THRIFTY

Was I scammed by my car rental company?

That's not my crack / Photo by andres musta - Flickr
Question: I recently rented a car from Thrifty in Toronto for two weeks. I travel more than 26 weeks a year and rent lots of cars, but this is the first time I have been scammed by a rental car company.
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44 comments

Case dismissed: The valet service damaged our rental, but we got the bill

Car rental damage cases are usually disputes between two parties — the renter and the agency. But not always.

Ron Goldstein recently rented a car from Thrifty in Los Angeles. He left the car with a parking valet at the DoubleTree by Hilton Guest Suites Santa Monica. It’s a decent hotel about a block from where the 10 freeway ends, and street parking isn’t really an option.

And then things took a turn for the worse.
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39 comments

Paying up front for rental car nicks and scratches

The late-model Chevrolet that Sukumar Thanawala rented from Thrifty Car Rental in Munich in the spring looked “absolutely fine” when he returned it, he said.

But a few weeks later, Thanawala, a software designer from Naperville, Ill., noticed that the rental agency hadn’t refunded his $763 deposit. When he asked why, Thrifty furnished him with a photo of a barely visible nick on the car door and a small scratch on one bumper. “You have to look really hard to find it,” Thanawala said.

Thrifty had done what by some accounts is becoming more common when a rental car is damaged: It had pocketed his deposit.
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8 comments

Help! My car rental company charged me for running a red light

red lightHere’s a problem travelers are running into more frequently: Months after a trip, they get a bill from their rental company charging them for an unknown traffic violation, plus a handling fee. Often, there’s little recourse.

Or, in Alex Backer’s case, none.

He just received a ticket from Dollar for a violation that supposedly took place back in May, and was told he had no choice but to pay.
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42 comments