Dollar - Avoid Dollar like the PLAGUE -- They're EVIL!!

This is not just another case of “a customer damages a rental car and then tries to deny it.” This is about blatant consumer mistreatment by:

(1) being falsely accused for damages and not allowing the customer a chance to respond;
(2) Dollar Rent-A-Car’s failure to follow its own corporate procedures in attempting to reclaim repair costs (which resulted in additional administrative costs to the innocent customer);
(3) Dollar Rent-A-Car’s and their subrogation agency, Subrogation Management Team’s, vehement refusal to consider the consumer’s side of the story as well as their ignorance of requests to provide contact information to the consumer.

As I would hate to see any other potential car renting customer be forced to suffer through this ridiculousness, I am compelled to share with you my recent experience with Dollar Rent-A-Car and their subrogation firm, Subrogation Management Team.

I AM LETTING EVERYBODY AND ANYBODY KNOW ABOUT MY EXPERIENCE AND ADVISING THEM THAT THEY SHOULD CONSIDER WALKING RATHER THAN RENT A VEHICLE FROM DOLLAR RENT-A-CAR. BASED ON MY PERCEPTION OF THIS EXPERIENCE, I WOULD CONSIDER DOLLAR RENT-A-CAR TO NOT BE A REPUTABLE CAR RENTAL AGENCY AND WOULD DISCOURAGE ANYBODY FROM GIVING THEM BUSINESS. ANY ASSISTANCE YOU CAN PROVIDE IN PASSING THE WORD WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED, AND I WOULD BE HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS.

CONSUMER (DEFENDANT) BACKGROUND.

My dealings with various travel and transportation services are most likely more frequent than the average consumer. My profession demands that I lead a road warrior lifestyle, and along with that comes a degree of travel familiarity:

• More than 150,000 flown miles per year on two major U.S. airlines
• More than 30 stays (around 50 nights) per year with major hotel chains
• Nearly 20 vehicle rentals from the U.S.’ leading car rental agency in calendar year 2006 alone
• Around 10 vehicle rentals from other agencies

HOW THIS HAPPENED WITH DOLLAR RENT-A-CAR

I rented a vehicle from Dollar Rent-A-Car at the Savannah Airport (Georgia) in August 2006. The vehicle was returned by me in the same condition that it was received. I provided Dollar Rent-A-Car with the keys, and in turn they furnished my final invoice. It is important to note that rental vehicles are returned to a shared lot, and there are no Dollar Rent-A-Car representatives available to check the vehicles immediately upon their return. Savannah is a very small airport and Dollar Rent-A-Car does not see the need to have staff immediately check vehicles over for damage as they’re being returned.

FAILURE TO OF DOLLAR RENT-A-CAR TO FOLLOW PROCEDURE

Approximately eight (8) days after returning the vehicle, I was contacted by Subrogation Management Team advising me I was responsible for tire damage. Written correspondence was sent to me including photocopies of the damage and repair receipts.

Knowing that I did not cause this damage, and confused about why Dollar Rent-A-Car did not contact me first before a subrogation agency, I prepared a lengthy dispute as I was not given the opportunity to defend my position. There are a number of ways in which the tire could have been damaged.

Several email exchanges between the subrogation agency and me ensued. In addition to the tire damage ($168.20), it was requested that I pay a $100 administrative fee and $34 for loss of rental charges since the vehicle had to spend a day out of service. In total, Dollar Rent-A-Car and Subrogation Management Team asked me to pay $302.20.

I maintained my position that I did not cause the damage, and I would not pay one penny unless directed by a U.S. Court of Law. I requested several times to speak with a Dollar Rent-A-Car representative, but neither Subrogation Management Team nor Dollar Corporate would put me in contact with the appropriate person(s).

FUN WITH COLLECTIONS AGENCY

Despite several attempts to discuss the situation with Subrogation Management Team, my case was turned over to a collections agency. This was a major embarrassment for me as I take my credit score seriously and have always maintained superior credit ratings.

