jackson@curium.DEC (SETH JACKSON 297-4751) (03/12/86)
In the past year, I have had several occasions to rent cars for both business and personal use, and I'd like to share my experiences with the net. If you believe that all rent a car companies are alike, perhaps this will change you mind. Summary of Recommendations: 1) Dollar Rent A Car should be avoided like the plague. 2) National Rent A Car has consistently offered me the best rates and the best service. Details: Last summer, a friend and I decided to rent a car in order to take a week's vacation driving around the Northeast. We looked around for the lowest rate, and selected Dollar, as their quoted rate was $5/week less then the nearest competitor. The rate quoted was $174/week with unlimited free mileage. We reserved a car to be picked up "on the morning of June 27." We arrived at the Boston office at 10:00 a.m. on 6/27, stating that we were there to pick up our car. The woman behind the counter, who amazingly enough turned out to be the branch manager, greeted us in the snottiest tone imaginable and informed us that our car had been given away because we weren't there at 7:00 a.m. to pick it up, and that if we wanted a car, we'd have to wait about an hour. Seeing little alternative, we reluctantly waited. When the car was ready, I began filling out the application. Before signing, I asked for verification of the rate, and explicitly asked if it included unlimited free mileage, and was told that it did. (The woman continued to speak to us in her incredibly rude manner.) She then told me that, oh, by the way, we are restricted to driving only in New England, and that it would cost an additional $30/week to have the privilege of leaving New England. Not knowing exactly what to do, I opted for the lower rate, figuring that I could upgrade if I wanted to after discussing it outside with my friend. We quickly decided that it would be worth the extra $30 to leave N.E. and avoid hassles. I immediately went back in and told them what I wanted to do. They took the contract, which I had already signed and reviewed, added thirty dollars to the weekly rate, had me initial section that authorized me to leave New England, and handed me back the contract. I took the car and left. Here's where the fun begins. The car leaked water all over our feet for the entire week. On the way home, the transmission cable snapped, leaving us stranded in the middle of Pennsylvania. When we called Dollar, they told us that there was nothing they could do for us, and the we should find a mechanic to fix it and they'd reimburse us. It didn't seem to bother them that it was the 3rd of July at 4:55 p.m., and that the chances of finding someone was pretty slim for the next 4 days. Luckily, we ran into somebody who showed us a way to get the car moving, so that we could make it home as long as we didn't turn the engine off or shift into reverse. But wait - the best is yet to come. When we returned the car to Dollar, they presnted me with a bill, not for $275 as I expected, but for $532. It seems that somewhere along the line, they inserted a notation that restricted us to 1000 free miles, instead of the unlimited free mileage we had agreed to. This, they said, was part of the rate for leaving New England. They charged me $.35/mile. When I could not resolve the problem with the branch manager, I called the district manager, who told me he'd look into it and get back to me. He didn't. Three subsequent phone calls yielded replies such as "He's in a meeting, may I have him call you?" He never returned the calls. I wrote a letter to Dollar's Corporate Customer Service Dept. explaining the problem. They forwarded the complaint to the regional VP, who sent me a letter stating that I must have misunderstood, and I still owed them the money. I followed that up with a letter to the VP with a carbon to Corporate explaining that I could not possibly have misunderstood, because I had explicitly asked if the rate included unlimited free mileage and was told that it did, and that the change was made to the contract after I had signed and reviewed it, and that I was not informed of the change, and I had not been asked to initial it. The VP ignored my letter. Corporate sent me a note saying not to bother them anymore, and that there was nothing they could do. I tried going through my credit card company, the consumer protection agency, and the better business bureau to resolve the problem, and they consistently responded to my complaints with a carbon copy of the contract and the letter from the VP about how I misunderstood. Finally, I wrote to my credit card company refusing to pay the charge. I have reason to suspect that Dollar now plans on taking me to court over this. Whether or not I am legally liable for the mileage charge is debatable. The incredible thing about this is the way that they handled this whole affair. They not only proved to me that they are the biggest sleazeballs I've ever dealt with, but also that they are not too bright, since, even if they do eventually collect the $256, they will have lost that money many times over in lost future business. By the way, Consumer Reports rated Dollar the lowest in customer satisfaction among major companies, just ahead of Rent-a-Wreck. -- "Steal your face right off your head" Seth Jackson P.S. Since this is already long, I'll have to save my praise of National for a separate article.
