A car rental conundrum: What would you do with this case?

Amy and Kevin Roeder are stuck with a $1,600 bill from Thrifty Car Rental for damage they say they didn’t do. Thrifty insists they’re responsible, and isn’t backing down. And now I’m stuck, too. What do I do next?

Maybe you can help with this case.

Let me fill in a few details. The Roeder’s flew to Kalispell, Mont., in May for a high school graduation and rented a minivan through Thrifty. Before picking up the van, they conducted a thorough inspection. All was well.

The only noteworthy event was the “hard sell” on optional insurance. “The Thrifty man was insistent that we get his insurance only $5 a day,” said Amy Roeder. “We said no, we have insurance.”

She continues,

We left, traveled to our hotel, went to graduation and returned on Monday the 31st.

We once again walked around the van with the rental guy and he signed off that all was OK. I have the document that states this.

Fast forward, 2 days later at home, there is a message on the machine from Thrifty in Montana that the van had major front end damage and scratches along the side and the hubcaps were all scratched up — $1,600 worth of damage, that for whatever reason they could not see when we returned it.

Very odd.

We did not damage that van. They have since sent pictures and a bill for the damage.

I really don’t want to submit a claim for something I didn’t do, and I also get a discount for never having ever submitted a claim, but I don’t want this to leave a bad mark on my credit.

What should I do? Should I really submit a claim, lose my discount, have my premium increase for someone who is scamming me? I don’t know any other recourse?

Roeder says she called the Thrifty location in Kalispell, and asked about the “all clear” slip she’d been given.

“I can’t discuss that with you,” she was told.

I contacted Owen Kelley at the Kalispell Thrifty franchise on her behalf. Here’s what he had to say:

What happened with the Roeder’s rental car is that damage did occur at some point during their rental, but I want to make it clear that I don’t think they were aware that it happened, and I don’t want it to appear that we are insinuating that they are being dishonest with us.

This particular car had only 460 miles on it when it was rented to the Roeders, and 125 of those miles were put on it by me personally when I drove the car from our main office in Missoula to our location in Kalispell.

The signed checkout slip that Mrs. Roeder refers to in her email to you is the damage report done for the vehicle prior to us renting it out to them, and she signed it stating there was no damage to the rental car at the time they rented it.

When they returned it the car was dirty, as is very common when cars are returned, and the damage was concealed by the dirt, so unfortunately we did not discover the damage until the vehicle was washed. This is not an uncommon occurence, we don’t make customers wait for us to clean the cars when they return them because they are usually in too big of a hurry to get to the airport.

At rental car locations that are on site at the airport people leave cars in the lot and turn the keys in at the counter, so when damage is discovered on those cars they are also contacted after the fact, when the cars have been cleaned. This is not an unusual procedure.

I want to stress again that we do not think that the Roeders are trying to scam us like they think we are trying to scam them, I believe they did not realize that the damage occured while they had the minivan, but there is no doubt that it did.

We have won awards from Thrifty Corporation for our professionalism and customer service, we do not “scam” our customers. We want them to come back to us again as many of our customers do, but we can’t afford to absorb the damage that is done to our cars.

That being said, if there is any doubt in our mind that the damage may have been previous damage, we do not pursue the claim. In this particular situation that simply is not the case, we know the damage happened during the Roeder’s rental period.

So what now?

Should I appeal the Roeders’ case to Thrifty at the corporate level? Should I send it back to them with my regrets? Should I just do nothing and let the the family’s insurance company deal with the claim?

I’m conflicted. On the one hand, I find it difficult to believe that $1,600 worth of damage could be hidden behind dirt. On the other hand, the Roeders were the only renters of that vehicle.

What would you do?

Updates

(11:30 a.m.) Just received this from Thrifty, via Twitter: “We appreciate your comments. The Thrifty loc is dealing directly with the Roeders on this.”

(2 p.m.) I’ve forwarded this case to Thrifty corporate. Not sure who’s at the steering wheel at Thrifty’s Twitter account, but I get the sense they’d like to stay out of this one.

(5 p.m.) Send this case along to PurCo for review.

