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Disappointing car rental
#204457
09/13/2019 10:29 AM
09/13/2019 10:29 AM
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 304 Perdido Key, Florida
cbinparadise
OP
Traveler
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OP
Traveler
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 304
Perdido Key, Florida
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I recently had something happen that quite frankly shocked me. Six of us came down to spend a week on St. John. We needed a larger vehicle to accommodate everyone and their luggage so I did something I've never done...rented from a company I've never rented from before with no airport office. When we arrived a representative picked me up and took me to their office. We discussed insurance and apparently none of the car rental companies provide insurance any more (we ran into this on St. John also). At some point I told the woman that I had been coming to the VI for exactly 40 years and at one time lived on St. John so I knew my way around and was quite comfortable driving on island. The vehicle was a fairly new Dodge Durango. I could tell it was a recent model but it was dinged up from one end to the other, with literally dozens of dings/scratches/dents and the front spoiler had been ripped off. Someone had attempted to conceal all the damage by using touch up paint to hide them but they were all very obvious. It would have taken all day to mark them on the small diagram. I wasn't worried about causing any damage myself as we would be staying at Emerald Beach on both ends of the trip and only using the vehicle to go to and from the airport & ferry at Crowne Bay. After dropping everyone at the airport I went to the rental office closeby to return the car. Of course someone went out to check the car for damage and came back in and said "someone hit your car". I told them exactly where we had been, that I was the only driver and that car was never out of my sight except the night before at the hotel and it was parked in such a way that no one could have bumped it on that side. I asked her how she could tell that it was a recent ding and she said "I know". I needed to get to the airport and wasn't in any mood for an argument so I had their driver take me. She said she would be in touch. A week went by and I called 4 times over several days only to be told "our estimator has not had a chance to look at it." This concerned me as I couldn't see why an "estimator" would need to look at a nickel size door ding. No one would ever call me back but they did charge $450 on my credit card. When I called to complain about the excessive amount she said "Don't you have insurance". I said that indeed I do but this would be just under my $500 deductible. So we had the same Durango for less than 48 hours, didn't even used enough gas to move the needle, spent almost $500 including tips for their drivers, and they add-on an additional $450 for damage that was already there. I've heard about this kind of thing happening but when it happened to me I was literally speechless. That's the kind of thing that turns visitors off and certainly I will never use that company again. We always rent a vehicle from one of the airport car rental agencies but this time we needed something larger. We do this for our own convenience and to not be at the mercy of the taxi drivers. Next time I'll save the $950 and go the taxi route. A little inconvenience would be worth it. Anyone else have a similar experience?
Last edited by cbinparadise; 09/13/2019 10:57 AM.
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Re: Disappointing car rental
[Re: cbinparadise]
#204478
09/13/2019 01:36 PM
09/13/2019 01:36 PM
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 304 Perdido Key, Florida
cbinparadise
OP
Traveler
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OP
Traveler
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 304
Perdido Key, Florida
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Discount Car Rental. I see online reviews from great to terrible. Our experience was fine up until I was charged a ridiculous amount for damage I didn't do to a car that already had a tremendous amount of damage. $450 for a small dent ( the size of a nickel) that I honestly believe was already there. I have to say that there were Xs all over the diagram when we walked around the car prior to us taking possession. And there was an X in that same spot but the woman said this was a "new place". Next time I'll be following George's suggestion of a video. And there won't be a next time with Discount.
Last edited by cbinparadise; 09/13/2019 01:40 PM.
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Re: Disappointing car rental
[Re: cbinparadise]
#204479
09/13/2019 01:45 PM
09/13/2019 01:45 PM
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,457 Finger Lake Region
crmoores
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,457
Finger Lake Region
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Yes besides a thorough examination (as you I’d) I always video the entire vehicle, from the wheels to the trunk to the interior. But it is very hard to contest this, especially long distance... Thanks for the alert. You left a review as well?
"Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life — and travel — leaves marks on you.” -Anthony Bourdain
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Re: Disappointing car rental
[Re: cbinparadise]
#204481
09/13/2019 02:25 PM
09/13/2019 02:25 PM
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 3,003
sail445
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 3,003
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Not yet but I will...once I cool off. I had a similar experience. Is the car rental up the street from Crown bay Marina and if so are they also car dealership? I rented a car for the day and they charged me for a ding on the rear fender and a ding on the front fender which was clearly marked before I rented car and was charged $800 + You could see the look on their faces as they thought they got me. At the time AMEX took care of it but I did tell AMEX the we’re ripping us off.
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Re: Disappointing car rental
[Re: cbinparadise]
#204499
09/13/2019 09:37 PM
09/13/2019 09:37 PM
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 3,003
sail445
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 3,003
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Yes that's the one. Interestingly enough...they wouldn't take AMEX. I paid with my Visa card. I would have disputed the charge had I not just disputed a $10,000 charge from a company that resurfaced my pool deck and really made a mess of it. I had to pay someone else to redo the job. I just didn't feel like fighting about the car repair charge too. Glad to hear they didn’t take AMEX it tells me AMEX probably didn’t pay the scam artist.
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Re: Disappointing car rental
[Re: cbinparadise]
#204556
09/15/2019 12:29 PM
09/15/2019 12:29 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 3,228 Somewhere out there
kneafseym
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 3,228
Somewhere out there
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Discount and Economy operate in many cities and you have to be very careful, very cheap online rates but bait and switch on fees. Generally a very hard sell on insurance. At one office in FLL they wanted me to take insurance at $35/day because I did not carry proof of insurance from my car, I walked out.
I carry a Chase Sapphire card and had 1 windshield crack issue and it was very easily handled. The bill was just $35 CDN, but I wanted the experience in dealing with CC insurance and mine was as good as advertised.
Mike
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