Rental Car Headaches
 

First off...I had a 5 day rental at SRQ with Avis last Saturday. Hurry off the plane to find at least 50 people in the corral with only two agents working. An hour and a half of standing...I finally get my car...a 2023 Camry that looked nice.

On the second day of using it, I noticed a scraping sound coming from the right front wheel area when making a sharp turn. I stopped and stuck my head in and saw the black plastic wheel liner had been partially torn off its plastic push-connectors. I decided to drive it.

All was good until the last day of driving it, I was backing out of a parking space with the wheel cranked.(it was a tight parking lot) I heard something loud scraping from the same wheel. Got out and looked...the liner had caught on the tread, when the wheel was cranked, and doubled it up. I got it straightened up by pulling ahead slowly. Found a couple points to support the thing and drove it back to the rental place on time.

I didn't cause the initial damage...but I wouldn't be surprised to get a letter.

The only other thing about the Camry that I hate....the floating gas pedal.
Push the thing down and the car doesn't respond....push it half-way down and it begins to accelerate. Why do they do that? I'm used to my Honda that goes as soon as you push the gas. It would be a deal-breaker if I was looking to purchase a Camry.

Did you report the damage?

No...I would have if I noticed it when picking it up. I never look at something like that...I always do a walk around looking for scrapes or dents.

I returned it looking the same.

They probably have a phone nunber in the rental agreement to call if you note any damage.

At the minimum you should report on return.

^^^ I wonder how many rentals it went thru before me with the same damage?
It had 32K miles on it.

Rental is a crap shoot.
My brother rented a car, an hour down the road he noticed it had expired inspection !
Same agency (not a lot of choice in the rural area) Six months later he rented a car there, Maintenance-Light came on.
He called them, they said," Oh that car needs oil change, please do that and we will reimburse you" ! Lols

This Camry also had the 'Maintenance Needed' light on. I didn't even use a half tank of gas for the duration...so I didn't give it a thought.

I always take pictures of the car from every angle and any damage in particular.

No warning lights for me.

A 'maintenance needed' light is different than a 'warning light'
If the light is red (warning light) it needs attention immediately.

The rental insurance seems to be a good idea. Am told that if the car needs repairs, the renter is on the hook for daily rental until it's fixed and ready to be rented again. Anyone able to speak from experience on that?

I always carry 'car rental insurance'....for that reason.
Have never had to use it yet.

I rent often and one year my rental was involved in a flash flood in a parking lot in FL
The water came up over the seat cushion and shorted everything out. I had Alamo and they never charged me for any damages.

Vegas Avis is a **** show. I go to Barstow a lot and that’s the airport i fly into… last time, I rented a 4x4 and immediately sunk it to the frame in sand the following day. Picked up a piece of c wire the last day and returned it with that tire in the bed. lol.

When I am going to be going into a sketchy area, urban usually, I rent a car and pay for the insurance coverage. Well worth the cheap insurance for peace of mind. I had one rental hit & run while I had it parked on a main street, right next door to the police department. I came out and laughed. Took it back to the rental car place, handed them the keys and told them the rear bumper was toast. They said no problem. Had another rental broken into in broad daylight on Market Street in San Francisco... I had nothing at all in the car and it did not have tinted windows, You literally could see everything in the interior. Worthless criminals were too lazy to look- they just broke the side window and upon finding nothing to steal, kicked the door in, damaging it. Returned it and told the rental company and they just laughed. Covered 100% by the rental insurance.

Avis sucks. I had a stretch of four straight weeks with Avis cars, each one had some variety of caution or warning light. I was stuck with them because of my previous job.

Also sign up for their rewards program and download the app, you can skip the line and go directly to your car at most airports.

^^^ I was at FLL last year when I noticed the sign by the corrals at the rental counter...."Download the Dollar Car Rental App and save time."
Some of the people waiting in line started to do it right there and a guy behind them said "It only saves time for the agent checking you in....you still have to go through the line"

Other airports may be different.

It's been so long since I rented a car I can remember when Hertz Gold was a thing.

Having the bus drop you at the vehicle and skipping the whole "see an agent" debacle made me use them exclusively back when I was traveling more.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0YGn3ZyyejE?si=aFTtmoAW6DcN_r3c" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I used to travel a lot for work; now, it's more rare (few times a year). So, I've rented a lot of cars from a lot of companies (government work, go with the cheapest fare and that changes over time, and based on location). Never had any issues, except for some pretty crappy cars...but I'm pretty easy and just don't care.

Late last year, I had a vendor engagement to go to in Reno. Went to get my car (Dollar, I believe) and they tell me on the "do not rent" list. Interesting. Was annoyed because I waited in line over 30 minutes before finding that out AND had the reservation for several weeks before the trip...think they'd have reached out to me at some point. To complicate matters, lady told me the people I can call to figure out what's going on...had just closed for the day, so try again tomorrow. I told her no thanks, walked to the next counter and rented a car there.

I suppose I need to call at some point and figure out why I'm on a naughty list.

Inner fender damage on an Avis Camry.

^^^ lol