Upon being contacted by a collections agency, I was infuriated. I initiated a full court press to get in touch with the Dollar Rent-A-Car location at Savannah Airport. I was finally able to reach the station manager, and he and I had a good discussion about the situation. It was in this conversation that I was told it is Dollar Rent-A-Car’s policy to contact customers first before turning cases over to Subrogation Management Team. I received a verbal apology from the manager for not having been contacted first. In summary, we both felt there were aspects for which we were both responsible, and he advised me that he would contact Subrogation Management Agency to see about reducing the charges. I explained to him that receiving a $100 administrative charge and $34 for losing a day of rental was simply excessive. While he never verbally agreed, he did say that all he wants back is the money that Dollar had to shell out to replace the tire. Had I been contacted first by Dollar Rent-A-Car directly, this situation would have probably been settled a long time ago.

A week passed after my phone conversation with the Savannah Dollar Rent-A-Car manager, so I phoned him again to make sure he contacted Subrogation Management Team. He said he did, so I contacted the person with whom I’d been communicating since August. She advised me I’d have to pay $268.20 (the cost of the tire and the $100 administrative fee; they graciously waived the $34 “loss of rental” charge—perhaps a feeling of guilt??). Clearly the $100 fee goes to Subrogation Management Team, so of course they did not want to waive that. I again expressed that even though I did not cause the tire damage, I’m willing to meet in the middle of the road to put an end to this foolishness. Subrogation Management Team didn’t even want to consider, despite my telling them several times AGAIN that Dollar Rent-A-Car initially screwed up in this case. They did, however, have the upper hand by being able to send a collections agency after me. How nice of them.

After a few emails pointing out where Subrogation Management Team was wrong, I left them with two choices:

(1) I would pay the $168.20 for the tire and they’d be out of my life forever.
(2) I would pay the $268.20 for the tire, the ridiculous admin fee, and to ensure my credit keeps its high rating. In addition, I also advised them that I’d make it a point to spread the word about my experience to the Better Business Bureau, the news media, magazines, newspapers, and everybody I know.

As you can probably tell, Subrogation Management Team opted for item #2, so I’m keeping my promise. It never was about the money for me, it was the principle. Even if this effort of mine prevents only 5 people from renting a $100 rental, we’re ahead of the game…but I’d sure like to see much more than that.

IF YOU WANT TO AVOID PAYING MONEY WHEN YOU'RE NOT RESPONSIBLE, NEVER, EVER, EVER RENT FROM DOLLAR RENT-A-CAR!!! LEARN FROM MY SITUATION!!!

FEEL FREE TO LET ANYBODY KNOW ABOUT THIS WHO WOULD BENEFIT.

Add their other companies to the list too "Thrifty"

I feel your pain and sincerely sympathize with you but if we boycotted every company mentione in an unfavorable light on Flyertalk, we would all be walking.

Having said that, I'm still sorry to hear about your situation.

Add their other companies to the list too "Thrifty"

I didn't know they were the same company, but now that I do...you can bet I won't be giving them business, either.

What happened? Did an attendant jump the curb while ghost riding the whip back to the lot?

What happened? Did an attendant jump the curb while ghost riding the whip back to the lot?

The tire was NOT flat. There were no nails, pieces of glass, etc. in it.

From the poorly photographed photos I received, there was about a 1" slit in the sidewall, obviously it didn't go through to the chamber. The cut was a perfectly perpindicular line on the sidewall to the tread.

Looked as if it were a poor attempt to slash the tire, or a tire defect.

I cant understand why if the OP feels they didnt cause it they would be willing to pay for any of it.

Besides #2 was Foolish, does the OP really think that by posting about it here on FT that 10s of 1000s of people will simply stop renting from Dollar? or writing about it anywhere.

Ive had Collection agencies after me for way more than what the OP owed, I KNEW I was in the right and told them they could set up shop on my front steps for all I care.

