. It turns out what the agent was referring to was the she wouldn’t be charged a $10 late rental fee, just a WHOLE DIFFERENT RATE. The company was Alamo. As a matter of fact this company definitely gets its share of complaints.

Lesson to be learned: always know exactly what’s in your auto rental contract, especially if you’re renting from Alamo.

Break ins in foreign countries.

One couple had a terrible car hire experience in Holguin Cuba. They rented a car for their vacation, left for just a few minutes at a brief stop in the city, and returned to find that the car had been broken into. They had some presents in the car which were stolen, as well as the spare tire. They knew they would be charged by the car rental company for the stolen spare. So they began looking on the black market for another one. How coincidental, they found some guy selling what looked like their spare tire, just around the block. He wanted $150 for it. They told him no and he reduced the price to $80. They still told him no, left, and were eventually able to find a tire outside the city for $40.

Upon returning to the car rental, everyone seemed to know all about the incident and they still tried to charge the couple for the stolen spare. The fee was $300. They waited for hours and hours to talk to a supervisor (this was after other long waits in police stations and so on). Finally a woman came and asked for a bribe of $60 to “make the whole thing go away.” Seeing no other option, they paid the bribe and left, swearing never to return to Holguin, Cuba.

Lesson to be learned: Either don’t go on a vacation to Holguin Cuba, or if you do, watch your rental car like a hawk and never leave any belongings in it.

Car hire is usually a fairly ordinary experience without too much hassle. But it never hurts to be a little careful, read the contract, and know what exactly you’re getting into. If you don’t, you could end up with a great story and an expensive lesson!