Dollar Rent A Car
Reviews and Complaints

Beware folks - seems one of the latest scams run by DOLLAR / THRIFTY CAR RENTAL is to hit you with a "unpaid toll" charge long after you have rented a car from them (5 mos. in my case). Oh, it was a small $2.60 "unpaid toll" but with a $15 "administration fee". My wife and I never drove on a toll road, never crossed a toll bridge & never entered anything charging a toll. I was informed that it was to be charged to my credit card, the one the original rental was charged to.

Now just imagine millions of renters being scammed the same way - they wait until the customer is comfortably home again, then they send you the scam charge & they dare you to call and complain. I did and got...yep...the endless run-around of phone #'s to this recording, which sends you to that recording, which sends you to some complaint boiler room that shuttles you off to the original # again. Of course they plan on you just giving up, the result being a million customers charged an "unpaid toll" of a few bucks PLUS the "administrative fee" of $15 racks them up a cool $17 million a year...enough to pay the slimy vice president who came up with the scam his yearly "bonus".

I'm taking it to my credit card company now - I will NEVER pay this slime charge.

i have a booking for a Camry Toyota car from Mar 22, 2014 until Mar 27, 2014 to be picked up from sharjah airport. my voucher Booking# 1643576 and my confirmation # 112815. I went to THE COUNTER OF Dollar rent a car at 11:30AM and i wait for 20 minutes than he back to me to say we don't have Camry car or similar but i will upgrade you and i say OK than he gave me papers to sign for cruse Chevrolet car what he said it is upgrade. When i go to receive i found a very small car and i asked the man in the parking what is this size and he said it is corolla car similar. I back to the counter and i told hem this is not upgrade, this is dawn grade. He said well yes, because we don't have Camry similar now. i told hem you are fooling me and cheating me. He said sorry but you can go to Dubai airport
and pick up Camry. I told hem my booking is here not one hour from her. After long conversation he said OK you have to wait one hour and somebody will bring the car. i told hem that me booking to receive the car at 11:30AM not 2PM. I suggest to hem to bring the car to my hotel near the airport but he refused (the man name is: Joel). than i wait until i receive the car at 1:45PM. Therefore, i am looking for compensation against this trouble that waist my time and important meeting in sharjah.

Dear Sirs,
I had a reservation for a compact at Dollar Rent A Car. The reservation was #[protected]. The reservation was done and paid to RentalCars.
I had many problems when I went to Atlanta Int. Airport to get the car. They didn't have any compacts available at that moment so they forced me to accept a larger car under the arguments that the compact I had a reservation was too small and the bags I had (one bag) would not fit the car and there were many 8-wheeler cars on the roads. No matter what I said, the assistant kept forcing me to accept a larger car. In the end, I just accepted that because of his insistence.
But the problem didn’t stop there. He said I didn’t have full insurance. I told him my insurance was full and he said I would have to pay for total insurance, which was not true, because I had already paid for that.
He also said I would have to pay for the tolls in Florida, since I was going to Florida. He said I would have to pay for fines if I didn’t accept the insurance. And it was a lie! I would never be fined if I just paid for the tolls on toll sites.
The total of the pre-paid rental was about US$ 280. The total of extras I had to pay was US$ 453.40.
I left Atlanta and drove to Orlando. The same day I contacted RentalCars about all the extras (RoadSafe, PPP, APCONRGFee, and the tolls). I was informed I had to wait until returning the car in order to have my complaint processed.
I returned the car, contacted RentalCars and they just told me they could not do anything for me.
Dollar Rent A Car was also contacted. It’s been weeks since the due time for them to reply has passed. I even contacted them a second time and they haven’t made any contact.
All I want is for them to cancel all the extras and refund me.
Best wishes,

Marcos Evandro Cintra
[protected]@gmail.com

I used Dollar for a rental vehicle and used the toll road, my expectation was I would need to pay the toll back, not the issue. The issue is that $15.00 fee assessed everytime I used a toll. So this means for $13.92 for tolls, I need to pay Dollar Rental an additional $105.00 for an "administrative fee" This was more than the car rental. They have found a scam/theft to pass on to us. Be careful.

RE: Rental agreement # ZK074668-6
Additional charges $950.00 !

