Dollar ripoff in Puerto Rico
 

I visited Puerto Rico just before Christmas - first time there, and I loved it - but I got a rude shock on my rental car. I don't know if this is standard for PR car rentals, or specific to Dollar.

Basically, in the USA "proper", my experience has always been that if I make a car rental reservation, and get a figure that says "grand total", that will be EXACTLY what I end up paying for the car - assuming that I bring it back with a full tank of gasoline.

Not so at SJU. (An aside to say that "at the airport" is a bald-faced lie, it's actually a 30min or so bus ride). Anyhow, when I was presented with the contract, the dollar amount was about double the reservation "grand total". They included damage waiver, local taxes, and the little toll-road thingy.

I got them to remove the damage waiver, but only after repeatedly asserting that I didn't want (whereas most US companies quickly accept my "no").

The toll-road thing, I gather, is a good idea, because the highways are so confusing that you can easily end up driving through one of the lanes where you need it, and I have heard you can end up with a big fine.

The real kicker was the "local taxes". I mean, ... ?!? Didn't the "grand total" include all the taxes ? No, apparently not, as confirmed in the fine print on the reservation.

All attempts to complain about this, to the main Dollar office, were flatly rejected. They said "you have to talk to the PR office"; IOW, the exact location where the above occurred.

So, like I said, I don't know if this is standard for renting a car in PR, or not. But be advised. I'm summarize recommendations:

1. When you make your reservation, look very carefully to see if the "grand total" really IS that.
2. Be prepared to advocate vigorously for not paying for the waivers.
3. Look into the toll-road thing and if you need it or not.

Interesting. Glad I use Alamo. At Alamo, SJU, the road toll thingy was included in the price. So were all the taxes. Only surprise, was they tried to tell me I damaged the car, when I didn't. I was firm, and they quickly backed down.

To be fair, Dollar was no more expensive than the other companies, even after adding in the local taxes. It was still really sleazy behavior though.

During the past few months I have noticed that Dollar is not including true grand total costs. This is deceptive advertising and contracting.

Wow, even on rentals in the States-proper ? Damn. Seems like it should be illegal.