Renting a car is not a cheap thing to do, so you need to be sure that you avoid the scams where you can. Many of what we consider scams when it comes to car rental scams are not really scams, but ways in which the car rental agency tries to make a quick buck. We often forget as consumers that the companies that we are renting from are businesses and they are just trying to stay above water. That doesn’t mean that you should pay anymore than you have to for your car rental!
Don’t Pay When You Don’t Have To
When you rent a car gas is one of the biggest sticking points. Most companies require that you have a full tank when you return the car, otherwise you are subject to a fee. When you receive your payment invoice you need to look at the list of charges and make sure that you are not being charged for the fill up fee. Many times this fee is small enough, such as $10 or $20 so you may not even notice that you are being charged for it. The problem is that many car rental agencies are charging this fee to those who have filled up. Make sure when you return your car that it is full and then look at your receipt, if they charge you for it, pull out your receipt and show them that your car has just been filled and that they need to remove the charge.
Another issue that you may have when you rent a car is that you may be billed for damages that you did not cause to the car. This is scary because these damages could run in the hundreds or thousands of dollars. Car rental companies have been known in the past to bill more than one customer for the same damage, so make sure you protect yourself from these car rental scams. When you receive your car be sure to make any notes right on the rental agreement to any damages that you observe and make sure that you not only sign it, but that you have someone from the rental agency sign the form. This will protect you from being blamed for damages that were already on the car when you received it, and it will also communicate to the car rental agency that you are not someone who will be easy to scam.
Make sure that you know the rules when you rent your car. Car rental scams are becoming more and more common all the time. The result is that they are creating fees where no one knew they existed. For instance, you may have been told that you could return the car on Monday but the car rental agency didn’t tell you that if you didn’t have the car in by noon that you would be subject to a $10 per hour charge until you return it. This is just a simple way for the car rental agency to make a few dollars and what can you do except shake your head, knowing that you have been the victim of a car rental scam?
There are more and more fees being tacked on to car rentals all the time, so car rental scams are becoming more common. To protect yourself from car rental scams, be sure to ask for a copy of the contract that you are signing and actually read through it. This will help you protect yourself from the common scams, so you know when you need to have the car back and what fees you are subject to if anything goes wrong. When you appear to be a well informed consumer the car rental agency will be less likely to scam you and you will know what your rights are under the contract, which will help you fight back. Car rental scams are avoidable, you just need to be sure that you protect yourself at every term, buy the insurance coverage options that the company offers, and that you know all of their rules. When you do this you will be able to stop a scam in its tracks each and every time.
December 8th, 2008 at 11:31 am
I believe I am a victim of collision fraud. When returning a vehicle in the daytime, a dent was noticed in the bottom of the rear bumper of a dark blue mini van that I did not noticed at night backed up against a concrete wall. My gut is telling me they have pulled this scam before. I have requested copies of the 3 previous rental agreements and they refuse. Is there any legal way to make the rental company produce the previous rental agreements?
Thanks in advance
December 8th, 2008 at 11:51 am
This happens many times. Especially with small scratches. Don’t pay. Talk to your insurance agent and/or company and tell them what have happened. If they refuse to give you previous rental agreements and car damage reports, most likely something fishy is going on.
October 14th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Do not rent a car via Do You Spain who use Record as their associated car rental company in Spain (and other European countries). They rented me two really beat up cars. The outside of both cars was badly scratched and the insides had not been cleaned all that well. The first car broke down and I had to waste an entire day of my precious holiday sorting this out. The second car’s air conditioning did not work – and in 35-40 degree heat that was not funny. The central locking also did not work – so I could never lock the car once parked up. The worst part of all of this is that they are not responding to my complaints and sorting anything out for me. So I would recommend – you spend your money elsewhere.