Dear Dawn,
As per our conversation yesterday I am writing this explanation of the events that have led me to contacting you.
On or about the last week of May I rented a vehicle at the Dollar facility near the New Orleans Int. airport. On May 19th, I stepped out of my house around lunch to find out that the car was missing. Then I noticed the keys missing from the key hooks in the house. We had a guest staying in our house for a few days and so I tried calling him to no avail. Later that afternoon he showed up at the house in a taxi and when I confronted him about taking the car and asked where it was, he became belligerent. So approximately at 5pm I called the police. He was noticeably drunk and incoherent. He admitted to taking the car and could not remember where he left it, but he did say he went to Harrah’s casino downtown. Officer Noris of the Jefferson PD made the arrest (complaint E-19871-11). After they both left, I called Dollar and reported the incident. I also drove to the New Orleans city impound to look for the car, but it had not been towed. Next day I called Dollar again and was told that the car was not reported stolen. I then called JPD and spoke to officer Noris who told me that I had to report the car stolen at the New Orleans PD because that is where we thought it was left. I thought this to be odd, but did I drove downtown to the NOPD office and spoke to the officer on duty. He told me officer Noris was wrong. The car was taken from my house and the person responsible was arrested both in Jefferson PD jurisdiction. I called JPD and talked to sergeant West and explain was I was told. He agreed that it was JPD jurisdiction, but said that car would not be placed on stolen list for the charge was “unauthorized use of a vehicle”. I tried to explain that the car is missing and was taken so it was STOLEN. I called Dollar and was given the number to a Dollar Detective “Alexander”. He told me that JPD was wrong and that he would try to call an officer to correct this. I then called the ranking officer at the 4th District Officer Kaho, who proceeded to correct the problem and file a complaint against officer Noris on the 21st.
Starting on the 20th everyday three times a day I called all 25 city of NO towing companies along with the city impound lot and in the evenings I drove all around the public lots and streets near the casino to see if I could find the car. I had also called the Harrah’s casino valet department and asked them if they had the car. On the day I found the car I decided to try to call the Harrah’s casino valet again and this time a very nice lady took the time to actually look for the car while I waited on the phone. About 30 min later, she came back on line and told me that the car had been there the entire time. I immediately called Sherrie at Dollar and told her that the car was at Harrah’s. I told her I would pick up the car. She told me that I could not pick it up because it had been reported stolen and if I got stopped by the police I would go to jail even if the contract was in my name for Dollar owned the car. She said not to worry, Dollar would call the police so they could meet at Harrah’s, verify ownership and then Dollar could take the car back to the lot. I was never told that I would be charged for towing, impound fees etc. had I been told this, I would have called the police chief myself, and asked to meet them at the car so I could take it back. I’m sure that after they had messed up the entire case and put me through the trouble they did, they would have complied to help me out. At any rate I would taken the car back myself no matter what. I would have also had a chance to see if the car had any damage or if the GPS had been stolen prior to the car being released from Harrah’s and under their valet responsibility. I never afforded a chance to very that the GPS was missing and to hold Harrah’s accountable for this.
After a few days I spoke to Sherrie Lowery at Dollar again and we went over the bill. After all I have been through, she gave me a break as outline in the final settlement bill enclosed. I gave her a credit card and she charged a total of $350.00 leaving $0 balance.
Much to my surprise a couple of weeks later I get a call from JNR collections demanding a payment of $937.32 with no backup documentation. I called and spoke to Sherrie at Dollar and she did not know anything about this. I forwarded the copy of the paid in full receipt from Dollar to JNR and they told me that it did not matter and that corporate adjusted the bill. I then asked them to at least have the courtesy of forwarding an itemized copy of the presumed charges. It took JNR a few months to do this, meanwhile the harassing letters and threatening phone calls continued. Finally on Aug 26 I received a copy of the new charges. Needless to say, I was appalled. The charges were exactly those that Sherrie and I had discussed and that she had adjusted in the final invoice. One of the charges was a rental fee for a GPS along with a replacement fee for the same. This is not only ludicrous, but also reprehensible. I also find the cost of the NUVI replacement at $450 very questionable for I own two NUVI GPS and that unit does not even cost that at retail prices which I am sure Dollar does not pay to Garmin. This is morally and ethically wrong. Since I am not an attorney I cannot question the legality, but I suspect that this practice of gouging may also be illegal.
Since the beginning of October, I have been trying to reach Sherrie and others at Dollar to try and resolve this issue. Meanwhile according to JNR I have been placed on a national “do not rent” list by Dollar and they have been reporting this collection to all the credit agencies affecting my rating. I even spoke to Dollar’s corporate attorney, Mr. William Walker, who told me that this was in the hands of corporate offices and there was nothing he could do. He then told me he would have corporate call me and gave me their number. Another month went by, and I never heard from corporate. I finally tried to call and was able to speak to Dawn. She asked me to write this letter and forward to her.
 
