Other Car Rental Programs (ie. Alamo, Enterprise) - Alamo and the case of the runaway hub cap

I rented a Compact car at HOU yesterday from Alamo. I took the shuttle, did my check-in and was told to pick out a car. It was pouring down rain, so I sprinted to the Compact lot. There was nothing there. I started making my way back to the counter when one of the attendants told me to get a mid-size as it wasn’t that much more. Whatever. I started my way towards the mid-sized section when I noticed a Toyota Yaris sitting up front. It’s an ugly car, but I took it against my better judgment. (I really didn’t need a lot of space) I popped the trunk and threw my luggage in. I did a quick once around and got into the car and out of the rain. I went back to the Hobby terminal to pick-up my co-worker that came in on a different flight. We left Hobby and made our way to our jobsite. En route to the highway, we encountered a partially flooded street in a residential neighborhood. All of a sudden, we clanked like we had gone too fast on a speed bump. Turns out that it was a pothole that I couldn’t see at 35 MPH because the water had filled it up. A few seconds later my co-worker asked me if we had lost a hub cap. She had seen something silver fly off the car. I pulled around, stopped, inspected the car and sure enough the passenger side front hub cap was missing. I U-turned back and it had landed in the grass of someone’s yard. We picked it up and threw it into the backseat. We were pressed for time and approaching rush hour morning traffic. We agreed that I’d deal with it later on.

We finished our job and went back out to the car. (It had stopped raining at this point) I took the hub cap out of the backseat and we both realized that it was completely different than the other 3. It was obvious that this was an after market hub cap. There is absolutely no way that we picked up someone else’s hub cap as we had lost ours on a residential street in a yard at that exact location. There were some scratches, but nothing major like bending. However, I couldn’t seem to figure out how that hub cap had been put on. It fit, but the lug nut holes were completely off. Rather than jimmy it in, I decided to take the car back this morning and explain what happened.

So I took the car back this morning and explained what happened to the check-in guy. He filled out an incident report and had me sign after assuring that we were only documenting the case and not admitting guilt. He wanted to get my insurance info, but I declined because I didn’t feel that he needed it. I spoke with the manager on duty and she said that she didn’t think that it would be a big deal. The branch manager, who has the final say, will be in on Monday and she would pass everything on to him/her. However, she said that Hertz definitely would have charged me as she used to work for them.

My question is this: Am I in the wrong here? My defense is that it was a monsoon when I rented the car and I would never have thought to ensure that all the hub caps match. If anything, I’m a little upset that it wasn’t noted that this was the case. Now, I’m on the hook for it since I have no way to prove my story. It just makes me sick that I may have to pay for something that I feel was not my fault. It’s not like I was driving recklessly or tried to pass something off.

Maybe you can argue that Monsoon Rain is an act of god and therefore your shouldn't be held responsible? I don't know if that will hold up?

I would have jimmy'd it in. Too much faith in other folks to see it your way when you essentially did nothing wrong. Sounds like ur in for a headache. Not even getting the LDW/CDW covers for hubcaps I believe. Be prepared for a 70-100 charge for the hubcap.

I like to return the cars in the dark. Do you see the way they look at the car when you return it, like they want to find something damanged. I rented a car at CMH a few weeks ago and did a one-way to CLE. It had snowed and the car was covered with snow and dirt and the agent after doing one go around starting rubbing off the dirt and snow with his finger looking to damange I guess.