(Photo: biker tect/Flickr Creative Commons)

← Older Comments
  • EvilEmpryss

    It sounds waaay too suspicious to me that the owner of the franchise keeps insisting that he doesn’t think the renters are trying to scam *him*. Of course not, *he’s* trying to scam the renters! He admits to driving the vehicle himself, and likely caused the damage to the vehicle.

    Take it to corporate. The renters have an all-clear receipt and the only damage that could possibly be “hidden” by road dirt — even back-country Montana road dirt — are paint scratches. As I just last week got my own minivan painted because of a scratched up bumper I can assure you that it doesn’t cost $1,600 to repaint a vehicle! The BS about comparing it to the airport drop-off locations is a specious argument: no one inspects those cars when they’re turned in, so of course there are damages assessed after the car is finally examined. To have an employee inspect the car and sign off on its condition, though, is completely different. For all anyone knows, the employee who checked in the car hit something as he was taking it back to be cleaned.

    This is why I ALWAYS take pictures of the rental car both before and after the rental, and I get the rental agent in one of the frames, as well, just so I can put a face to the scribble of a name they usually leave on the form. Let’s see them argue that the damage was there when I have a picture of their rental agent standing next to an undamaged car at turn in.

  • Chris in NC

    Oh, back to the original subject at hand.

    Yes, I would fight this. If the OP has a signed statement that everything is “OK” then that should be the end of it. I am curious as to the exact documentation that the OP had. I strongly suspect that there is language in the contract that reads to the effect of….

    reserves the right for a FINAL inspection after the vehicle has been returned.

    I’ve seen it in virtually every contract that I’ve had. Thats why I’ve become very proactive in documenting the car’s state at the return. I’ve seen some reckless driving by car companies after the car has returned. There is the possibility that the car was damaged on the way to the car wash and an employee is trying to pin it on the OP.

  • Steven

    HERE’S ANOTHER OPTION: EVERYONE WHO READS THIS SHOULD NEVER RENT FROM THIS LOCATION (KALISPEL THRIFTY) AGAIN. OR, FRANKLY, FROM THRIFTY ANYWHERE IF CORPORATE DOESN’T CLEAR THIS COUPLE FROM THIS CLAIM.

    They did everything they could, including the post-rental inspection. IF this location will not honor their own paperwork, I would never rent from them again. I would note that this article has gone to tens of thousands of readers and the LOSS of BUSINESS this will cause this location (and Thrifty generally) will be many times more than their very unwise decision to pursue what is a very questionable claim.

    I had something similar happen at a Hertz franchise at the Duluth MN airport. It was winter and you return the car to the airport parking lot. It has snowed overnight, so the car was dirty and snow covered. They have ONE employee inside the airport, so there was nobody to look at the car with me. 6 weeks later I get a notice that there is well over $1,000 of ‘damage’ to the car — mostly scrapes on the rear bumper. That’s not at all uncommon for rental cars (I am top tier renter at Hertz). The big money was in the claim of “loss of use” of the car while it would be repaired — nearly a week at full daily price! No question in my mind this was a scam, but I have a corporate loss prevention team in house that handles this kind of claim so they handled it. I did not have a signed receipt from an employee inspecting the car, which is the major difference here. I think this rental agency is hoping the time, distance and hassle will lead this couple to just “fold” and pay up. I’d first go to Thrifty corporate with the facts. But be aware that franchise locations are often handled much differently than corporate owned locations (that was true in my case with Duluth — their “terms” are different than corporate). If that failed, I’d go to my insurer for help. Remember that most auto policies do cover rental cars, but that your policy also clearly states you MUST report all possible claims as a part of your contract with the insurer. One other option is to contact their local attorney who could review the rental contract and return receipt and advise them. Depending on the terms of the contract polite, but firm, letter from that attorney might also get this claim cancelled.

  • philpm

    Based on past experiences, I would actually get my insurance company involved. They have the time, people and resources to thoroughly investigate Thrifty’s claim about when the damage occurred and the corporate muscle to call BS on them if they find that this Thrifty location made it up.

  • ed

    I don’t understand why, in this day and age, why people don’t take pictures of their rental card before *AND AFTER* they rent their cars…With digital cameras being ubiquitous, it’s more than likely that everyone had one at their disposal whether it’s in their phone or an actual camera or even a video camera. The added safety is that the images are automatically stamped with the date and time…and if your camera or phone has GPS on it, it will even stamp the longitude and latitude on the image!

