3 Money Horror Stories to Kick Off Spooky Season
Rental car rip-offs: the costly mistake I made at the rental desk
I kicked off a set of horror stories in the last article which you can check out here. The next horror story is about car rental insurance.
Money Pitfall #2: Car rentals — Do the most BEFORE you sign
Long story short: Take this article as permission to channel the most scrutinizing person you can think of when you rent a car for personal use. Especially, if you decline the rental company’s insurance.
Yes, rental insurance when you already have your car insurance is a rip-off, but a bigger rip-off is not being careful enough during the pick-up inspection paired with not getting the rip-off insurance.
Ok. So, now for the full story, if you're interested.
The day my car “disappeared” in broad daylight
When I first got a car, I thought there was no reason for me to rent one...until someone hit my car...in a parking lot. I had been working for a couple of years and bought a new car the previous year. One weekend, I drove to the mall. It was the middle of the day otherwise known as broad daylight. The mall had an open parking lot.
I wasn't confident in my parking skills so, I thought parking in a space far from other cars would be less stressful. I took my time and patted myself on the back for being relatively straight in between the white lines marking my space.
I was perfectly fine with the longer walk to the mall entrance and happily went about my business.
By the time I came out, the sun was just beginning its descent. Fresh air, a nice sunset, and...I didn’t see my car. Well, I didn’t see my car where I remembered parking it. I saw other cars including one that was parked super slanted, the kind of parking job where the car takes up two spaces in a way that my INFJ brain says they must have been in quite the rush.
As I continued walking through the parking lot, I was sure I was in or close to the correct aisle, but I did not see my car. Instead, I kept getting closer to that oddly parked car, which I now saw was parked across three parking spaces.
I also noticed it was the same color as my car. I kept getting closer and noticed that the car was also the same make as my car.
Dear reader, you’ve probably figured out what’s happening here, but my brain could not or did not want to process what my eyes were seeing.
I had to walk up to this similar-looking car, inspect the license plate, and check for items in the car before my brain could start to comprehend what my eyes were seeing. It was my car. That oddly parked, I-feel-sorry-for-the-driver car was my car.
My jaw dropped and I walked around the car with my mouth open like a fish ready for market. The car now featured a massive dent on the side facing away from the mall.
The colored glass lay scattered on the ground from a now busted taillight. It was eerie how normal the rest of the car looked compared to the wreck that awaited me on that side.
The parking lot past my car was empty so, I guessed that someone drove straight into my car. Side note, this is why I now always park next to other vehicles in a parking lot.
Mouth still open, my head turned left, then back at the car, then to the right, eyes scanning the parking lot while my brain generated questions.
How? What?!! Who did this? Where are they now???
I probably looked like the human equivalent of a webpage with the loading icon in the center. Strangely enough, I got somewhat of an answer from the half-empty lot.
An older man walked up from another part of the parking lot and said he saw someone hit my car, but "they drove off". All I managed to do in response was close my mouth and utter "Ohh... thank you".
He then said a sorry which to me could have easily been exchanged with "sucks for you" as he walked toward the mall. As I watched him casually walk away, part of me wondered if he did it and then waited for me to show up so he could say something to ease his conscience. Either way, I had to figure out what to do next.
I called my insurance company (I might have called my mom first) and told them what happened. They told me to get a police report and see if there was footage of the incident from a security camera.
So, I called mall security and while they were able to help me get a report for the incident, there were no cameras and no way to see what happened.
Insurance accepted the report and directed me to a collision center for repairs. While my car was being fixed, they offered to cover a rental car and directed me to a nearby option. I accepted getting a rental car because it was covered by insurance.
I didn't expect the extra headache that was about to come my way.
A rental car’s role in the story
I drove my car to the collision center and then got a ride to the car rental office. The rental company was one of the major names, so I thought I was going to be fine. It was early evening when I arrived.
Mistake #1:
I went in the evening. I now know the time of day matters for lighting and how you get treated by the staff. If the rental is picked up in a covered garage, I can at least solve for lighting by using my phone’s flashlight.
I was familiar with short-term car rental with ZipCar (not sponsored, I just enjoyed using their service) so I thought this would be just as easy and convenient. Wrong!
First, the amount of paperwork to sign was ridiculous. And, unlike ZipCar which had easy-to-understand terms and agreements online for you to read at your leisure, I was faced with everything on the day of.
I read through all the paperwork (remember, this is after the store credit incident in my previous article. So, now I actually read all the fine print before signing anything).
I had to sit down to get through all of it while the office staff talked about which cars they wanted to use for the weekend. (“No, that’s not normal” is what I would tell my younger self and then I would advise her to leave and rent from a different office or business.)
After the paperwork, a representative led me to the car to do an inspection. The optimistic me thought the walk around the car was just a formality so I could confirm all the dents and scratches they showed me were already noted on the form.
I diligently looked for each mark noted on the form but couldn’t help but notice the representative’s passive-aggressive attempts to hurry me along.
First, he crossed his arms like a pretzel. Then, his foot started tapping. And last, he issued a series of audible sighs. After spending an eternity signing paperwork, I too wanted to just get the car and go. I went from carefully examining the car to only looking like I was carefully examining the car.
Mistake #2:
I rushed through the visual inspection. I now make sure I go up really close to inspect a car before I sign for it. I’m even okay with touching the car in the spots that look like dings or scratches. I also take pictures of the car during the inspection.
I gave my consent and signed the inspection form and finally got the key. During the pickup process, one of the questions was if I wanted rental insurance. I knew my car insurance covered rentals so, I passed on the rental company’s insurance.
The surprise scratch and a hefty bill
After a week, my car was ready to be picked up. I missed my car and was happy to return the rental. I went first thing in the morning on a Saturday. At the front desk of the rental office, I handed in the key and was told to wait inside as the rep went out to inspect the car.
Mistake #3: I didn’t go with the rep for the return visual inspection.
They don’t wait inside while you visually inspect the car so why should you?! Don’t fall for this trick; they’re not doing you any favors and, until you give the final signature, the car is still your responsibility. That’s what I wish I told myself.
I had a seat after a little while of standing by the desk. The rep came in and walked straight past me to the desk before waving me over. As I walked up, he was busy on the computer at the desk.
Once done, he said he found a scratch on the car that wasn’t on the initial inspection form and the system showed I didn’t get their rental insurance, so I would be charged for the damage.
I was surprised because after checking the car for new scratches every day before getting in it, I had not seen anything new. I asked to see the “damage”.
The rep pointed to a scratch on the car door that I was sure had been there when I picked the car up, but when I looked at the inspection form, it wasn’t noted. Since there was no record of it, I only had my word which is not a thing when money is on the line.
I let the rep know my car insurance covered rentals so, they checked with my insurance. The conclusion?: I had to pay $500. Paying that money meant for the next month I had enough for rent and $20 for everything else. (I’m happy I went through this when I only had to worry about supporting myself.)
Few things get me more upset than surprise fees, so I documented what happened and took to the internet to see what could be done. (The answer was nothing, in case you were wondering.)
I looked up the business on the Better Business Bureau website (before Yelp came along and made this easier) only to discover multiple pages of complaints from other customers.
I was not the only person who was charged for "damages" after turning down rental insurance.
And for those skeptical that your decision to decline rental insurance has any effect on how you are treated upon return — when I've accepted rental insurance and all its extra fees, the return inspection has been noticeably short or even skipped.
I can only hope you find this story before your run-in with a big business car rental.