When they started calling every day, I simply went into phase2 and thanked them for calling as Im very lonely and now I found someone who really cares about me. A couple of days later the calling ended.In the end my CC took them to task and , not 1 cent out of pocket, I really did enjoy the back and forth with those guys calling me, almost as much fun as when I do a Time Share for the $$ or Pts, since I set them up before hitting right between the eyes with enough amno that makes them realize a sale is just not going to happen.

I didn't know they were the same company, but now that I do...you can bet I won't be giving them business, either.

Yeap.. just check out dtag.com

I've had good experiences with Thrifty and mixed ones with Dollar. Same goes for National (good) and Alamo (bad).

It seems to me that these merged companies still operate somewhat separately. Perhaps over time they will meld together and not have any distinctions.

Didn't you have a credit card that covers damage?
Dollar locations are in a franchise area so there are many Dollar areas across the country. Just because one in GA causes a problem, don't dam all Dollar locations across the country. Is it not a possibility that someone slit your tire while on rent? How many people get out and check every tire every day?

I own a dollar location in the summer in Glacier Park and I will have to admit that more damage gets overlooked than charged to the customer, but sometimes there is noticable damage that is customer caused that they deny. I had a car returned by a man who was in a huge hurry to make the train; of course 15 minuted later we see a big dent in the lower front of the car and the train is gone worth $700+ The train is gone, I call his number and leave a message and of course he never calls me back, after repeated tries and telling him that it will be charged to him he calls, I email photos and turn it over to the head office in Missoula to work out. Same thing with the Golf Ball size hail storm in July. 17 cars on the lot with $5000 each in damage and a bunch out on the road that people didn't happen to notice the big dings!!!

There are 2 sides to every pancake......

JudyJFLA

There are 2 sides to every pancake......


Absolutely... I've had equally opposite experience. Once I was charged
for things that never happened. Yes there was a damage, but the
charges showed up had nothing to do with report and conversation I had
when I returned it.

I was charged for things already existed on the car before (I had the
check out list) and ridiculous loss of damage etc..

When the charges showed up, the rental location never answered my calls
or letters. I could not get documents to re-claim the loss from my insurance
either.

Took over 10 months to sort this out via head office.. and I still ended up
paying for a lot of costs. Including ridiculous administrative fees.

On the other hand, Avis/Hertz were up front about damage costs etc..


I had hail damage and windshield chips an cracks... and never saw any
administrative or loss of use charges from Avis or Hertz.


Note: not only they ignored my calls, but they ignored letters and calls from
the insurance company as well.

Didn't you have a credit card that covers damage?


I rented with a Discover card, and they only cover "body damage." To them, tires are consumables and are not covered.

I cant understand why if the OP feels they didnt cause it they would be willing to pay for any of it.


Me neither. :D

It boils down to this -- I have perfect credit, and I work very hard to maintain that. Before this situation, I've never even experienced a "collection agency," and I really am not familiar with what they can/cannot do.

I own a business and do have a few nickels to my name, so I just wanted them to leave me alone. That's why I paid.

I suppose I could have fought it more, but it wasn't worth my time.

On the other hand, Avis/Hertz were up front about damage costs etc..


I had hail damage and windshield chips an cracks... and never saw any
administrative or loss of use charges from Avis or Hertz.


These are my two big "beefs" about Dollar: nobody there to show me on the spot AND the ridiculous "administrative" charge. Oh and third beef, they didn't handle it according to their corporate policy. :td:

IMHO, Hertz and Avis are the only way to go. Both companies are class act.

These are my two big "beefs" about Dollar: nobody there to show me on the spot AND the ridiculous "administrative" charge. Oh and third beef, they didn't handle it according to their corporate policy. :td:

IMHO, Hertz and Avis are the only way to go. Both companies are class act.