In closing, I hope and trust that Dollar will reconsider its position, honor the settlement agreement I hold with $0 balance, remove me from any “do not rent” list, and clear my credit with all reporting agencies in order to restore the damaged caused by this incident. Dollar should also consider the ordeal I have endured and the efforts I have made to rectify this situation.
Please advice at your earliest.

Respectfully,

Carl

I made reservations months in advance of my September 3rd rental date. I checked the rates of several agencies before selecting Dollar at $398.51 for the duration of my rental. When I approached the Dollar counter with reservation number in hand, the clerk was surprised that I had reserved a mini-van and was not sure they had one (I thought that's what a reservation was for). Anyway, she called and asked if one was available and then asked them to get it cleaned up for a customer. We had to wait 30 minutes. I gave her my credit card which I had made my reservation with and she informed me that it would expire sometime during the week of the rental. I showed her the card which clearly stated it would not expire until 04/14, not 09/11. She would not accept that, so I had to give her my bank card instead. I accepted the fuel purchase and the cost was $490.11. She told me that was a deposit, not the charge. When we returned the car, on time, we greeted by a very friendly agent who received the rental back and gave us our recite. When we got checked and were seated at our gate in the airport, I looked at the recite and saw we were charged the whole $490.11. I emailed customer service and was told in a reply message by Renee Turner, I had been charged $72.00 for 20 gallons of gas. That was about $.010 cents more than any station we subsequently bought fuel from. The rest of the overcharge was for a late fee. As stated previously, the car was returned on time, it was not late. She did offer to send me 4 $10 vouchers for future rentals, but I declined. Having read several of the other complaints, overcharging appears to be standard practice with Dollar.

Dollar sold me a car rental voucher with reservation confirmation #CA284664680 and payment confirmation at GBP 197.59.
As Dollar agreed to a service with me to provide the car rental voucher, Dollar entered a legally binding contract with me.
Dollar revoked my reservation just few hours prior to pick-up time when I was flying to Vancouver. Check-in agent and his manager refused to accept my voucher, I had no choice but to rent a substitute car with walk in rate.
I wrote several emails to Dollar’s service department but they are not willing to take responsibilities nor taking care of me.

Intimidated and Upsold at Dollar Car Rental at McCarran
Last week I set up a car rental for my wife who was in Las Vegas.
Prior to her arrival there, I phoned to confirm the rental and to ensure that we were only getting the supplemental liability insurance, and that we were waiving the loss damage insurance. (this is covered by our credit card).
When she arrived at the Dollar counter to sign for the car, the Dollar clerk, who she describes as large and irritable, told her that she HAD to take the collision insurance. She explained that her husband said to waive this insurance, that it was covered by our credit card. He wouldn't take no for an answer, rather he said that our card would not cover all the damages should we get into an accident. There were a lot of people behind her, all the other clerks were busy, it was 10pm at night, ... so she signed for the collision insurance. An additional $90!

I've since contacted Dollar asking that they reimburse us this $90 for insurance we didn't need. They have refused.

We have rented vehicles for many of our trips. I have had conversations with the credit card companies, who have ensured me that we do not need collision insurance, only third party.

My wife was extremely upset by all of this. She felt that the clerk bullied her into signing something she knew she didn't need. She called me in tears afterwards. She said the guy was on the verge of yelling at her.

I said, 'no worries hon". I'll call them when you arrive back home, explain the details, and they will gladly refund the $90. No such luck. They are just as rude on the phone. "We see here that your wife signed the papers...which means she accepted the contract!" end of story.

I made a rental reservation with Dollar for a compact car May 05 to May 21 2011
The cost estimated was $349.34. When I went to pickup the vehicle the Dollar
Agent(scotty) advised me that I required additional insurance, Supplementing my
policy from Wawanesa insurance.I told him I had full coverage under my insurance;he said I did not, without looking at my insurance coverage.He said that
this new "optional insurance was new in Florida this year", loss damage waiver
$26.99 a day (total $431.84.It wasn;t til I arrived home from vacation and called
my Ins. co.They advised that I was pressured into buying Ins.I did not need
was charging me $431.84 more

I rented car in Orlando during my vacations in Florida back in march. Today Dollar sent me a bill charging $25 service fee per toll, at total cost of $75 for 3 tolls I went thru. The tolls itself cost $.25 each (that's right, 25 cents). These tolls are those you cannot pay anywhere, they charge eletronically and send the bill to the car owner. $75 for administrative fees for $.75 of toll is just too much. It is abusive fee.

