Dollar Car Rental Insurance Scam....BEWARE

[ilovefh]

I saw this posted when I did a search, but my friends had such a bad experience that I thought it deserved its own post.

I set them up with a rental of a midsized car through Dollar to be picked up at the Regal Sun Resort. When it comes time to talk about insurance the man working for Dollar tells my friend it is now mandatory for renters to get the insurance. He says it is a "new" FL state law that was just passed three months ago. My friends argued it a bit and showed him their insurance information. He said it was not required by law if the renter had an umbrella policy, but most people don't have one. They ended up walking out paying $140 extra.

I knew that it wasn't a law. I know if something like that had been passed two things would have happened: 1. I would have heard about it on the DIS! 2. They would have to add that information to all of their rental confirmations. (13.95/day is not chump change, and if people are required to purchase it they would need to know in advance)

I went back with my friends to the Regal Sun. My friend said he now knew it wasn't a state law and he wanted the insurance taken off. The guy did it with no arguing.

The worst part about this is the people renting ahead of my friends actually cancelled their reservation when he told them the insurance was mandatory. They didn't have the money to pay for the insurance, but had proof of their own insurance. This man lied to them and when they said they didn't have the money for it he just shrugged his shoulders. The message they got was either pay it or you have to cancel so they cancelled.

Just wanted anyone out there renting from any company to know that the insurance is optional! There is no state law that requires it!

I have rented from Dollar many times and have never had this problem. I will probably rent from them again if they are the cheapest, but I won't recommend them to my newbie friends!

And yes, I did call and file a complaint about it.

 

[DVCBELLE]

Wow - the saddest thing is that most credit cards offer you the coverage for free when you pay with your card. I know our Disney Visa does!!

 

[kaytieeldr]

I wouldn't call that a Dollar scam. I'd call it a super-hard sell to the point of outright lying by a Dollar employee. Sounds the same, but it's not.

This IS a good warning so renters can be armed with some knowledge: car rental agents are sales people. They get paid comission for selling the customer add-ons: GPS, insurance, upgrades... Does anybody shop at Syms? Their tagline is "An educated consumer is our BEST customer". This is true in any situation; it's especially true when renting a car.

But, yeah, something needs to be done about the hard sell. I can always just say "No, thank you" at Alamo and they drop the entire issue. I just initial the form stating that I refused insurance. National is even easier, since I have an Emerald Club card - just go to the garage and choose a car!

 

[jlewisinsyr]

All the more reason to join a company's renter program where you just pick up the keys/rental contract and go (or some form or fashion). I cannot remember the last time I actually had to sign a contract, at any airport.

 

[seashoreCM]

Yes, Florida has laws regarding car insurance but the rental company may not make you pay for anything not specified in the rental company's own rental rules (rental policies).

A few agencies (Payless, L&M, EZ to name just a few) have in their rules that they reserve the right not to rent to you if you don't show proof of the kinds of insurance they want (not via a credi tc ard) and also decline theirs.

 

[n2mm]

A hard sell for insurance is a common practice at most car rental companies.

 

[1tufgt]

Sounds like I'm sticking with alamo and using the kiosk to bypass all the hassles.

 

[ilovefh]

A hard sell is one thing, but telling the customer that they are legally obligated to pay for the insurance or they will not be able to rent is another story all together.

I'm all for trying to get people to add things on. I know that is where they make their money. But to outright lie to a customer to the point where you make them cancel their reservation because they did not buy the insurance is too much. That is where it is a scam.

And yes, FL does have laws about car insurance. But he was telling customers that FL state law mandated that all renters pay for rental car insurance through the car rental company. This is not true. When my friends said they had never heard of this he said it was just passed three months ago. That's what I take issue with.

ETA: I don't mind the hard sell. I don't even mind having to say no a few times, but this man told people that the insurance was not optional and if they wanted to rent they'd have to pay for it.

 

[ssawka]

Sounds like I'm sticking with alamo and using the kiosk to bypass all the hassles.

This is exactly what I was thinking! I use kiosks, self-checkout, or Internet for purchases whenever I can. Basically, I'm the type of consumer that wants sales people around when I have questions, but other than that, stay away. I also do not like to go into stores that pay their employees on commission. That's not to say I won't deal with them, but I hate the feeling of sales people hounding you the second you set foot in the door.

 

[ssawka]

A hard sell is one thing, but telling the customer that they are legally obligated to pay for the insurance or they will not be able to rent is another story all together.

I'm all for trying to get people to add things on. I know that is where they make their money. But to outright lie to a customer to the point where you make them cancel their reservation because they did not buy the insurance is too much. That is where it is a scam.

And yes, FL does have laws about car insurance. But he was telling customers that FL state law mandated that all renters pay for rental car insurance through the car rental company. This is not true. When my friends said they had never heard of this he said it was just passed three months ago. That's what I take issue with.

ETA: I don't mind the hard sell. I don't even mind having to say no a few times, but this man told people that the insurance was not optional and if they wanted to rent they'd have to pay for it.