  • Tim@OKC

    May 2010, rented/returned a minivan with Dollar Rental Car (Thrifty’s twin sister) in Orlando. I photo’d and documented all damage prior to leaving rental lot. Upon return to airport location, TWO Customer service agents (I documented their names) AND myself walked the car, they noted NO damage, gave me final bill. 10days later I get a phone call from “Dollar Customer Service” inquiring if I knew anything about scratches on minivan I rented. I replied that I was unaware of said damage, and that TWO Dollar employee’s had walked vehicle checking for damage and noted none. Customer Service Agent then went on to say ” well I guess I’ll have to contact the 2 renters that had vehicle after you did “. DUH, why didn’t you start with them and work backwards?

    Just and observation, but it would appear that maybe the “Corporate Line” is try and go back after random renters and see if we can “scam” them out of some $$$ to pad our bottom line. And it will ONLY GET WORSE after they merge with Hertz.

  • http://none Herb Kincey

    1. If the people who rented the vehicle are willing to go through all the hassle of pursuing this case, I think it should be done.
    2. I decided a long time ago that I would never rent from Thrifty and similar firms. I limit my rentals to Avis, Hertz, National, and Budget. Have never had a problem in over 40 years of renting cars.
    3.Before leaving the lot with your rental vehicle use your cell phone camera to photograph all 4 sides of the vehicle, preferably with one of the agents appearing in the photos.
    4. Upon returning the vehicle, do the same, but be sure the vehicle is clean enough to show evidence of damage if there is any.
    5. Sign up for a Diners Club MasterCard. Be sure to charge all rentals to this card. Diners Club offers at no additional charge primary (not secondary) insurance on most vehicles rented both in the United States and most foreign countries.

  • Jake

    I’d take this up with Thrifty’s corporate office – the signed, no damage check in slip should be all that is required to close the matter. If given any pushback, other items such as the strange behavior of the franchise (“I can’t discuss that with you”) and even bringing up the situations others have mentioned, that if the situation had been reversed the OP would have been held to the standard could be mentioned. You could also ask what the point of the check in slip is if they’re free to reneg on it at their will.

  • Dave Cochran

    Years ago I had something similar happen to me in Albuquerqe. I had returned the car undamaged, but then they sent a picture showing it had severe damage to one side. My receipt showed the mileage on return and I asked them how many miles it had on it now. They never pressed a claim against me; apparently an emloyee had taken it out for a spin and got in a wreck.

  • Julie

    It’s difficult to tell from the article whether the renters actually have a signed receipt stating that the car was undamaged when they returned it. Their letter says they do, and the Thrifty letter says they don’t. But then the Thrifty rep goes on to say that Thrifty didn’t notice the damage when the car was turned in, so that seems to indicate that someone who works at that Thrifty location at least looked at the car when it was returned and didn’t see any damage. I agree that it’s hard to believe that so much damage could be covered by dirt. Chris, I think you should pursue this for the renters or help them pursue it. Their story makes more sense than the rental agency’s story. Also, the rental company has the upper hand in this situation. However, the renters should stop saying that they think they’re being scammed. In my experience, accusing a company of deliberate scamming (even if it’s true), doesn’t help the situation.

  • Lisa S

    I agree with everyone who recommended fighting this. It seems like an open and shut case if the OP has the All Clear document. I am curious about this part of the piece:

    Update (11:30 a.m.) Just received this from Thrifty, via Twitter: “We appreciate your comments. The Thrifty loc is dealing directly with the Roeders on this.”

    Was it an attempt to make Chris go away? I too am very interested in the outcome of this situation.

  • Bob Bennett

    The Kalispell Thrifty Representative said: “The signed checkout slip that Mrs. Roeder refers to in her email to you is the damage report done for the vehicle prior to us renting it out to them, and she signed it stating there was no damage to the rental car at the time they rented it.” To my mind, when a rental car company accepts a return and charges the customer, the vehicle should be presumed returned in undamaged condition unless the company inspects and proves otherwise at the time of check-in. If it’s the responsibility of the renter to inspect and sign off on the car in the presence of a company representative before leaving the lot, there should be an equal and binding responsibility for the company to assume a clean return unless it inspects the vehicle in the presence of the customer at check-in. If the company fails to do that properly, they are as responsible for damage due to a lapse at return as the customer is for a similar lapse at checkout. Internet peer reviews of long checkouts, disputes about returned conditions and missed flights will quickly make their way to the marketplace … companies will either find a way to inspect on-the-spot or absorb “unseen” at-return damages as a presumption of good faith by both company and customer as a cost of doing business. The responsible-for-inspection door simply needs to swing both ways.

