Car rental horror stories
 

Let's hear them!

Aside from general nickel-and-diming, the one story I have happened in the early 80's when I was a kid. Went to Maui for the first time with my parents and my younger sister. Picked up an economy car at OGG from a local car rental place (that has since gone out of business, thank goodness).

On the drive from OGG to Kaanapali, my sister and I in the back seat were the first to notice something terrifying in the car - cockroaches. Not just one or two, but HUNDREDS of them. Crawling all over - the doors, armrests, under the seats. Yes, it's the islands and roaches usually aren't a big deal, but this car looked like a museum insect exhibit. By the time we noticed how bad the infestation was, we were already close to Kaanapali.

When we finally were able to stop and my dad was able to perform a closer inspection of the car (and the rest of us able to get out of it), it was evident that it was way worse than we imagined. Lifting up the rubber floor mats revealed puddles of fluid that looked/smelled suspiciously like urine, and roaches and other creepy-crawlies were just swimming in it. At that point my dad decided to drive back to OGG with the rest of us (despite me and my sister's pleas to let us stay at the side of the road and wait for his return) and return the car. The trip back was that much more horrifying since we now knew what we were riding in and sitting on.

Even scarier was the reaction my dad got at the rental counter when he walked up and started chewing them out - a mixture of shrugs and "so what's the big deal?" looks. Ended up renting a brand new, roach-free car from Hertz and the remainder of the trip was fun and uneventful.

just reading that gave me the creeps. Nothing would have induced me to get in that car. I would have been calling for a roadside assist.

Nothing so horrible as cockroaches!!!

Once I rented a PT Cruiser (Pretty Terrible Crusier) at LAS. I got no more than a mile out of the rental lot when the transmission seized and literally fell out the bottom of the car. So began a battle in which Enterprise claimed it was my fault, and I denied doing anything except driving, and because I got no more than a mile away, the ODO was the same as it was at pick up on the contract:D and several weeks later, with the help of Amex, got out of any responsibility.

Once in DEN I had the option of taking the toll road. Without a transponder, they will bill you for the mileage you drive on it based on cameras..it's about a buck per exit you pass, my total was 7 Dollars. When the rental car company got the bill, for whatever reason they sat on it for two months, thereby making the fine 75 dollars to the state of Colorado for non payment. I claimed that it was not me that sat on it, it was Dollar Rental Car. The state graciously dropped the fine, and Dollar was held responsible. All post marks showed it was received on time, and not sent to me until 60 days later after they received it. Dollar was pissed, and even though the fine was dropped they tried to charge me a 57 dollar "administrative fee.". I never paid. Never heard from them about it. Never rented from them again either.

I was headed for Portland, Oregon once but accidentally reserved an Avis car in Portland, Maine. Got to Portland, OR and they had no reservation for me, obviously, but fixed me up with a car and sent me on my way.

Two weeks later I received a bill from Avis for $3,000. The Avis office at Portland, Maine had put my name on a car. Some woman drove off in it and promptly wrecked it. They had me as the renter of record although I was on the other side of the country at the time. The Avis bureaucracy was completely ridiculous and it took weeks to convince they I was not responsible.

I will NEVER rent from Budget rent-a-car again.

Rented a small SUV in London for 10 days. Drove fine the whole time, no problems, no accidents, nothing. Turned it in one cold morning (late December) back to the airport lot at Heathrow, collected my paperwork and was off. Three weeks later I get a charge on my credit card for $3,000. They claimed I put gasoline in their diesel engine and ruined the engine. I had fueled the day before and still had the receipt showing the correct fuel. Despite the fact that I had their paperwork showing no damage to the car, despite the fact that I had the fuel receipt showing the correct fuel they insisted it was my problem, not theirs. The refused to investigate the problem and it took me ten months to resolve it through my credit card.

To top it all off, after I won the dispute on my credit card they sold the "debt" to a London collection agency who then tried to collect. I ignored them, and it has been three years now. But I have heard of zombie debt resurfacing ten years later. So I doubt it is over.

Never, ever, will I rent from Budget in any country ever again.

One time, they tried to upgrade [sic] me to an Aztek.

The horror.

Cockroaches?!? Ugh!!!

I've rented numerous times from OGG and I've never seen any cockroaches in the vehicle.

Interpol.. Which local rental car company did you rent from? I will make sure I avoid them..:eek:

This was back in the early 1980's. I was only 11 or 12 years old then. This particular local rental company has long been out of business.

A colleague and I rented from TPA about 6 years ago, arriving quite late at night. Early the next morning we set off for an important meeting...my whole US visit from the UK was based around this one meeting.