I'm sure Dollar won't be happy with this employee when they find out! He's basically letting customers walk out the door resulting in $0 revenue in an effort to increase revenue $13.95 a day.

 

[kjs1976]

I wouldn't call that a Dollar scam. I'd call it a super-hard sell to the point of outright lying by a Dollar employee. Sounds the same, but it's not.

This IS a good warning so renters can be armed with some knowledge: car rental agents are sales people. They get paid comission for selling the customer add-ons: GPS, insurance, upgrades... Does anybody shop at Syms? Their tagline is "An educated consumer is our BEST customer". This is true in any situation; it's especially true when renting a car.

Heck if it isn't a scam....he flat out LIED. A hard sell is one thing but lying is different.

Alamo with scam you too if they can. Always go to the kiosk.

 

[cat83]

That happened to me
At home, through Enterprise while our car was being fixed. The rental was covered by the dealer, but they told me "it was the law" that I HAD to pay the insurance myself. After discussing with my husband, we also went back and tried to argue- but of course they insisted that nothing was ever mentioned about it being required by law.

I was so angry- they had literally told me pay for insurance, or walk away with no car.

I learned my lesson; thankfully it was only 3 days and a relatively inexpensive lesson (although around here, it was around $25/day, not $13)

ETA: oh, an this is a gray area for me, with little experience renting cars:
but they charged me 3 full days worth of insurance for 6 pm Tuesday to 9 am Thursday. I said "it's not even 48 hours"- but they said 3 calendar days=3 days of payments.

I've been messing around with priceline for a rental on an upcoming trip, and it figures "days" by 24 hour marks, not by calendar days, so I think I was taken advantage of in that sense too....it should have been 2 days, maximum.

 

[zamboniman333]

Yeah it sounds like he did flat out Lie! and that is CRAP. A hard sell no problem with that, but when you have to lie like that to do it that is BAD!!!

Thank you for starting this post! We have a rental setup for 5 days during our December trip picking up at this location. We are planning on watching for better prices anyway, but now we really hopping to find a better deal with a differn't company. Thanks again for the post!

 

[zamboniman333]

Did you guys speek with a Manager at this location? It doesn't sound like they gave you a hard time giving a refund? (or did they?) Other that the time you had to waste getting it corrected.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Heck if it isn't a scam....he flat out LIED. A hard sell is one thing but lying is different.

Alamo with scam you too if they can. Always go to the kiosk.

Yeah, I think I said that

Now, if we could confirm that Dollar condones out-and-out lying to the customers to sell insurance or any other upsell/upgrade, then, yeah, I'd say "scam".

Now, this is where a wi-fi or mi-fi connection would come in handy. Ask the person for the law number, and Google it

 

[WDW4us2006]

So, IS there any kind of law regarding rental car insusrance in Florida? I'm renting one from Dollar next month (have already been attacked by a Dollar agent in another state so I'm ready!). I always decline any kind of insurance. I have rented cars many times in the past few years and I have never been asked for proof of insurance. Do I really need to bring my policy?? What's different about Florida, anything?
(Or is all of this listed in the fine print of my confirmation that I didn't read???)

 

[jodifla]

To stop this type of behavior, it needs to be REPORTED.

First, call the manager of the place where these people rented. Follow it up with a letter detailing what happened, including the day and time of the lies, so the lying employee can be tracked down.

THEN, send another letter to corporate headquarters detailing what happened.

To not report it just lets this person keep on with the scam.

 

[seashoreCM]

Should I ...

... suggest calling the rental company headquarters from the pay phone at the back at the local rental office,

1. In the hopes they will call the agency back and order them to hand over the car,

2. To let them know of a misbehaving agent then and now?

About getting a loaner while your car is being repaired, if Enterprise brings the car to you at the repair shop and pulls that scam, would the repair folks suggest another agency if you refuse the insurance Enterprise demands (letting Enterprise figure out what to do with the half delivered car, of course they can't bill your insurance company for it without giving it to you).

 

[tiggerrr]

Check out this link http://myfloridalegal.com/pages.nsf/main/a6ccf75f9f4c01cc85256cc90050ddb5!OpenDocument from the Florida Attorney General's office advising people of the potential scams by car rental agencies including the hard sell.

The AG's office even has an online complaint system for managing complaints under the Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. So, it appears not only is not Florida law to require the purchase of extra insurance, it is against the law to use intimidation to get people to purchase things they do not require.

 

[zamboniman333]

Check out this link http://myfloridalegal.com/pages.nsf/main/a6ccf75f9f4c01cc85256cc90050ddb5!OpenDocument from the Florida Attorney General's office advising people of the potential scams by car rental agencies including the hard sell.

The AG's office even has an online complaint system for managing complaints under the Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. So, it appears not only is not Florida law to require the purchase of extra insurance, it is against the law to use intimidation to get people to purchase things they do not require.

Tahnks for the link!