  • Bill

    I always take before and after pictures of rental cars.

    This is one of those difficult situations which is hard to know how to pursue. It doesn’t take much to have $1600 damage these days – and someone else could have done it while the renters were not looking. Or someone at the rental agency could have had a mishap they didn’t tell the boss about.

  • noah

    more than likely, the owner is telling the truth that the location is not trying to scam anybody. A far more likely explanation is that the car was damaged in the Thrifty lot (either when it was being cleaned or at another time), and the employee responsible for the damage didn’t fess up.

    It seems to me that a credit card dispute would solve the problem here.

  • Regular Joe

    Finally, a legit claim by not a whiner, and you question whether you should help.

    So very Elliott.

  • sweepergrl

    Um, did Thrifty just tell Chris to mind his own business? I’m not sure how else to take the Twitter post. Oh yeah, definitely pursue this. I would certainly talk it over with my insurance company and see if they have any advice. I can guarantee you that they don’t want to pay fake repairs and have lots of lawyers to help out. I can’t wait to see how this ends.

    BTW. Just having pictures of the car won’t work. It’s easy for them to dismiss anything that doesn’t have time and date specific info. Try putting your cell phone in every pic, so the date and time are visible. Get a pic of the odometer. Get pictures of the car showing it’s relation to the neighboring cars, which can be traced with paperwork. I highly recommend pics with the agent, too, because it really freaks them out.

  • Mike Z

    Regular Joe, I do believe he is asking because of three primary reasons. Conflicting statements about the actual paperwork. One person claims they have a signed check in slip and the other says no. Also, the agent says the car only had a few hundred miles, so it was basically a brand new vehicle with a lot less potential for past damage. I can see why someone would be conflicted. I can also see that this garnered much attention and even though he may not be directly stepping in, apparently the posting of the story has gotten enough attention to get the process moving in one direction or another.

    I question those who keep saying to go to your insurance company. These days, whenever you ask your agent about such and such damage or questions about anything really and they have to check into an answer, some open a claim. Even if no money is ever paid out, you are still showing as having opened a claim. The best thing you can ever do when calling your agent is not to say such and such happened, but deal in a what if type scenario. Tell your agent your neighbor wants to know if it helps. The companies are always looking for ways to make more money and will do so any legal way they can.

  • http://www.talestoldfromtheroad.com Dick Jordan

    As others have pointed out, there seems to be a conflict over whether the rental car company actually gave the customers a written “sign off” on damage after inspecting the vehicle when it was returned. If Thrifty did so, then you should appeal on behalf of the renters.

    I agree with Bob Bennett — the onus should be on the rental car company to inspect the vehicle and bring any damage to the customer’s attention at the time the car is returned. If the company fails to do so, it should eat the damage.

    From the customer’s perspective, I suppose the way to avoid this situation completely (which I gather is arising quite often these days) is to buy the additional coverage at the time of rental.

  • Amy

    I want to thank you Christopher for all your help on my issue with Thrifty. I’m the Amy from the story. This is a copy and paste from your facebook page, I wanted to put this on your blog as well, in case people don’t read both.

    I have learned my lesson to take pictures from now on. I hope someone learns from my ordeal. I must have just thought since I was walking around the car with the Thrifty guy that I didn’t need any pictures, but that was totally my fault.

    I feel I am a very honest, responsible adult. I do have rental insurance on my State Farm insurance. That is why I declined Thrifty insurance.

    I do have the ‘check-in’ slip, from when I returned the vehicle on May 31st and the Thrifty Agent, Austin, did inspect the vehicle with us and he did NOT note any damage to the vehicle and signed off that everything was OK. That is why I feel I am being wronged.

    I have filed a complaint with the BBB. I did write an email to the State Insurance Commissioner of MT.