Id say had it been either Hertz or Avis at SAV, since it seems they all work the returns the same way at SAV you would ahve been charged by them as well. Maybe they wouldnt have thrown it over for collection as fast, but they too would have charged

Id say had it been either Hertz or Avis at SAV, since it seems they all work the returns the same way at SAV you would ahve been charged by them as well. Maybe they wouldnt have thrown it over for collection as fast, but they too would have charged

It's possible, but I'm certain Hertz would have followed their SOP (which Dollar didn't in my case). And, I'm VERY doubtful Hertz would have attempted to collect that insulting $100 admin fee. :rolleyes:

Does Dollar really think that when they sock that fee on ANY customer, good or bad, they will consider using them ever again?? :rolleyes:

I'll stick with my Five Star Gold Service from Hertz. :)

Isn't all this a bullying act so that you must buy their Lost Damage Waiver? You might have a credit card that covers that part, but since they won't divulge any information, you will never be able to use your credit card's coverage. And the LDW profit must be so huge because the credit card company can afford to provide that for free (in reality, less than that 2-3% of your rental charge which the credit card company makes)!

I've had a bad experience with Thrifty. To make a long story short,between my credit card company and myself, we paid the damages but they STILL sent the bill to a collection agency and are STILL hounding me. They say the credit card company didn't pay but I have a copy of the payment. It's been about a year and a half now.

I suppose bad things can happen with any company but as I sit here planning my next rental, its hard to know where to turn.

Deb

Thanks for the OP. Your experience is very consistent with my negative experiences with Dollar. Of course all companies can screw up, tack on extra chareges, provided misleading information, etc. But Dollar has done so consistently enough for me to also avoid it like the plague.

Dolar has been absolutely golden at TPA. Every franchise has it's good and bad locations.

But then Alamo once tried charging me for rust damage!

Thanks for the OP. Your experience is very consistent with my negative experiences with Dollar. Of course all companies can screw up, tack on extra chareges, provided misleading information, etc. But Dollar has done so consistently enough for me to also avoid it like the plague.

The more and more I read through this Dollar forum, the more I'm discovering that the company is bona fide rubbish.

I kiss my Hertz Five Star Gold card every time I rent these days. :)

Strangely enough, I too have had issues at that particular SAV location. I booked a standard size car there earlier this month, I had changed it from an intermediate reservation I had since I decided I need a larger car. When I get there, they proceed to tell me that their intermediate and standard classes are the same car (a Sebring). I explained that I reserved under a higher rate to get a car larger than the intermediate I had already had reserved (i.e., I am getting the same car?!?) She told me that because they are a franchise, their car selections can vary. When asked if I can pay the old intermediate rate I previously had reserve, the answer was she couldn't help me, other than offer to have me pay $15 more per day for a premium car. Now I know you are never guaranteed a particular car model, but I expect them to have car classes that they advertise and charge for. What burned me was this person's total lack of willingness to help, claiming she couldn't do anything (you can always do something.) The manager (Mike?) was on vacation so I wasn't able to speak with him at pickup or drop off, and I was going to drop it, but this is now annoying me again. I'm not going to write off Dollar as a whole, but this franchise will likely never get my business again.

Classic case of who'd done it. I had a summer job washing rental cars for Avis. After we wash it we are supposed to fill out a slip documenting damages. Now I was a bit of an anal employee, I would document every little thing I saw, even scuff marks on the trunk door. I would get on my knees and look underneath for things. I didn't do that so I can help the company make more money. I thought I was just doing my job and being responsible. Now I applied that level of scrutiny to every car I washed. The problem is damages don't necessary get recorded right away. My buddy who couldn't careless would mark no damage one time, then comes me, who marks everything down. The poor person who just returned the car and I happen to wash it gets written up for damages done by previous renters but were never recorded. See the flaw in the system? There are situations when you are dropping off the car after hours without staff to look at the car or the parkade is so dark you can't see anything (some consipiracy), it makes it hard to proof who'd done it.