My US colleague, who was the only named driver, accidentally ran a red light somewhere in Tampa - right in front of a traffic cop who promptly pursued us and pulled our car over. My US colleague panicked and in the space of about 20 seconds told me he had skipped a court appearance about 4 years ago when he lived in MA for some driving offence and if this showed up when the traffic cop checked him out, he may be arrested and carted off to the police station :eek:

Sure enough, his unresolved violation showed up and he was arrested by the cop and taken away, leaving me with the rental car and unable to drive. Unknown to me at the time, we we in a bad, bad part of TPA - and in a shiny new car. It was however around 06:30 in the morning so not too many folks (good or bad ones) about.

So I phoned Avis and explained the situation. All was calm - until I stated my location, then the agent said "we'll be right over to get you sir, just stay in the vehicle and lock the doors". Sure enough, 20 minutes later two Avis folks turned up and one drove me back to the airport where they completed the formalities of adding me to the insurance.

I attended the meeting by myself, my US colleague was released later the same day, financially considerably worse off :D

OMG. I cannot add anything to say that either I have been exceptionally lucky, or some of you guys have been exceptionally unlucky! Wow. Reading some of these stories makes me never want to rent a car again - or at least never skip a court date. :D

This should not have been necessary. Ordinarily regular co-workers (people employed full-time by the named renter's company) traveling on company business are automatically allowed as additional drivers, as are spouses. Of course you may want to check this with the rental company before relying on it.

Thank goodness they are out of business..

and for very good reason..

To this day, I still wonder what the heck someone did in that car to have it end up in that condition. I have never seen anything like it since - initially the interior looked OK until you spent any time inside and the roaches started coming out from all places - including the air vents.

Wasn't aware of this benefit. Does it apply when I am a non-US citizen?

My own "horror" story is not all that bad but it's different.

I elected to try traveling one week from DFW to my client's office in Montpelier, VT, via Bradley International (BDL) near Hartford, CT. The closest airport to Montpelier is Burlington, a 30 or 45 minute drive, but you have to connect somewhere which lends an air of uncertainty. BDL is a 3 hour drive but it's also served non-stop from DFW, so it's more predictable.

This worked, although I could have used a little more daylight driving to Vermont. (This was on Easter Sunday). The last hour was pretty dark, and I-89 is a nice picturesque road in daylight but hard to drive in the dark.

On my return trip, I was about 30 minutes south of Montpelier on I-89, driving in light rain. I spotted a wild turkey in a field up ahead, thought how cool is that, had never seen one before. But, it was raining, and the road is curvy, so I told myself, watch the road, not the turkey.

A few seconds later, the turkey flew into the front of my rental. There was a huge bang, feathers flying. I didn't know what to think. I pulled over at a rest stop, not far away, and inspected the car. There was a dent about the size of a basketball in the hood. The car ran fine. I called Hertz to report the accident, and they asked if I was near a major city. Well, no, I'm in Vermont, there are no major cities! I elected to continue to BDL.

Please note, I had never seen a wild turkey before and did not know they could fly. I have since learned that they can fly, but not very high (duh) or very far. This one probably was crossing the road to look for love, and instead got a Nissan Versa at 65 mph.

When I returned the car to Hertz, of course they asked what happened. I told them about the turkey, and it turned out I was the second renter that day to have hit a turkey.

I decline all coverages, so am still sorting it out with my auto carrier.

I had a turkey sandwich in the bar at BDL.

Thats why , I always say - buy the whole rental insurance irrespective of whether your policy covers rentals or not or if your credit card covers it. I always buy the whole package - CDW,PLI,PAP/SLI,Roadside - it is well worth the cost. And no personal policy covers for "loss of use". This is the most favorite charge by the rental car companies. ;)

And once you buy their coverage - they take care of all the paperwork and hassle. And another thing - if you buy their coverage - they do not microscopically inspect your car for every single scratch,scrape or dent. Why so many websites and travel folks insist on not buying the rental car insurance is beyond me. Penny wise and pound foolish in my opinion.

I think car insurance companies are partially to blame. They make it a selling point that they cover rentals but neglect to mention pretty much everything you just said.

My only horror story isn't so bad. The in-laws were visiting while I lived in vegas and my wife and I went to meet them at LAS. They get in and we go to get their rental and they want to add me to the car so I can drive them around and whatnot. Well despite the fact that the in-laws were listed as drivers and their CC was on record the company wouldn't add me to the car since I didn't have a CC, just a debit card. Makes no sense, so we just walked to the next rental company over and had a car in 10 minutes, with me added as a driver.

Some of the credit card companies will cover loss of use with their coverage.

"Loss of use" charges should be illegal unless they can prove they were 100% booked for the time of the charges. Not 100% booked, no loss of use, no charge. It is purely a profit center for them.