    I did rent the vehicle using my MasterCard, which does have auto insurance as well. However it is called secondary insurance. So it won’t help as I already have insurance with State Farm.

    I did talk to my agent and asked about ‘what if’ I submitted a claim and she was extremely helpful. She said I would not loose my discount for 10 years of no claims. That was a relief to know.

    The Purco claims specialist (they handle Thrifty claims) has said he will have to turn it over to collections soon. So if I don’t hear back from anyone by next Wednesday, I will submit a claim into State Farm and be done with this.

    The bill from PurCo was over $1600.00, I still don’t know how dirt can cover all of that with 3 people inspecting the car for the exact purpose of finding damage.

    Crazy I tell you! :)

    I do appreciate everyone’s response’s, the good and bad! Thank you!

  • fpm

    ** that the van had major front end damage and **

    hidden by dirt?

    Nope, didn’t happen. Someone @ Thrifty screwed up.

  • Monica

    If the customer does have a signed “everything is ok” form from Thrifty, then I’d pursue a dispute. I agree with most of the other comments that dirt doesn’t cover up anything serious. Unless the vehicle was really caked with mud, any damage should have been visable enough to have the inspector take a closer look.

    Having been a licensed P&C insurance agent, I recommend NOT calling the insurance company in this situation unless every other avenue has been exhausted. I’ve worked with several agencies that will flag the account whenever someone calls about an issue. A customer called once about a minor problem, and the repair costs was less than their deductable. The insurance never paid anything, but their premium went up the following year because there was “activity” on their policy.

  • M. Darling

    Has Thrifty sent anyone pictures of the damage? Have they specified what the “front end damage” is???? I find it difficult to imagine that the car was so dirty as to cover such damage unless the vehicle had been taken off-roading. IF the car was so dirty as to cover damage why was it not sprayed by thrifty immediately to assess damage. I have rented cars all over Europe and the West coast; have never had it “so dirty” that damage could not be assessed.

    My personal vehicles have sometimes been damaged by automated car washes. Does Thrifty hand wash or do they send it through a line???? This could likely be a source of damage. After losing antennae, sustaining paint scratches from the brushes that hold grit from previous vehicles, I never ever take my vehicle to be washed in an automat.

  • charlie

    Seems like nowadays you need to take pix of all sides, top, corners, every lamp to be sure it’s not cracked, etc. etc. And every shot should have the camera date and time. And in case that’s doctored, every shot should have the care rental check out agent in it holding a clock and a newspaper and smiling. Oh, I know…a video. And in case the agency later claims the agent is a fraud he/she should show their id in the video and clearly state name and address so it’s verbal too. Let’s see…what else…

  • Mike Z

    @Amy “The Purco claims specialist (they handle Thrifty claims) has said he will have to turn it over to collections soon. So if I don’t hear back from anyone by next Wednesday, I will submit a claim into State Farm and be done with this.”

    if you do have that signed check in slip with no damage noted you should be in the clear and I wouldn’t pay a single dime. In fact, i would write a brief, polite letter along with a copy of this check in slip to Thrifty as well as the claims specialist telling them they will be responsible for any harm done to your credit rating as a result of this dispute.

    Oh, and what your agent said…. get that in writing. Some agents don’t understand how the policies they sell work. i’ve met some bad ones and some good ones. Either way, don’t be bullied into paying out of pocket for something that wasn’t your fault.

  • Steve

    If Amy does in fact have a signed check-in slip saying the car was returned with no damage, I would sure hope this will be an open-and-shut case. I see absolutely no reason why it should not be.

    This seems like exactly the kind of case in which it’s appropriate for Chris to intervene. I understand he doesn’t have all of the information yet and it’s a he said-she said scenario, but it seems to me that either way he’d be performing a service. Assuming the customer is telling the truth and has the signed check-in slip, he’s helping her.

    If it turned out that the customer was lying (which I am in *no* way accusing her of, just saying “if”), then that should be brought to light too. Just by printing this letter, he’s brought Thrifty into this. While I suspect that they are going after a customer for spurious charges and should be criticized for that, if it turned out that they *were* totally in the right, I think they certainly deserve to have that reported.

    In short, either way I think this is exactly the type of case that should be pursued to the end.