I once had this happened to me at Budget, I didn't bend down far enough to inspect when I was renting but when I returned it the rep found a big scratch under the bumper. I told him I never hit anything at all. Nonetheless they still wanted to charge me. So I insisted they go back to their records and to their credit they did and found that 6 rentals ago, that same scratch was already recorded by someone. The problem again is that subsequent slips showed no damages because the rep who washed it didn't look hard enough and never recorded it. There has got to be a better way to keep track of damages so that we are not at the mercy of the washer's attention to details.

This helps reinforce Dollar's position at or near the bottom of the list of preferrred rental car companies for me.

Dollar has been consistently nasty at checkin, trying to get you to pay for CDW, etc. Maybe the bogus damage charges are part of their strategy to get folks to pay all those extra fees upfront.

Dollar and Enterprise are now tied at the bottom for me (that means they got to be at least 30 or 40% cheaper than the competition before I will even remotely consider using them). Hertz and Avis are at the top of my list (but I almost always find better rates with Avis).

I just received a voice message from some guy at Dollar threatening to hand my case over to the collections agency if I didn't pay up for some kind of damage. ...? I never rented a car with them in the past 12 months. To double check, I even went through all my credit card statements and there was no mention of Dollar Rent A Car.
Any ideas on what I should do? If need be, I have enough back-up to initiate court charges and spread the word in the media.

I just received a voice message from some guy at Dollar threatening to hand my case over to the collections agency if I didn't pay up for some kind of damage. ...? I never rented a car with them in the past 12 months. To double check, I even went through all my credit card statements and there was no mention of Dollar Rent A Car.
Any ideas on what I should do? If need be, I have enough back-up to initiate court charges and spread the word in the media.

call them and find out what they are talking about.
Thrifty and Dollar are the same... if that helps.

call them and find out what they are talking about.
Thrifty and Dollar are the same... if that helps.
I left 2 voice messages on the call-back number. No reply from their end as yet. I'll have to play the waiting game now.

I'd advise anyone to steer clear of Dollar at IAD. My experience is that they employ dishonest, sleazy people and the corporate office seems to be no better. I'd use a skateboard to get around before I'd rent from Dollar.

These are my two big "beefs" about Dollar: nobody there to show me on the spot AND the ridiculous "administrative" charge. Oh and third beef, they didn't handle it according to their corporate policy. :td:

IMHO, Hertz and Avis are the only way to go. Both companies are class act.

I would agree 100% and am sorry that you don't have the time to fight it. The only way to get companies to change their tune is to threaten (and maybe file) lawsuits. You should file in your local small claims court after you pay the bill.

I'm glad you posted this - one usually has a choice of rental companies, and sometimes it is not worth it to go outside Hertz/Avis/Nationa/Budget/Alamo just to save a few $. I've had a decent experience with Alamo after an accident (no b.s. fees) and no problems with Hertz or Avis.

As for lost business - I was considering Dollar for a rental on Thursday ... NOT! Hello Budget - you just got my business. :cool:

My thoughts on this are you get what you pay for. Dollar/Thrity postion themseleves as lower cost alternatives. By no means do I think that it justifies so uninformly bad treatment, but it's a risk you take with the type of firm.

That's why for rentals, I stick with Avis/Hertz and have never had similar incidents in probably 200 plus rentals over the 10 last years.

I am currently dealing with a very similar problem with Thrifty. I did not cause the damage claimed, but was not too worried when Subrogation Management first contacted me because I knew I was covered by MasterCard (Thirfty never dealt with me directly on this). MasterCard paid for the body damage. However, Subrogation Management is refusing to provide proof requested by MasterCard for the loss of use charge (in this case that is $306.64), so MasterCard is not paying for that. Furthermore, I also just received a letter from Subrogation Management saying that they will be handing this over to a collection agency if I don't pay the ENTIRE amount within 7 days. I will be paying only for what Master Card did not cover, and I am only paying the ransom to protect my credit.

Horrible horrible service. I will not be using Thirfty or Dollar again.

FYI.

