Dollar Rent A Car Review

Overall 2.07 of 5 view all 44 reviews

mysticstarfish
Tuckerton, NJ

Don't Waste Your Dollars ON Dollar Rent A Car!

budget conscious traveler, special needs traveler, family traveler, practical, interested in comfort, an avid online shopper, like good service, a homeowner

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Pros

No Mileage Limit!

Cons

Dirty Vehicles, Vehicle Not in Working Condition, Customer service is sub-par, Request not granted

AUG

2008

In January, 2008 I made a reservation with Dollar Rent A Car for a week rental in August, 2008. The reservation made was for a Dodge Charger. As you know, when you rent a car they will not guaranty which vehicle you will actually receive.

I checked in at the counter and was quickly informed that no Charger's were available. OK, not a problem. They were giving me a Chrysler Pacifica. The woman at the counter said "it is a free upgrade".

The customer service representative asks me if I want to accept the insurance, and I declined as my own policy covers me for rental insurance. The additional insurance would have cost $167.00 for the week. When I told her I decline, she became very rude. She kept insisting that my policy would not be sufficient and continually reminded me that I will be driving an uninsured vehicle. How can they give me a vehicle is it's not insured?

I accepted to pre-pay for my fuel at the rate of $3.56 per gallon. I thought that seemed like a fair price, and I was glad I did. The Pacifica has a huge tank and I didn't see any stations less than $3.68. She told me if I didn't pre-pay the fuel and brought the car back requiring gas, I would then be charged a rate of $7.10 per gallon! WHY????

We make our way out to find the car, and what did I see upon approaching the car? There must have been 25 Chargers parked, all clean and shiny, ready to go. I thought there weren't any available.

Once we find our car, I notice it has bangs and scratches all over it, along with little stickers saying "REPORTED" and a date. We get in the Pacifica, and find it to be dirty and smelling of smoke.

I went over to the rental booth and asked them for another vehicle. I was told no, they didn't have anything.

I load up the Pacifica, and head out of the airport. As soon as I get on the 417, a light on the dash comes on "Vehicle Requires Service In 128 Miles". That's nice, I get a vehicle requiring service.

The next day, I welcomed the new light on my dash, "LOW TIRE PRESSURE".

By the third day, the car began stalling.

I called the 800 number on my key ring and explained the problems to them. They said I will have to remain where I was until someone could get to me. I asked them how long will that take? The response was, "I don't know, it could be all day".

I don't think so! I am on vacation and will not waste a day of my time. I will drive this car until the wheels fall off, or the engine quits; whichever comes first.

Customer Service at Dollar Rent A Car is basically nonexistent.

I usually rent from Hertz, and have never had a problem. I went with Dollar this time because I wanted the Dodge Charger. The upgrade to the Chrysler would have been great if the car was in working condition.

I will not rent from Dollar again.

By the way, the car stalled as I was pulling into the garage to return it and I couldn't get it started again. We just made it!

Dollar Rent A Car is not recommended by mysticstarfish

Review inappropriate? Copyright violation?

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Comments about mysticstarfish’s Review

In response to TravelingFolks's comment from Nov 2, 2009 at 11:42PM:

Thank you!

The clown commenting on your review just further proves the validity of the excellent review your wrote here.

Totally agree,,, the cars are defective and that they cheat with extra insurance, I never hired car from U.S. dollars, I rented a car in las vegas airport (09.06.2009-24.06.2009) and was charged 128 dollars for road safe even though it was with the rental, this is pure fraud will not repay,,, rent a car from the big firms. I have good experience with them

In response to oldjob's comment from Apr 4, 2009 at 12:30AM:

Is there something wrong with you? You make no sense. It must have taken you quite some time to write all of these messages that make no sense. How very sad for you. Get a life.

In response to oldjob's comment from Apr 4, 2009 at 12:42AM:

Make that five very long messages. Do you think I care? Get lost.

In response to oldjob's comment from Apr 4, 2009 at 12:27AM:

You left me three messages...none of which make any sense. Now get lost.

