Talking to a manager was the right first step, but it wasn t your only option. A short, cordial emai

Q uestion : I recently rented a car in Tampa, Fla., from Avis through uk car rental Hotwire. When I went to the counter, the agent kept trying to upsell me on optional uk car rental items and insurance, but I said no. When she was going through the options, she showed me on the form how much the insurance uk car rental would be and I said, No, that s OK. Then she gave me the form to initial.
I asked the agent why it said $105 instead of the $52 that I paid through Hotwire and she said they didn t know how much I paid through Hotwire but that was the Avis charge in their system and that I would only have to pay what I paid Hotwire.
Well, when I went back a few days later to return the car, I saw they d charged me this same $105. I couldn t figure out why, and so I disputed the charge. uk car rental A manager showed me where I had allegedly agreed to insurance at a cost of more than I paid for the car. I explained that the agent either circled that herself when she was showing me the options or circled it after I signed because I have never in my life purchased insurance for a car rental since I have my own.
Answer : Avis shouldn t have charged you for insurance you didn t want. Based on your description of events, it seems you were dealing with a rental agent who had just finished one of those seminars on upselling, and was eager to make her numbers for the month.
It s no secret that car rental companies and their employees earn much of their money from upgrading you to optional items like insurance, prepaid fuel and amenities like GPS navigation systems. There s absolutely nothing wrong with this. What s wrong is when an employee nudges customers along by circling the wrong field and hastily asking them to sign here knowing full well that their signature means they ll have to pay for insurance.
You intended to turn down the insurance, so the manager you appealed to should have followed up with the agent rather than just denying uk car rental your request. Hotwire uk car rental issues a voucher that should cover the entire cost of your rental (as a reminder, when you prepay for a rental car through Hotwire, it lets you pick the location but not the car rental agency. In exchange, you get a deep discount.)
Talking to a manager uk car rental was the right first step, but it wasn t your only option. A short, cordial email to Avis might have helped, although based on previous dealings with Avis, I would have put your chances at about 50/50. After that, a dispute of your credit card bill would have been your last option before going to small claims court. And no one goes to small claims court over $53.
Next time you rent a car, read your contract carefully. If you can t make out the type sometimes the printers run low on ink then ask the agent to clarify or write I decline optional insurance on your contract. That way, there is no doubt that you do not want insurance.
Incidentally, not all insurance is a shameless upsell. Some credit cards claim do cover you but only offer secondary insurance. It s best to check with your card company or car insurance company before you rent, just to be sure.
I had an agent do that to me once at Enterprise uk car rental in 2006. When we got to the check box for insurance I specifically asked him what the insurance status would be if I initialed the box. He said initial here to decline and I did. Imagine my surprise when I turn it in and was charged more. Thankfully the person checking me in removed it off without much fuss.
My guess is that the person said no insurance and the agent circled the box to sign, which contradicted the OPs wishes. Since the OP had already indicated that they decline, one could understand why they initialed the circled uk car rental box.
I would hope that this is tracked back to the employee if it s determined that they were trying to trick a customer into signing for insurance in order to make some commission, the employee needs to be held responsible .. and not by getting a big commission uk car rental check there needs to be accountability here!
@ MarkieA I agree with you that when a person signs a contractual agreement for $ 105, the price is $ 105. I don t understand people that will sign a contractual agreement with the incorrect price. I would have told the Avis counter employee that I won t sign the agreement unless it stated the correct price.
I think it was the agent. I rented one time from Hotwire and the proper rate was passed to Budget. Also, I have a few colleagues and business associates that have rented cars from Avis through Hotwire and the proper rate was printed on their rental agreement.
The key is to set up account\profile (it is free and doesn t take much time) with the rental car company before the rental. Once you arrive at the counter, the form is usually already printed with your preferences (i.e. No for the insurance options, etc.).