bzs@bu-cs.UUCP (Barry Shein) (03/13/86)
If you're in Boston I would recommend Ugly Duckling Rent-a-Car if you need a cheapo (I believe they're franchised around the country.) My car died and I need one to get a new one (bootstrap problem) so I figured I would give them a try. It was one of those places where you walk in and say "how much for a car?" and they chuckle and play with their cigarettes and coffee for a while and say "make us an offer.." They have official rates, but if you have a sense of humor they can be fun to deal with (I had some wierdness with the car which I told them about when I brought it back and they chastised me for not coming and swapping it, they're cut rate but seem capable of backing their product and not out to squeeze people.) Oh yeah, their cars *are* ugly (during our negotiations one of them commented that if I want a REAL UGLY car I would have to pay extra...) I was amused and got what I needed. -Barry Shein, Boston University P.S. Of course, a different franchise operator may not be as loose, but in this day of forms and barbie/ken doll service personnel it was a breath of fresh air.
ron@brl-smoke.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (03/14/86)
> In the past year, I have had several occasions to rent cars for both > business and personal use, and I'd like to share my experiences with > the net. If you believe that all rent a car companies are alike, perhaps > this will change you mind. A study was recently conducted that a person is likely to tell 30 other people about bad experiences with a car but less than ten people about good experiences. My experiences however were a bit different. > 1) Dollar Rent A Car should be avoided like the plague. > > 2) National Rent A Car has consistently offered me the best rates and the > best service. I have the exact opposite reactions. I used National for about three years on business because my secretary kept arranging it, and I thought that it must be lower bidder and that I couldn't recommend a different one (well fortunately I was wrong). We had three cars that died, including one rented in Baltimore that didn't even make it off the lot. In addition, I was kept waiting over an hour in Philadelphia late one night. In addition, National in Denver refused rent me a car on my Government orders because I wasn't 25. This was hogwash, their contract with Uncle Sam does not permit such a restriction. The same trip I switched over to Dollar. I also have used Dollar in Dallas, Los Angeles, Portland, and probably a few other cities with good or exceptional service. However, I too, have been victimized by the Boston Logan Dollar Agency. Twice, they have not had cars for me approaching anything like I had reserved. Once, they had nothing at all. The episode that concluded my ever using them was when I had specificaly reserved a Camaro-like car (anything small but not microscopic) and I preferred to rent one of the two Corvettes that they had (this time I was not travelling for the Government). After telling me they had the Corvette ready, and getting on the bus, I got to their sattelite lot to find that the only vehicles they had were some boat like Olds. I was now stuck out in the middle of the parking lot and had to slosh over to Hertz on foot to rent a T-bird. To add insult to injury, I got some stupid letter later saying how happy they were to have served me on my recent trip to Boston. Pfooey.
jackson@curium.DEC (SETH JACKSON 297-4751) (03/18/86)
>good or exceptional service. However, I too, have been victimized >by the Boston Logan Dollar Agency. Twice, they have not had cars for Actually, the Dollar agency that victimized me was not the one at Logan, but the one downtown at the Sheraton. The Logan people were involved also, because they were the ones I had to call for breakdown service. The reason I so strongly recommend against Dollar is that I found the same lack of good faith at all levels of the organization. I went through the branch, district, regional and corporate offices to try and resolve the problem, and all of them seemed interested in one thing only: getting my money. Fairness? Ethics? Customer satisfaction? What's that? -- "If you plant ice, you're gonna harvest wind" Seth Jackson
edg@micropro.UUCP (Ed Greenberg) (03/21/86)
There has been a discussion of rent-a-car experiences that prompts me to
put in my $.02.
0. In august of 1984, my wife rented an AVIS car in New York. Shortly
thereafter, we got a letter from the New York Parking Violations Bureau,
dunning us for an unpaid ticket on an AVIS rental. The licence plate
number on the dun did not match the plate on our rental agreement (which
we had, thank g-d.) I can only assume that Avis fingered us in error.
(There is a word for people who tell tales to the cops, isn't there :-)
A lawyer friend in New York is still trying to resolve this.
