FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Flat Rental Car Tire - Miles from Rental Company - What to Do?
Old Jul 15, 2018, 8:08 am
  #14  
AutoSlash
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Originally Posted by BigFlyer
The thing that is odd about this, is that the treatment by the rental car companies is counter-intuitive.

I assumed that a blown tire is treated like a mechanical problem - it is a functional part of the car related to driving, and, is normally replaced based on wear and tear.

Instead, they treat it as a body problem - like a dented door. Seems to me if they are going to charge for the new tire they should give a credit based on the useful life of the old tire. Doesn't make sense that the customer would pay the cost of a new tire when the old one is already half way through its useful life.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but there are a few things to consider:

First off, think of 4 renters:
  • Renter A drives off the rental lot (unknowingly) on a tire that has a slow leak which eventually results in a flat tire
  • Renter B drives off the rental lot with a perfectly good tire and picks up a nail on the interstate which results in a flat tire
  • Renter C drives off the rental lot with a perfectly good tire and hits a pothole in the dark which results in a blowout
  • Renter D drives off the rental lot with a perfectly good tire and gets frustrated in traffic and drives on the shoulder of the road where a lot of debris collects and runs over a piece of metal that damages the tire
In each of the scenarios above, it could be debated whether some/none/all of the fault rests with the renter. The thing is though that the rental company has no idea what happened under what circumstances to cause the flat. In terms of who's at fault, it's essentially your word against theirs. If you make a compelling case, they may be willing to waive the fee for a new tire, swap the car for free, etc., but the fact remains that according to the rental contract the renter signs, any tire damage is the responsibility of the renter. Again, you may feel that sucks, but it's in the contract you have to agree to in order to check out the vehicle.

As for having to pay the entire cost of the of a new tire when there may already been some level of tread used up, it may seem unfair, but if the tire is not repairable, the rental company will have to purchase a brand new one. It's not like they can purchase half a tire. You could make the case that the rental company is getting a brand new tire and thus would not have to replace it as soon, but this is somewhat misguided as it's unlikely that they will replace 3 tires in month 4 and then wait another 2 months to replace the newer tire because it had more tread. The maintenance schedules don't really work this way. Additionally, there's a decent change the rental company would have sold or auctioned off the car before any of the tires even needed replacing, so in effect, they'd still be out the cost of one new tire.
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