  • Lonnie

    Of course, it’s also quite possible that after Amy returned her vehicle, a car in front of it was accidentally backed into her car (by a Thrifty employee?) and that’s why no one noticed any damage when she returned it. There was none. Thrifty bad, Amy good.

    If she has written confirmation signed by Thrifty that there was no damage, she’s free and clear.

    And if there was so much dirt on the returned vehicle that it hid $1600 worth of damage, Thrifty had an obligation to quickly hose it off before it signed anything confirming there was no damage. Either Thrifty is lying or it was negligent. Either way it loses.

  • Liz

    @Amy

    Don’t let them intimidate you – you are in the right here and should not have to deal with any of this nonsense.

  • Raven

    Thrifty is a scam operation. Let’s assume the Roeder’s caused the damage. I bet $200 was for buffing out the faint scratches and the other $1400 to line their pockets.

  • Steve

    Amy,

    Take the “bill,” any correspondence from Thrifty–including e-mails, your return (check-in) “all-clear” receipt and head directly to small claims court and sue them. Once in court, be sure to show the judge any threatening “sending this to collection” correspondence and other intimidation tactics they have used–the tactics that heretofore have made you apparently too timid to defend yourself. Be sure to ask for damages. You would very likely be awarded punitive damages as the judge may want to send a signal to this and other car rental agencies that this kind of behavior is unacceptable.

    I am not 100% convinced that there was no damage on the vehicle especially if it was caked with mud as can happen with rentals where the car has been driven in the “tulies.” Notwithstanding, Thrifty signed off on it. Furthermore, you had no control of the vehicle after you dropped it off in “good” condition (according to them). Even if Thrifty has a clause in their contract allowing them to “reinspect” vehicles subsequent to a renter’s departure, it does not follow that this clause will hold up in court, nor should it. It would be a wide-open hole for misconduct or even systemic fraud, and any “reasonable person” can understand this–which is the basic test of business law.

    Mr Elliott should not have to do anything on this. There are other people whose cases would be at least as onerous, but would not be able to be adjudicated successfully. This one could be if the wronged party would just stand up for themselves.

  • Scott

    One thing I don’t see mentioned above is the math doesnt work out. 460 miles minus the 125 miles the owner admits he drove on it = 300+ miles someone else drove on the car before them.

    For the owner to say “we know the Roeders did it” to me is unfounded.

    How does he know? Since it was hard to see damage, how do we not know a previous renter didnt damage it, but return it dirty when it was hidden then, too?

    I say keep pushing.

  • Josh

    @Amy — thanks for following up; please continue to do so. It’s an important issue, and good for all to know how this turns out.

    I agree with others here — you should be proactive, sending a certified letter with another copy of the checkin form, declaring that there was no damage and you do not owe anything, and will hold them responsible for any negative credit issues from this false claim. It might be worth consulting a lawyer and having them send/draft the letter.

    Similar to @Bob Bennett, I believe the onus is on the rental company at checkin, and it should go further — they should have to provide their own timestamped photos showing the damage (including the odometer reading), or their claims should be dismissed. Other than an after hours return, there’s no reason for them not to inspect the car as they wish immediately (when returning to a quieter “office” place, they’ve always gone outside to look at the car before finalizing the paperwork).

  • Joe

    Why does everyone think that taking pictures would have helped in this situation? With the story from the rental company, the damage was hidden beneath dirt. All the OP would have is a bunch of pictures of a dirty vehicle.

  • Eric

    @charlie After reading some of the things I’ve seen here, I’m seriously considering using my digital camera to take a video when I return my next rental. I’ll have the rental agent standing just to the left of the license plate to positively identify the car.. Then I’ll make him say the date and time for use as a time stamp. Then I’ll walk around the car and take one continous video of the whole vehicle. Maybe I should also try to get fingerprints and a DNA sample from the rental agent.

  • Mary Graham

    The signing off that everything was “OK” when they returned the car HAS to stand for something. If it doesn’t, then the door is open for car rental companies to stick all of us with repair bills just because they can.