1. I have heard horror stories about Dollar. The SF Chronicle (paragon
of journalism :-) ran a story about a year ago in which they detailed
Dollar's practice of weaseling out of both the collision damage waiver
and the actual insurance (over and above the $2500 deductable) and SUING
for (a) the value of the car, (b) the cost of repairs and (c) the loss
of revenue while the car is out of service.
It seems that the Dollar agreement indicates that you "agree to drive
safely." They define unsafe driving to be anything from driving drunk
(no flames, that _is_ unsafe) to having partial responsibility for an
accident. The Chron stated that if you were hit anywhere but in the
rear (and the car wasn't parked) that Dollar defined that as unsafe and
claimed the right to void both CDW and actual insurance.
My insurance agent assured me that my personal insurance would cover
me up to the value of the car, should I damage it, and that I should
decline the CDW and continue to rent from them as long as service
and price dictated it.
I won't rent from Dollar, except from the local dollar agency which gives
me fantastic prices and very clean, well running cars, usually upgraded
from the rate that they've quoted me.
2. I flew into LaGuardia Airport last week. I had a reservation from
National, for a compact at $38/day _or_ $199/week. The reservationist
stated that my contract would give me the right to keep the car and pay
whichever rate was lower depending on how many days I used. I went over
this with her several times, and she gave me a confirmation number.
On arrival at the agency, the counter personnel (manager) refused to
honor the rate. He stated that the rate would be $65 until the weekly
rate of $199 kicked in and that _after a week_ the $38 rate would hold
in the second week! He also told me that I had misunderstood the
reservationist. He refused to compromise the rate or make any
adjustment. He told me to take it or leave it. I called AVIS from the
National lobby and, on being quoted an acceptable rate ($44/day) I left
the national car. National drove me to AVIS!!!!!
3. On arrival at Avis, the counter personnel, and manager, refused to
write the quoted rate on the rental agreement. They stated that their
regulations did not allow any handwritten rates -- the computer has to
fill it in, and the computer is down. "Don't worry, you'll get whatever
rate the reservation is for, but we can't even look that up." I replied
that we didn't need a computer, since we had a manager, but the manager
disagreed. Finally, I suggested that they call the reservations center
and verify the rate and write it on the contract. They grudgingly did.
It's interesting to note one other thing. When I called Avis from home,
they quoted me a rate in excess of $60 and a mileage charge as well.
They had nothing cheaper -- not even on cars that they were out of. The
reservationist swore that the rate she was quoting me was the cheapest
that they had in NY. Yet, that night, they were able to rent me a car
for a quote of $44, and when I actually paid for the car, the rate was
only $40!
The bottom line of all this is as follows:
What the reservationist tells you is of no consequence. You
don't see the computer screen, and cannot tell if the record of your
reservation is as you imagine it to be. It doesn't matter which rent a
car company you use, they all can give you a confirmation number and
then ignore it.
Three travelers in a room will have four opinions about RAC
service. Follow your own heart, and be prepared for the worst.
It may pay to call the same RAC company three or four times,
asking the same question. You may get more than one answer.
It pays to contact your insurance agent (if you own a car) and
ask him what protection your policy affords on Rental Cars. You may be
needlessly taking CDW. Also, an Air Travel Card (the airline issued
credit card) affords $3000 in protection on rental cars booked while
flying on a trip charged to that card. If you have access to such a
card, it can save you a dollar or two. (Everyone should write to
American Express (assuming you have one) and suggest that a good benefit
would be coverage of this kind. I might pay so much per year for the
coverage, just like one can buy automatic flight insurance or baggage
insurance.
No flames, I don't do this, but it might pay to book three or
four rental cars in your destination city so that when one lets you down
you will have an ace in the hole. They bring it upon themselves by
being untrustworthy, and the cars that you are a no-show for will be
appreciated by the poor schlameil that needs a car and doesn't have a
reservation. (I'm going to get flamed for this one anyway, I just know
it.)
Sorry that this is so long, but it's one of my pet peeves.
--
Ed Greenberg | {hplabs,glacier}!well!micropro!edg
MicroPro International Corp. | {ucbvax,decwrl}!dual!micropro!edg
San Rafael, California | {lll-crg,ptsfa}!micropro!edg