I reserved online for car rental to Phoenix Arizona where my wife will be graduated & so we found a reasonable rate online for $20/day, Dollar Car Rental. I was pretty tired so I did not read over the agreement and signed without questioned. When we got to the hotel and looked at Dollar Rental charges, my wife & I were shocked to find out some shocking charges, fees and charges on our rental agreement. For 4 days of car rent with insurance, we paid like $150 per day rent, just ridiculous and fraudulent, taxes and fees that are very confusing on the rental agreement using abbreviations for fees. We will definitely file another complaint with chamber of Commerce in Illinois when we return but also at Phoenix AZ Chambers. This has given us a great lesson to check company rating when booking especially car rental co's. This company as far as we are concern are running their business to fool people, collect mney and cheat.

Jesus Delos Reyes, Plainfield, IL

Rented from Dollar in Orlando Airport. I declined the insurance coverage and the man at the counter rushed me through advancing the POS screens. then called the next customer before I reviewed anything. A week after I returned the car, I was billed $179.18 for extra insurance. Called Dollar got no satisfaction. They did the same thing to my daughter. They are thieves, don't rent from them. They already have a complaint being investigated by the Florida Attorney General, and I just filed another complaint. Rent elsewhere so you don't become a victim of their scam. just search the internet for Dollar rent a car complaints, and you'll see thius a common practice for them.

The Boston Airport Dollar Rent A Car has the worst customer service. When we first arrived to Dollar Rent A Car, we were waiting in a line of about 3 people. It took us over an hour to get our car, the employees were so slow and did not care about getting their customers the cars quickly. The drop off and pick up are not differentiated and you must wait in the same line. There was a customer who was trying to drop off his car and was greeted by a rude agent. When the agent saw the customer she grumbled loud enough for everyone to hear "you brought me from the back to help 1 person?" When we dropped off the car, we arrived almost 2 hours early for our flight, which we almost missed because the agents were so slow in helping customers. We rushed to the airport- with our newborn, rushed through security, were almost the last people on the plane. We will never use Dollar Rent A Car again.

I advise you not to rent from the Dollar Rent A Car "London Heathrow Airport" agency. The agency is not at the airport, but, rather, in the lobby of a Sheraton Hotel away from the airport. Moreover, it is not a Dollar agency but, rather, it is a Thrifty Rent A Car agency which, as it turns out, is actually run by a company called "Scot Group Ltd".

After returning the car, this agency charged my credit card about US $500 to replace a tire they claim was damaged while I had the car. As explained below, this claim was incorrect and the evidence provided to support it was obviously false.

When I picked-up the car, the agency gave me a "Pre/Post Rental Damage Report" which had at least 16 areas of damage identified. I examined the car and attempted to identify each claimed area of damage, but, in almost every instance, the claimed damage recorded on the Report was inconsequential or non-existent. I rubbed at least one of the claimed scratches and found that it could simply be rubbed away. I did not understand why so many insignificant or illusory items of damage had been noted, but I did not see any point in disputing the presence of damage the rental company had identified.

When I returned the car, a male agency employee claimed that he had found new damage to the front left tire. The Pre-Rental Report noted damage to the front left wheel or tire, but the employee insisted that he remembered inspecting the car (at least 10 days before) and seeing damage only to the wheel. Just by looking, it was obvious the damage to the tire occured at the same time as the damage to the wheel.

The Assistant Manager of the agency e-mailed purported "before" and "after" digital photos in order to "prove" that the damage to the tire was new. However, examining the photos showed that the "before" photo was of a different wheel and tire.

Thrifty said they would charge my credit card UK pounds 298.98, which they said was the cost of a new tire, an "administrative fee of [pounds] 37.50", and a charge for refurbishing the alloy wheel (65.00 pounds) (which even Thrifty said had been damaged previously). In the end, Thrifty charged UK pounds 343.04 (about $500) over the rental for replacing one tire. (On the Internet (e.g., www.etyres.co.uk), tire prices in the UK for the type of car I had, a Ford Focus, run from 75 to 105 UK pounds.)

When I picked-up the car, I noticed 2 sets of customers engaged in heated arguments with a man behind the Thrifty counter. I could hear that the customers were challenging damage claims by the Thrifty representatives. The customers were complaining that the claimed new damage was not their fault, that they wanted documents (which the Thrifty representative was refusing to provide), that they wanted to speak with the supervisor or manager, who was not then available, and that they could not wait for the supervisor, because they had planes to catch.