  • Carver

    @Steve

    As emotionally satisfying as it might be, Amy shouldn’t follow your advice and sue. Thrifty has every right to pursue collections; Punitive damages don’t exist in contract disputes; and your application of “reasonable man” is just plain wrong. Such a lawsuit would be frivolous

  • Raven

    Five bucks says an incompetent employee backed the van into something else while it was in the car wash and tried to pawn it off as rental damage.

  • Diane

    Thrifty signed the inspection “okay” upon return of the vehicle – that is the documentation that says the car was returned without damage. Amy has the evidential piece of paper.I am certain that Thrifty has training of employees on how to check in a vehicle once a customer returns it.I don’t ‘buy’ the notion that the car was dirty and therefore the damage was missed. Who is to say what happened to the vehicle after the Roeders dropped it off; how many employees of Thrifty drove the car to get it washed, parked, etc?

    I have need for 3 separate car rentals coming up in the next 5 months – after hearing this ridiculous story – I will not do business with Thrifty car rental.

  • EvilEmpryss

    @Joe: The pictures will help if the damage that Thrifty is purporting the Roeders did was so severe that there would be no possible way that the dirt could have hidden it. Road grime might hide scratches, but there’s little chance it would hide anything more serious. “Major front end damages” to me means cracks and dents, and those would show through dirt. At the very least a comparison of the two sets of pics would help clarify the issue.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    “$ 1,600 of damage” – Ask for pictures of the damage. Ask for a line item breakdown of the $ 1,600. It is my guess that there is a value for ‘Loss of Use’…they can’t charge the Loss of Use until the car is fixed to see how many days of service that it was out plus they need to supply their ‘daily usage’ (I forgot the correct term that shows their daily rental activities)…if they are only renting 50% of their rental cars when the car was in the gargage getting repaired, it was very unlikely that they actually lost revenues especially if the car was a ‘standard’ rental car.

    I have rented a lot of cars over the years and I am amazed by the ‘damage’ that I have witnessed. I have rented two cars in the past two weeks and both rental cars had under 5,000 miles (one car had under 1,000 miles) and I couldn’t believe the scratches, marks, dings, etc. on these cars.

    The problem is that most rental car companies do not spend enough time in checking in the cars…at some locations, it is common that no one from the rental car company checks in the car upon it return. If there is damage, they don’t know who did…the current renter, the previous renter, an employee or etc. I think that it is a common practice for some rental car companies to start calling up the previous renters and see if they can intimidate one of the previous renters into paying for this undocumented damage.

    In this situation, if the Roeders has a piece of paper from this Thrifty location stating that the car was returned without damage then Chris should puruse this case with corporate.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Chris in NC – “The BIGGEST problem (with any company) seems to occur with FRANCHISE locations vs CORPORATE locations. My experience is that there are a few bad franchises where corporate either is unaware of non-standard practices or looks the other way.”
    - – - – - – - – - – - – - -
    I totally agree with you about franchise locations and having problems. One time, a franchise location charged my company credit card three times for the rental and they denied it until I went to corporate. The next time that I rented from this location (my employer had a corporate contract with the rental company so I was stuck with them), they charged my company credit card two times. Another time, a franchise location tried to tell me that a compact car was a full-size car (the location was out of full-size car and didn’t want to give me a premium car). I try to avoid renting from a franchise location but sometimes don’t have an option.

  • http://insidethelinespainting.com Dave

    No way they should go down without as much of a fight as they can muster. I have not had it happen to me, but I know a friend that has had a very similar experience.

  • http://gottogovacationrentals.com Tom

    It seems like they really don’t have any choice but to submit it to the insurance company. I don’t know if they did the damage, but the insurance company has people in a better spot to resolve this than they do.

  • KMAMM

    I would fight this for sure. I’ll take it to the hightest level necessary to get this straighten out.
    First of all, they got the ALL CLEAR from the car rental place when they returned the car; it’s not like they dropped the car off without anyone at the car rental place seeing it. The dirt can’t be that thick that a damage amount to $1,600 can’t be seen. Even for some reason, there really is damage and no one can see at the time the car is returned, the company already signed off on it as OK, they can’t go back on their written approval once the renter walked off the lot. Who knows the employee might take it for a joy ride or use it to pick up his girl friend or whatever.
    Also, the rental company personnel kept saying he doesn’t think the renter is trying to scam them. That should not even be the point that have to be pointed out many times. I think they are the one who were trying to scam.
    Once, i read in your column that the best defense is to take pictures when you return the car. I never forget that and the next time i rent a car, i’ll surely do that.
    However, in this case, i’ll say definitely fight it.