R. Scott Anderson > Senior Executive Vice President; President Thrifty Rent-A-Car System

John J. Foley > Senior Executive Vice President; President, Dollar Rent A Car Systems

You can get this from here: http://finance.google.com/finance?q=DTG

Also interesting to see their trading activity....

Subrogation Management Team owners:

Denise and Wayne Brazell.

I am currently dealing with a very similar problem with Thrifty. I did not cause the damage claimed, but was not too worried when Subrogation Management first contacted me because I knew I was covered by MasterCard (Thirfty never dealt with me directly on this). MasterCard paid for the body damage. However, Subrogation Management is refusing to provide proof requested by MasterCard for the loss of use charge (in this case that is $306.64), so MasterCard is not paying for that. Furthermore, I also just received a letter from Subrogation Management saying that they will be handing this over to a collection agency if I don't pay the ENTIRE amount within 7 days. I will be paying only for what Master Card did not cover, and I am only paying the ransom to protect my credit.

Horrible horrible service. I will not be using Thirfty or Dollar again.

FYI.

R. Scott Anderson > Senior Executive Vice President; President Thrifty Rent-A-Car System

John J. Foley > Senior Executive Vice President; President, Dollar Rent A Car Systems

You can get this from here: http://finance.google.com/finance?q=DTG

Also interesting to see their trading activity....

Subrogation Management Team owners:

Denise and Wayne Brazell.


Welcome to FT.. yes.. I had the same issue with Thrifty, but these two are the same companies.

Dolar has been absolutely golden at TPA. Every franchise has it's good and bad locations.

But then Alamo once tried charging me for rust damage!

Sir, I would say that your luck has been golden at TPA, they ripped me off twice but there was no third time, I went to Hertz and have never looked back - Dollar and in particular the TPA operation will never see my or my company's money ever again.

Convinced me to switch to Avis ...

So is dollar really this bad? They have a special minivan deal ($32/day for 10+day rentals) that is much cheaper than anyone else, even my corporate discount via Avis.

So is dollar really this bad? They have a special minivan deal ($32/day for 10+day rentals) that is much cheaper than anyone else, even my corporate discount via Avis.
No...just go through all of the other car rental companies' forums here and read the posts there. You'll see just as many this-company-screwed-me-over-so-never-rent-from-them posts there as you do here.

I like what someone said earlier (quoting from memory): "If we boycotted every company someone's had a bad experience with on FlyerTalk, we'd all be walking." How true...

I always take pictures of the rental car before leaving the property. Other renters, the employees, and even my son almosts always look at me like I had a third eye, but it finally saved me recently at the LAX Enterprise station. I started doing this after being forced to pay for a new windshield for a rental several years ago.

When I picked up the car, it was inside a large open garage, the car freshly washed, and the rep were very cheerful when going over the car with me. When I noticed small scratches and started taking pictures, he said that those were considered normal wear and tear, and gave me the impression that they are pretty casual about damages.

Returing the car three days later, it was a completely different game. Three employees immediately descended upon the car, and carefully scrutinized it from every angle. One guy act liked he won the lottery by pointing out scratches on the rub-strip of the driver-side passenger door. The other guy immediately used a marker to write large words on the rear wind-shield something like "damages - assessment", and told me to go inside to fill in damage report.

I actually did not notice the damage during pickup, but I told them that I had pictures of the car. He immediately said that it must have dates on it, and that I have to prove that I didn't take the picture after damaging the car. While searching through my pictures, I insisted that I stay with the car despite their several attempts to escort me away to the office. Finally finding my pictures, and luckily this one definitely showed the existing damage:

http://www.seatexpert.com/Misc/SV400469_circled.html

They finally relented, since the picture was taken while the car was still inside their garage, before I even started the car. Even though at the time we were looking at the pictures on my digital camera, the scratches were identifiable. The three employees conferenced a few feet away from me, and I overheard them saying:
- this guy is lucky...
- the car is inside our garage, he couldn't get it in there after picking up the car...

One guy reluctantly wiped off the markings on the rear wind-shield, probably only to wait for the next un-suspecting renter to return the car and hit him with a damage bill.