Oh By the way, for the guy who bragged on National... I worked there too... they have the same bonus sructure.and its the luck of the draw if you get a bad experience. Each of these companies are the same as a matter of fact, Enterprise now owns National and Alamo... Thrifty owns Dollar. Avis owns budget. They had to consoladate to survive. Oh one more thing.. Do you remember the saying "the customers always right" well after years of people going on Oprah and telling the public "just complain and you get free upgrades" there are books written about the art of bitching. So companies have struck back and they teach now "The customer is NOT ALWAYS RIGHT but is trying to steel from the companies by complaining. Believe me that profit margins are very low, and giving away extras to whiners dont cut it in 2009

You will have to read my comments below starting with

1. I used to be...bla Blah
2. Work at AT&T or wachovia... Bla Blah
3. before you cry foul... bla Blah

I truly hope this clears up the rental car mystery!!!

before you cry foul to the Car Rental company for its practices I would like to let you know that its the customers who created this game, It is a very competitive business and people pick by price. These companies just break even on your car rental, If it isn't for the extras they would all be out of business and you would have no where to rent a car. If you don't believe me try not paying the help on your next cruise ship, or tipping at that fine hotel in New York. Think about who car rental agents deal with, It's someone who has been jammed in an airplane seat that is too small for 6 hours while some kid is kicking the back of their chair. They are rightfully on edge and nasty, Not all of them but a very high percentage are. Believe me I am glad to be retired because rental customers were rude and mean. So next time try not being a cheapy, you will find that if you let the company and aget make a fair profit you will be treated as good as gold.

work at At&T or Wachovia Bank or any place there is someone who does the grunt work of selling the product.Now, if you would have taken the insurance that agent would have been so grateful that he/she would have bent over backwards to give you that Charger, The Chargers you saw may have just been delivered and needed a quick strip down of the plastic or some small thing and the agent would have stripped it down themself. Besides, that insurance is the best deal going. If you paid the 167.00 bucks and wrecked the car you would have had no deductable, no worry of your insurance company raising rates, and no hassle with getting a new rental, We always sent out replacement cars asap to customers who took insurance. So you would have had a great trip
in a new Charger without those phone calls and worries if you were not such a cheapy. Oh! the other thing is that you would have made a freind in that rental agent and if you keep her/his business card or name and mention to them next time when you are picking up and what car you will need (and that you will want insurance) they will kiss your bum to get you what you want. And

I used to be in the rental car game. I started with Dollar at the rental counter and after several years retired at Thrifty Car Rental as a General manager, Just an FYI, The rental agents make minimum wage, But they get a bonus on extras they sell. It is weird bonus structure that works like this. They have to get an average of $10 per day per rental and they will get a bonus. If they dont get at least that they are working for minimum wage no bonus at all, So If YOU take a rental for 7 days and take no insurance or no upgrade they have to sell the next customer at $20 per day or they cannot feed their kids that month. So when that rental agent became rude you were thinking that they just didn't get to make an exttra buck on your sale, but in reality you may have cost him/her their commisions for the entire month because they were bumped out of the bonus structure range of pay outs. The number of cars rented doesn't matter the formula is (total extra sales dollars) divided by (total days rented) So lets say that month the agent rented 2000 days they have to get 20,000 dollars for 5% commision or 1 grand... if they get $22,000 they get 6% and so on up to 10%. If they dont hit the bottom tier they get written up and if they miss two months in a row they get fired.Now you may find that wrong but all people (including you) rely on some sales , If you

In response to SpokaneMan's comment from Sep 30, 2008 at 5:30PM:

The car was the tip of the iceberg! If you get a chance, try to read my review on Universal Studios and Spirit Air...this wasn't a good trip at all!

Wow this sounds like a horrible experience. Thanks for sharing yoru story with us!

Makes me glad I don't need a rent-a-car!

I always rent from National. Just about exclusively. They may not always be low compared to others, but they're hassle free, and take care of their cars. Sounds like another bummer. I'll remember your review for future reference.