:td::td:

I would like to know which ones. Thanks.:D

Also, with the 3rd party insurance- any payment that needs to be paid to a rental car company in an accident sometimes has to be paid immediately or within a certain time frame. They will send the papers to your CC company,your CC will send them to you. You send it back to CC and they send it to rental car company. Again to and fro, back and forth. You get the picture. Takes a lot of time and hassle. And gain ,no guarantee that everything will be covered. Most of the CC coverage is secondary - after your primary insurance.

Also, if you you use your own insurance and get in an accident, it is a given that your personal insurance company will jack up your rates significantly. Plus, no guarantee that they will cover. Chances of an accident in a rental car are higher certainly than with your daily car b'cos- unfamiliar area ,unfamiliar car,anxiety,new routes etc :td:

Imagine the consequences when you realize after the accident that you are not covered . Or your personal policy refuses to cover. You are royally screwed. To save a few tens of dollars - you can get into a disasterous consequence running into thousands of dollars. As I said -Penny wise and pound foolish IMO.

Even though I hate that policy - fact is - rental car companies are not a charity. They have to make profits . And with margins slimming down -they have to make up somewhere or else they will go belly up. Sad, but true.

one of my old coworkers bought a used rental car, the irony of it being that he was one of our sales reps so he had to drive around all day. as you would imagine, the car had various problems which i asked him about after riding in it and hearing the knocking sound coming from bottom area of the driver side.

I have no problem with any company making a profit. What I have a problem with is a company lying about a "loss" and then asking a customer to pay the company based on that lie. If there was no "loss of use" there cannot be any charge. I am not looking for charity, only morals and ethics from the rental company.

I would have thought a shot of Wild Turkey would have been more appropriate.

I picked up a car in downtown Geneva from Avis. I was driving back to the hotel to pick up my wife and was on a major road when all of a sudden I realize that the clutch is going out. Throw on the hazards and start coasting while everybody behind me starts honking at me. There is nowhere to pull over as there are cars parked along the street.

I am able to coast down a hill and see a small road to the right. I turn and pull as far to the right as I can and then stop. No where to park as all street spots are taken. The road is narrow but it seems like there is enough room for cars to pass.

I call Avis emergency assistance and explain the problem. She says somebody will come to assist but it will take an hour. She asks where I am but I have no clue. I try and ask somebody walking by but can't understand his french. So I hand him the phone and he seems to be able to communicate my location. Avis lady tells me its all good and to just sit tight.

But then 20 minutes later a bus comes rolling down the street. It starts honking at me and I get out of the car. Bus driver is impatient and tries to go through but the bus gets stuck. I try to explain tot he driver what happened but my french is no good and her English is even worse. She is yelling at me. Finally a British passenger asks me what's wrong and translates to the bus driver. Then a bunch of guys riding the bus get off and push my car backwards so its out of the way. Everybody gets back on the bus and away they go.

Shortly after a bystander helps me push the car into an open spot on the street that has opened up. In the meantime I had called my wife and she took a tram to my location. When the Avis guy comes he determines that the car needs to be towed. He didn't have enough room for me and my wife so he pointed us to the tram and told us to go to the airport and see Avis there.

When we get to the airport, they have no idea we are coming. After making a bunch of calls they tell us that they will have a new car but we owe 600 francs (about $600) for the damage. I start explaining that it wasn't my fault and the clutch was obviously bad. I had only put 3km on the odometer.

The guy is a rather arrogant french guy and obviously thinks I am a silly American who has no idea how to drive a stick. I own a stick though so am plenty comfortable. Plus what can you really do in 3km. They won't budge but then I demand to speak to someone in the US. After I demand to speak with an Avis rep in the US they let it go and tell me they won't charge me. I get my new car and have no incidents with that for my 16 day rental.

Another Roach Story
 

I had a cockroach experience as well in Honolulu years ago. I discovered the first roach in the car while driving around a curve by a cliff near Sandy Beach when a cockroach jumped up on the winshield directly in my line of view. I squashed it using a tissue while trying not to drive off the cliff. Ended up killing five or six more roaches using the tissues and stuffing them in the ash tray as these roaches were not very fast. When I turned in the car, I tossed the keys to the surfer dude in the car rental return lot and said "Hey, I left a few roaches in the ash tray for you." He replied "Wow, thanks man."

Its not advised to purchase a rental vehicle after it's useful life as a rental..

We're talking about renters who may not be as careful as they would be with their own vehicle.. 100% driving the rental.. once the rental is finished.. another renter renting who may not be as careful.. in a recurring cycle for up to a couple of years..

at Hertz in Kauai I saw a family complaining to the desk that there was a rooster in the back seat. Plenty of them roaming the highways and parking lots so not too surprising.