  • Mike Z

    I’m wondering what the outcome of this was? I really hope that they fought this attempt at collection, but I am afraid they just sucked it up and paid the $$. Also wondering if the claimed signed check in slip really was a check in slip.

  • Amy

    @Mike Z – This is Amy from the story – actually nothing has happened. there was so much activity during July on this from all ends but then all of a sudden NO contact from anyone since the 1st of August. No word for good or bad. I figure that no one is contacting me so I’m not going to make a move or pay anything until I hear from someone!? I’ve submitted all my documentation to the BBB, but no word from them either.

    I never, ever heard boo from corporate. That never worked out.

    For now, I’m pretending it all went away! :)

  • Joe Farrell

    I just had a fascinating experience with Enterprise. Brought my spouses Benz in for warranty repair. They give us a crappy little Hyundai that got equally crappy gas mileage because it obviously is not being maintained. I check the car out – and note the exterior is fine but the interior is a mess – stains galore everywhere – the guy does not want to note the stains – so – on the original form I note them – initial date and time them.

    I return the car and the next day I get a phone call asking me to pay $250 to ‘clean the interior.’ I point out that the stains are noted on the original rental agreement in the comments section since there is no place to put interior issues on their little diagram. The ‘asst manager’ actually tells me “all defects have to be noted in the condition area for them to be effective.”

    I asked her to have her manager call me. She does – and the manager tries to tell me the same thing. I then identified myself as a lawyer, invited her to charge my card for their cleaning fee- I would dispute it – and we could then go to court either way that ended up if they thought that somehow they did not rent the vehicle to me in that condition.

    She backed down immediately. I said ‘look, the rental agreement, in the comments clearly identifies interior stains. I fail to understand why you think that I am responsible for them.’

    Her final statement: “This was the first time we noticed them.”

    So there you have it. The first time they noticed them. Check those cars out carefully and note every little thing.

    I also rented a Budget moving truck on 20 Aug – drove it across the country – turned it back in on 28Aug – with a thorough inspection at both ends by both parties with nary a hassle. Every defect was noted by the agent on the dispatch end and compared by the agent on the other end – and I received a copy of the form stating: “No damage.” End of story.

  • http://www.midwaydrivingschool.org/ driving lessons duluth mn

    i agree… something smells fishy from he lessor… put him
    on PI. grrrrr.. that’s quite a dent in the industry.

  • JCM

    LAST WEEK I FILLED UP A THRIFTY RENTAL AND WHEN I DROPPED IT OFF THEY SAID IT WAS SHORT ONE GALLON OF GAS. TODAY THEY CHARGED MY CREDIT CARD 31.64 FOR GAS. I WAS TREATED AS A PERSON WHO WAS TRYING TO CHEAT THRIFTY. WHY WOULD ANYONE WHO HAS WILLINGLY RENTED 439 DOLLARS WORTH OF CAR TRY TO CHEAT THEM OUT OF A GALLON OF GAS. THEY LOST MY BUSINESS AND IT SOUNDS LIKE MANY OTHER PEOPLES BUSINESS ALSO. VERY POORLY RUN BUSINESS WITH POOR CUSTOMER RELATIONS.

  • Anonymous

    STAY AWAY FROM THRIFTY AT OTOPENI AIRPORT/BUCAREST !
    Rented a car for one week ; being at only 50 miles from Bulgarrian border, we crossed it. To our great surprise – when returning the car at the airport office in Bucarest, we had to pay a …1000€ (= +- 1300$) fine ! This “particular rule”  can be found in the smallprint of the rental agreement, but – when signing – NOBODY is telling you about that crooky way to extort you money. Not that both Rumania AND Bulgaria are members of the European Community !
    Thrifty headquarters clearly says that … everything is OK;
    You don’t want to get crooked ? Try another car rental company (but do make the necessar enquiries before you commit yourself !)
    Ron

  • stevesplane

    This same car rental agency pulled this scam on me.  I have rented cars from many angencies and this is the first time the intake person was not qualified to look for damage.– This is how these guys do business

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