The last time I rented a car, I stupidly left my iPod in the console and it was stolen by an employee at Alamo Rental Car.
This time I rented a car and thought of an entirely new stupid thing to do. But I also feel like I was scammed.
It went like this. I returned the car to Thrifty Rental Car at the Atlanta airport yesterday. Then I got my bill: $398 for a week's rental. SAY WHAT?!
The car rental itself was $150, but then the state of Georgia levied taxes that nearly equaled that amount ($90). I thought the taxes were out of control, but I had no choice. But that only brings us up to $240.
So what about the extra $150 they tacked on? It turns out I unknowingly signed up for collision damage insurance. I say "unknowingly" because I never knowingly sign up for collision damage insurance because I think it's a scam.
I have no recollection of being asked if I wanted the insurance. If I had, I would have politely but insistently said "no thank you," like I've done a dozen times before.
But there were my initials. I had signed off on a superfluous $150 that I don't have. I can only conclude that the clerk either forgot to ask me and checked the box, or did so hoping I wouldn't notice. I didn't notice, not the extra insurance, not the total. I was stupid. I should have read the freaking contract before I signed it. But if this is Thrifty's practice, it is nothing else but a scam.
After my iPod fiasco, I swore off Alamo for life. I now do the same with Thrifty. In the words of Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report, they are both forever "dead to me."
Maybe I should just swear off rental cars altogether, since they seem to engender in me a brain freeze, which leaves me vulnerable to their nefarious practices.
But then I'd have to buy my own car, which is the biggest scam of all...
Posted by jeb at December 29, 2005 4:25 PM | TrackBack