I reserved a small car at the Portland Dollar Car Rental. When I got there, Jim, the counter guy said "We can get you into a more comfortable car with no extra charge". Implicit statement: "Dollar cares about you". Trouble is, he was offering me a big carbon emitter in OREGON!!! I mean, is this guy deaf, or something? It went on a little as he did his shtick. But then I pulled him up and said "Hey, I reserved the SMALLEST car because I want the most EFFICIENT car, not the plush car at the cheapest price!" So now he backs off and says he'll put me in a Toyota Corolla. Well, it is not the car I asked for. I didn't ask "Do you HAVE the one I requested?" The Corolla is not the best in fuel economy, but I know it does well. So I went along. But now "Jim" (his real name) starts into his car salesman routine of "you'll want this, and this, and this, and this" And he runs off an agreement. My $81 car was now $131. 60 percent above the pre-arranged price. Wait, he was HELPING me by putting me in a more expensive car? In what way? His kind of "help" is what Dollar may need but not any customer. I said no I'm not agreeing to this, take all this stuff off. So NOW he says "Well, at least you'll want this coverage so that you can just walk away no matter what happens." He runs off a new agreement where the $81 became $109. Very nice for his Dollar office, I'm thinking. Well, if it was a scam, it worked because $109 looked better than $131 for sure. So I initialed all the places.

But I think they are trying to pick the pockets of everyone who comes in. They think "Dollar gives a good deal", but my experience says the opposite. I'm gonna bone up before my next rental to have MY script all ready to go. I'm going to stop the counter person before they run off some ridiculous overblown proposal and say I want what I asked for which is why I asked for it. Dollar is only one of about a half dozen companies I've rented from. But this is probably the worst encounter in car rental so far.