I will continue to take pictures of my rental cars before starting the engine, and after reading this thread, I will also take pictures of the cars at the time of my return.

I am currently dealing with a very similar problem with Thrifty. I did not cause the damage claimed, but was not too worried when Subrogation Management first contacted me because I knew I was covered by MasterCard (Thirfty never dealt with me directly on this). MasterCard paid for the body damage. However, Subrogation Management is refusing to provide proof requested by MasterCard for the loss of use charge (in this case that is $306.64), so MasterCard is not paying for that. Furthermore, I also just received a letter from Subrogation Management saying that they will be handing this over to a collection agency if I don't pay the ENTIRE amount within 7 days. I will be paying only for what Master Card did not cover, and I am only paying the ransom to protect my credit.

Horrible horrible service. I will not be using Thirfty or Dollar again.

FYI.

R. Scott Anderson > Senior Executive Vice President; President Thrifty Rent-A-Car System

John J. Foley > Senior Executive Vice President; President, Dollar Rent A Car Systems

You can get this from here: http://finance.google.com/finance?q=DTG

Also interesting to see their trading activity....

Subrogation Management Team owners:

Denise and Wayne Brazell.

Sorry you had to deal with this, but Dollar/Thrifty are the scum of the Earth. :td:

So is dollar really this bad? They have a special minivan deal ($32/day for 10+day rentals) that is much cheaper than anyone else, even my corporate discount via Avis.

Here are two cases of savvy car renters...I'd seriously reconsider your booking. If you don't, go over that car THOROUGHLY before you take it out.

As for lost business - I was considering Dollar for a rental on Thursday ... NOT! Hello Budget - you just got my business. :cool:

A little late, but very glad to hear this! ^

So is dollar really this bad? They have a special minivan deal ($32/day for 10+day rentals) that is much cheaper than anyone else, even my corporate discount via Avis.

Yes. I paid more to rent from Alamo last month and it was worth every penny. I rent fairly frequently from Alamo/National, Hertz, Avis and have never been accosted over alleged damage. You can't put a price on peace of mind.

I am suprised about the tire story. I rented from Dollar once in Tucson and hit an object in the road and blew out the tire. I toook the tire to a shop and paid the $100 for a new one and called Amex and they told me to send them the receipt and I got a check in three weeks. I paid nothing extra for insurance with Amex or Dollar so I guess the lesson learned is take photos
and use Amex.

I paid nothing extra for insurance with Amex or Dollar so I guess the lesson learned is take photos
and use Amex.

Definitely good to use AMEX, but the better lesson...use a reputable car rental agency, not Dollar! :)

You can't put a price on peace of mind.

Well said. ^

Excellent strategy, UNITED959. I swore off Dollar many years ago after my very first experience with their customer non-service. Costing them far more than they collected from you is the best return on your investment. ^

I had a similar unpleasant experience with a Greenpeace door-to-door shill once upon a time. The home office never returned my calls or letters so I reluctantly concluded that they supported the shills behavior. I'm quite positive I'm personally responsible for 10's of thousands of dollars of lost donations to them. And I hope to have another 40 years worth of impact to that organization. :cool:

I'm a Hertz and World Wildlife Fund devotee.

Excellent strategy, UNITED959. I swore off Dollar many years ago after my very first experience with their customer non-service. Costing them far more than they collected from you is the best return on your investment. ^

I had a similar unpleasant experience with a Greenpeace door-to-door shill once upon a time. The home office never returned my calls or letters so I reluctantly concluded that they supported the shills behavior. I'm quite positive I'm personally responsible for 10's of thousands of dollars of lost donations to them. And I hope to have another 40 years worth of impact to that organization. :cool:

I'm a Hertz and World Wildlife Fund devotee.

Thanks! In a year or so, I'm thinking of rounding up a legal team and posting some anti-Dollar billboards nationwide...but I'm too busy to organize that yet. :D