Milwaukee41

Hi, I might be in the wrong place but I was hoping someone here might be able to steer me in the right direction. I reserved a full size car in SLC-city center. When I arrived I was told by others in our traveling party that I may want a awd vehicle for some of the activities we would be doing. I asked at the counter and was upgraded at the counter to a Ford Edge with FL tags. All seemed good until I got to my destination and promptly got stuck in 3" of snow in front of my destination. On a flat residential street! I discovered the vehicle was not awd and the front 19" sport tires only had 6/32" tread ( just above the wear bars). I called Avis, they apologized and we're going to swap out the vehicle. We wasted half a day of our vacation either on the phone or waiting by the truck. The swap finally got done and we experienced no more issues even driving through more snow with the delivered Malibu than we could get through with the original Edge. I was credited for the gas prepayment and one day of rental for my trouble.
Approx 3 weeks later I get a bill for $715!!!!! I appealed the bill and was told that because I didn't take supplemental ins, tough luck. Really, they didn't give me awd like I requested and make me pay when their car had tires on it which should have been replaced for snow duty. Any help on who to contact or someone who might be able to help me would be greatly appreciated!

IAHtraveler

While I don't agree that $715 was significantly more than a tow should cost, you should be required to pay the tow fee, IMHO.

You paid for a full-size, so they aren't required to give you anything upgraded from that. They were nice enough to give you an SUV and you didn't check to see what options it had.

Also, UT law (http://www.liftlaws.com/utah_lift_laws.htm) required 1/16" (2/32") of tire tread to be legal. The vehicle provided had 3x this amount so I'm not sure how you feel it's "unsafe".

As I've suggested MANY times, prior to taking a vehicle off of a lot, I highly recommend:
1. Vehicle walk around to ensure no damage (windshield, windows, paint, etc)
2. Check the tread on all tires
3. Ensure all lights work (turn the headlights & 4-ways on before walking around the car).
4. Get in and tap the brakes while watching the mirrors to ensure you have brake lights.

If any of the above aren't satisfactory, go in and swap before pulling off.

AutoSlash

I don't necessarily disagree with what IAHtraveler said, but my issue is what exactly was agreed with Avis regarding the vehicle swap? Did they tell you that it would be done at their cost "in the name of customer service", or did you just say that the car was stuck and you wanted them to deal with it. I think the devil is in the details here regarding who said what to whom. There is no easy answer here, and with the information you provided, it's hard to make a determination what would be expected as reasonable. At the very least, I'd escalate to Avis customer service and see what can be done. While they may not waive the tow charge entirely, they may be willing to negotiate.

Concerto

Thanks for the advice in the numbered points above, very helpful, although I always perform No. 1. I'm going to adopt that whole procedure from now on. I would add to that, from recent experience even if it's somewhat obvious, to be careful when you're signing contracts etc. and spend some extra minutes checking what you're signing for. Just to avoid unnecessary surprises later on.

MSPeconomist

Did the OP explicitly ask for AWD or just a SUV? Also, did an agent tell him that he was being given an AWD vehicle?

Milwaukee41

To clarify and update.
I reserved a full size car. I, at the desk, told the representative that I needed AWD or 4WD as we were going to Deer Valley and they had received 60"of snow over the last two weeks. I was told that was fine and offered a SUV and was charged an accordingly higher rate for the upgrade. As it turns out, the original car with good tires would have been fine, but the only reason I had a problem is that I was Not given the vehicle I requested.
What I think we need to remember is these are service companies, if we can't trust their service, why use them?
After attempting to contact Avis directly, I used twitter and through social media customer service was then told that there would be no charges(I have the email). Then I was told there would be charges, but they would be 50% of the original $715.00. So today they took out $357.50. I am disputing the charges through my bank and through the ERS dept that sent me the letter that states I will not be charged.

NDDomer86

As far as being given a non-AWD vehicle (the applicable drive-train to a Ford Edge), trim level and drive-train are not noted in the system and require either A) you check before accepting a vehicle B) the agent personally go check the vehicle or C) a willing agent to call someone to find the specific trim/drive-train that you want.

For example, I refuse to take a Ford Fusion if it is not a Titanium/Platinum model and the only way to ensure that is to either walk the lot and tell the agent the spaces that I am willing to accept, or for the agent to call down to the wash people and see if one is waiting to be brought up...

Being a local rental location vs. an airport location, it may be that the agent made an honest mistake and is used to dealing with a locally bought fleet which would normally include AWD/4WD SUVs. While plate registration is not necessarily an indication of where a vehicle was originally put into service in the rental world, it could have been a one-way rental from a warmer climate that got shifted to the local location.