Comments on: Car rental companies find new and innovative ways to screw good drivers http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2006/07/01/car-rental-companies-find-new-and-innovative-ways-to-screw-good-drivers/ Living the first class life -- at coach prices Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:30:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.2 By: Anonymous http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2006/07/01/car-rental-companies-find-new-and-innovative-ways-to-screw-good-drivers/#comment-97 Anonymous Mon, 03 Jul 2006 17:40:00 +0000 http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2006/07/01/car-rental-companies-find-new-and-innovative-ways-to-screw-good-drivers/#comment-97 Having worked for the National/Alamo group, I can say that there are numerous "tricks" all the rental car units use to get a few extra dollars. One particular one that caused me to quit in protest was the quota on fuel charges that return agents were to maintain. Return agents are "asked" (read hounded until they comply) to charge a certain percentage of renters for fuel. This means that National/Alamo has a friendlier version of the drive too little fee. There are some cars to be aware of when you rent, as they sometimes will not show a full tank of gas unless you overfill the tank. The Cobalt and G6 are the ones that appeared most often while I worked as a return agent. I can say that there was no bonus for charging customers for vehicle damages, but while we are on the topic of vehicle damage there are a couple of things that need to be mentioned further. Not only should you check the outside of the car, you need to be aware of the windshield and interior as well. The largest number of damage claims I filed were for chips in the windshield. These can be hard to see, especially at night, unless you really look for them. As for the interior, check for rips, tears, and stains as you could find yourself charged for an interior detailing if you are not careful. My recommendation is to have a company agent walk the car with you. Make them write down <B>everything</B> you see and then sign and date their notations. Also, make absolutely sure that they put down their employee number especially if you are going one-way. This is the best way to protect yourself, and something I did even when I was renting from the National while I was an employee. Having worked for the National/Alamo group, I can say that there are numerous “tricks” all the rental car units use to get a few extra dollars. One particular one that caused me to quit in protest was the quota on fuel charges that return agents were to maintain. Return agents are “asked” (read hounded until they comply) to charge a certain percentage of renters for fuel. This means that National/Alamo has a friendlier version of the drive too little fee. There are some cars to be aware of when you rent, as they sometimes will not show a full tank of gas unless you overfill the tank. The Cobalt and G6 are the ones that appeared most often while I worked as a return agent.

I can say that there was no bonus for charging customers for vehicle damages, but while we are on the topic of vehicle damage there are a couple of things that need to be mentioned further. Not only should you check the outside of the car, you need to be aware of the windshield and interior as well. The largest number of damage claims I filed were for chips in the windshield. These can be hard to see, especially at night, unless you really look for them. As for the interior, check for rips, tears, and stains as you could find yourself charged for an interior detailing if you are not careful.

My recommendation is to have a company agent walk the car with you. Make them write down everything you see and then sign and date their notations. Also, make absolutely sure that they put down their employee number especially if you are going one-way. This is the best way to protect yourself, and something I did even when I was renting from the National while I was an employee.

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