I have to disagree, respectfully of course. I have a 2007 Pontiac G6 I bought used from Enterprise with about 25,000 miles on it. I've since put another ~50K on it with no problems.

My worst rental car horror story comes from the other side of the counter. I run a local rental department here in Durham and we rent to a lot of people who can't rent anywhere else. One of our customers was a known drug dealer whose father would rent the car, pay for it, and add his son as an additional driver. Apparently his son had been advised to stay out of a certain area and he failed to heed that warning. He was ambushed and murdered in our car, shot to death by automatic weapons. The police informed us they knew who the murderers were but could never secure a conviction. The car was also a total write off, though I wouldn't have felt comfortable renting a car that had been covered in splattered brains anyway.

Lol..:D

I would raise the rooster roost issue as well.. if they were hanging out in the back seat.

I agree that I should clarify.. not all rental cars purchased after the fact is bad..

In my experience being in the vehicle industry for 8 years (publisher of an auto magazine.. so I knew over 100 dealer managers).. my contacts experience with vehicles purchased from Fleets of rentals, is a higher probability of hard use, and less of a useful life.. Sure there are a few gems out there.. Maybe with a good AAA inspection, and some thorough diagnostics, and checkover.. you could find a gem..

We could have used a rooster...maybe it would have eaten the roaches.

Knowing how I drive rented cars, I wouldn't buy one. :) But I think it must depend somewhat on the vehicle type. Compact Hyundais (or similar) seem virtually destroyed by renters by 25,000 or 30,000 miles... those small cars with small engines are thrashed to within an inch of their lives. And I wouldn't touch sporty cars or luxury cars that were former rentals. But SUVs and vanilla Malibus, Impalas, etc. might be less prone to customer abuse in their rental lives.

Mid-90's my brother and I rented a Taurus from Hertz at FLL. It broke down as we drove off the lot. We went back to Hertz and got another Taurus. As we drove out of the lot smoke and flames shot out of the hood! After that they gave us a Lincoln.

Not so much a horror story as a near nightmare. When I was in my early twenties, my then girlfriend, now wife, were on our first major trip together in Hawaii. For the second half of our trip, we were in Kauai for a week and needed a rental car. I was careful to try and make sure that I rented from a company that did not require the renter to be over age 25; however, upon reaching the check-in counter, all of my planning was for naught. I was facing a week of being stuck.

It took all my powers of persuasion to convince the clerk to just hit the wrong button when entering my year of birth into the system :)

1.

Was out near MSP for a friend's wedding. Rented a car from Enterprise, spent the weekend out there for the wedding and then promptly returned it before my flight out. Same guy checked me in and out and signed off that the car was fine and undamaged. 3 days later I get a phone call from Enterprise claims wanting to know how I was going to pay for all the damage to the car. Um what? All of a sudden their copy of the signed sheet that the car was returned undamaged was missing. Fortunately I still had my copy but still had to go back and forth with their claims people a few times before they left me alone. Best I can figure is that their porter or the guy who checked it in hit something after I was gone and tried to blame it on me.

Thanks to that I'll never rent again from Enterprise.


2.

In BHM I rented from Dollar/Thrifty and got the last car they had, even though the 8+ people behind me in line also had reserved cars.

Issues with the car:

- Interior was trashed
- My driver's side lock indicator/knob had broken off so they literally just screwed in a screw to act as the lock indicator/knob used to lock/unlock it
- Rotors were warped at 28k miles
- Severe knock/clunk in the steering column and WAY too much play in the steering wheel
- Really bad vibration when braking, going at speed, and turning. This got worse and worse during the rental period
- It smelled like diapers and baby wipes
- Driver's side window seal wouldn't seal all the way so there was a nice bit of air getting in when driving
- Driver's side front wheel suspension clunked/popped when driving over anything that was the slightest bit unlevel.
- Trunk latch worked 66% of the time
- The rental company gave me the car WITH NO LICENSE PLATE. Oddly this turned out to be a non issue since apparently cops in Alabama don't care.

Of all of these the vibration from the front driver's side wheel when doing pretty much anything was the most concerning. I kept thinking the wheel was going to fall off. When I dropped the car off I told the guy that it needed to be inspected and fixed since there was a seriously problem somewhere. He responded "the tire probably just needs air." It definitely more serious than that. :rolleyes:

Thanks to that I'll never rent from Dollar/Thifty again.

i had red ants once a few years ago

I rented one of those. Scary times.

+1..:D

I've become more responsible over the years.. in a rental and my own vehicle. :)


Did you tip the counter agent?

Great story, but your punchline made me laugh out loud! :D

One time my Dad got a car in PHX and when he drove it we realized the Wind Shield was cracked.... Needless to say they determined it was broken so he didn't get charged.