When I returned the car I had the same experience. Again, the manager was "not available" and nothing could be accomplished at the agency. The Thrifty employees were surly, and their treatment of customers was uninterested and mean. It was obvious this agency was very familiar with, yet utterly indifferent to, angry customers.

Duncan Palmatier
Moscow, Idaho
USA

My brother, who is in the military was coming home for 2 weeks and due to the time his flight was coming in, noone was available to pick him up when his flight arrived. He was flying in to Albany International in Albany, NY and had made arrangements to rent a car with Dollar Rent a Car.

I spoke with the company on the morning that he was supposed to arrive, because the rental company was not in the actual airport, and I wanted to find out if they had a shuttle service to pick my brother up from the airport so that he could get his rental car. I was told yes, that he would just have to call when he arrived. His flight was delayed 2 1/2 hours, and when he arrived he called me in a panic telling me that he had called Dollar and was told that since his flight was delayed, they dropped his reservation and gave away his rental car and then the agent just hung up on him.

I then called the Dollar rental company to see what could be done to get my brother a car to get home, with him being 1 1/2 hours away from home and had been traveling all day. I was told by the agent on the phone that they only hold the reservations for 2 hours and after that time they gave the car away. He said that my brother should have notified them that his flight was delayed, to which my response was, "how was he supposed to know that you would not hold his car, and how is he expected to call when he is in flight or running through the airport trying to catch his connection?". He responded by telling me that the FAA doesn't allow planes to just fly around in the air for 2 1/2 hours, they would get fined for that, so he had plenty of time to call them and let them know. I asked again if there was anything he could do and he told me that he had no other cars available to rent out, they were out of vehicles. I then asked him if that was how this company does business? You just give away reserved cars and offer no help to people when they are stranded? He told me that that is how every car rental company in the US does business, they won't hold reservations for over 2 hours. I then asked to speak to a manager to try to get somewhere. He told me that he was the manager, so I then asked him for his name. He told me his name, Scott Havens, and then replied "do you want me to spell it out for you or can you manage it on your own?" I told him, no problem I've got it. He then said "good, call corporate with it! F**c You, and hung up on me.

So I decided to take his advise and after a little good old internet research and a couple of calls, finding out that Thrifty and Dollar are actually managed by the same company, I got in touch with the corporate office in Oklahoma. Just in case anyone needs it, it's [protected], then pick any number and someone will get you to the right person. The person I actually talked to was the Customer Service Liason to the CEO of the company who advised me to have my brother rent a car from another company and to fax her a copy of the bill personally and she would make sure a check was sent for the difference he would have to pay. She said that that was what the agent SHOULD have told my brother to begin with. We'll see how far this gets as it just happened yesterday 8/9/10.

July 7, 2010.

5 day rental.
my quote was $216.00 and Dollar charged me $302.00 because of this LWD $14.99 daily fee to waive responsibility. What a scam! Alfonzo did not explain that if we would be charged a daily fee to WAIVE anything. We did decline the insurance but it was not explained that we would pay to be relived of any vehicle responsibility...isn't that what insurance is after all?
I truly feel the word waiver is misused and misleading in this context. Furthermore it was absolutely not explained by Alfonzo.

Alfonzo was to preoccupied telling us he could get us in a larger car for a little extra money. He asked us multiple times and kept asking again instead of taking the time to explain the details regarding this LDW fee.

Alfonzo also did not tell us we needed to return the car with our gas pump receipt or we would be charged a fee. I am sure this is simply another way Dollar is getting extra money from consumers who do not buy the gas from them.

My experience with Dollar is that they do not care about customer service! They are right and the customer is wrong, period. No refunds, no compromise.

I was quoted about $400 for a two week rental. After verbally denying insurance 3 or 4 times, I was asked to initial. Lo and behold, they signed me up for insurance. On the contract it was listed as LDW, or loss-damage-waiver; hidden in plain site.

In the end I was charged $340+ for this LDW, which I had declined outright. When trying to work with Dollar for a credit, they refused to budge and refund my money because I initialed the "LDW" option.

Check out my full review here: http://www.alexbr.com/wblog/?p=77

Stay away. Dollar is a bunch of scammers and thieves, no better than your average sidewalk conman. I would even say they are worse because they hide under the guise of a "legitimate" business.