Sometimes the paperwork for my rental is NOT printed (which is common for last minute uk car rental less than 24 hours reservations; especially at franchisee locations) when I arrive at the counter and the counter agent tries to sell me the insurance and etc. What I do is that I raise my voice a little and sternly uk car rental said that I am not interested in the insurance to stop the agent and it works.
@ MarkieA/Arizona – I agree with you that when a person signs a contractual agreement for $ 105, the price is $ 105. I don't understand people that will sign a contractual agreement with the incorrect price.
Well, except that there are real times when the agent will say, oh, the discount uk car rental will appear when you return the car. For example, Hertz used to apply discounts upon return. So I can easily see someone being taken in.
So lets see .she DID say No , but the that s OK could be considerered an acceptance. (Did the agent hear Oh, that s OK? ) Perhaps a more definitive No, thank you, I do not need the insurance. would have saved some problems.
He Said / She Said as to what the OP told or what the Res Agent said . . . sorry but NEXT TIME spend the extra 90 seconds actually READING uk car rental the agreement you are about to sign . . . capiche? This is 100% the OP s fault since if she had READ and understood the agreement she was about to sign then she would have never had this problem. I don t care about what the res agent said, promised or whatever READ THE CONTRACT.
Next as to the claim that somehow the agent changed it after she left- she HAS or HAD a copy of it at the time pull it out and compare the versions if the agent tried to add the insurance after well its pretty clear the agreements would have different circles and initials in different places.
@ Carver For recording keeping, I keep the pre-rental card stock (the one that I pick up at the counter or is hanging on the rear-view mirror) and the actual receipt in my expense files. uk car rental In regards to Hertz, the discount and the estimated final price\cost have been printed on my reservation confirmation and the pre-rental uk car rental card stock.
A Hertz employee at Albuquerque Sunport gave me such a hard sell a few years ago that I now reserve all my car rentals through Hotwire uk car rental in fact, it s the only time I use Hotwire. So far, I haven t had anyone try to add on additional services at the counter since I have a paper showing the final price. And the kicker? uk car rental Every time I ve used Hotwire in Albuquerque, the rental uk car rental company uk car rental has turned out to be Hertz!
Have to agree with the read your contract advice. An Alamo rep played cute by asking me whether I wanted the optional insurance or the regular insurance, leading uk car rental me to believe that he was talking about my regular state farm policy for my personal car. After I caught the additional cost trick by reading the completed agreement, I threw it back at him and said. Nice try.
I would encourage anyone with problems with merchants or vendors uk car rental in Tampa (and Hillsborough county) to avail themselves uk car rental of the services. Mediation and Diversion Services can provide a wealth uk car rental of information and often begin the process over the telephone uk car rental at 813-272-5642.
I can t speak for your experiences, uk car rental but I can state definitively that when I first started using Hertz regularly, about 5-7 years ago, my hang tag in my car rarely reflected my full discount, particularly uk car rental the get one free rental day. I would go to the gold desk and they told me that discounts are applied after the rental is returned. And they were right. I ve never had a Hertz rental cost more than the estimated price.
I experienced almost the same thing!  Thank God I found this article!  Please help me!  I have no idea what to say to Avis and I ve tried numerous uk car rental accounts of times to contact my credit card and Avis and they have failed to credit uk car rental me back for something my friend didn t intentionally sign for.  Who in the world would pay $260 for insurance when we all have our own?  I had to hand over the credit card because uk car rental he only had a debit card with him and they said we cannot continue to rent the car if we didn t have a credit card to put on hold.  Before I handed my credit card over I asked if it d be charged and they said no.  So I handed it over.  After coming home from the trip, I found out I was charged $260 and wonder where this amount was coming from because I remembered that my friend paid for the rental car through Priceline.com.  I asked him why this amount was being charged and asked for all the paperwork he received from Avis.  So he handed them to me and I saw his signature to accept the insurance and asked him he if knew he signed for it and he said NO.  Please help me!  I feel victimized!  On top of that the $260 charge went over my credit limit and now I am paying $200 for minimum payment instead of just my regular $20 minimum payment.
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