Car Rental Problems.

[rayke1938]

I have rented a car from 3 different well known companies in Australia and have had problems with the class of vehicle supplied.In each case I have requested an intermediate size such as a corolla and every time a compact has been supplied.

Avis grudgingly gave a rebate and no apology.

Hertz ignored my complaint.

Currently doing battle with Budget.

Is this the norm in the industry?

Have never had a problem with overseas rentals only in Australia.

Cheers

Ray

[PlasticFantastic]

You must be unlucky Ray as the last three hire cars I've had in Tassie have all been better than what I've booked and payed for. I usually opt for a small compact manual of some sort due to it being the cheapest but everytime I go to pick it up they have no manuals so give me a higher class car that is manual for the same price. It seems a bit strange for them to downgrade your car especially if you've paid for a certain class.

Cheers

Mark

[Bi_polar]

I have rented a car from 3 different well known companies in Australia and have had problems with the class of vehicle supplied.In each case I have requested an intermediate size such as a corolla and every time a compact has been supplied.

Avis grudgingly gave a rebate and no apology.

Hertz ignored my complaint.

Currently doing battle with Budget.

Is this the norm in the industry?

Have never had a problem with overseas rentals only in Australia.

Cheers

Ray

Try that mob at Cleveland near the motor registry Ray, they are the cheapest and they deliver the car locally for free

[taib]

Hi Ray,

This does happen quite often as most of these car rental places double book, meaning they accept more rentals than the actual number of cars they actually have.

There is a system in place for these companies to try to get the certain type of car that you have requested for however it rarely works (little birdie from inside the industry tells me), so half the time they just tell you that the only cars available are the smaller ones when they know you are in need of or have requested a larger car. They also make more money by renting you a smaller car as parts, tyres, service etc is cheaper.

whatever you do, STAY AWAY FROM ABEL CAR HIRE. There is a billion reasons why which includes fraud. Customers have had legal action taken against them for all the wrong reasons.

I will inform you on our next catch up next week.

cheers

[taib]

Director of Abel car hire is Nathan Conn, and his dad Steven Conn. Both high profile criminals (also known to be involved in other organised crime as seen in the media).

Abel was one of our primary clients back in 2007 until i discovered and investigated discrepencies in their invoices and reciepts when i was the national manager for insurance fraud and investigations.

I personally spoke to Nathan Conn and questioned him about the discrepencies to which he admitted there was a conflict and fraud with the documents he supplied to our firm after showing him evidence from our searches.

Our firm also worked with fair trading after they received hundreds of complaints against ABEL.

Long story short, Nathan did offer me a "under the table" deal which i refused.

We ended up dropping him as a client and our solicitor successfully sued him.

bloody 21 year old no longer drives his porsche around. Just feel sorry for all the innocent clients. The story gets deeper but thats basically the jist of it.

Check out the link

/>http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/abel-rent-a-car-prosecuted-over-claims-20091110-i5uj.html

[ellicat]

Never tried to hire a small car, Ray....so this is all I can add

(That's you in the leather jacket )
/>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBSqJboK5is

[melrichsin]

I have been lucky a few times in Mackay and Cairns over the years for work- compact to Corollas etc, had Commodore/Falcons/Aurions. The best was a trip to Cairns mid last year and my Hyundia Getz got bumped up to an Audi A3. Boss will always go for cheapest rate but I keep an eye on Hertz/Europcar to get Velocity points.

Not too sure about Brisbane but I do know that the $300 insurance waiver is worth taking.. just in case a loose supermarket trolley causes $600 damage.

[rayke1938]

Just got email back from Budget stating that yaris sedan is classed as a intermediate the same as a corolla I am disputing and if no satisfaction will take it to consumer affairs or racq.

The original quote they gave me specified corolla sedan or similar to my mind there is no comparison between corolla and pox box yaris.

Cheers

Ray

[bootyinblue]

Thats funny as their own website lists the following

Intermediate

(Toyota Corolla Sedan or similar

Group C)

- Auto

- 4 door sedan

- 4 cylinder

- Air con

They dont specifically list the Yaris, but at best I would have put it in this catergory

Economy

(Hyundai Getz 5DR or similar

Group A)

- Manual

- 4/5 door

- 1.5 litre

- 4 cylinder

Give me a yell Ray if you need a hand.