National Car Rental

I rented a vehicle from National Chicago Midway Airport in November 2011, Wed, before Thanksgiving. I returned the vehicle the Sunday morning after Thanksgiving about 5:30 am, jumped on the bus to the airport and realized I forgot my sunglasses in the glove box. I immediately called National and spoke with the manager DP, TP or JD, whatever. I asked him to go and check the glove box and get my glasses out. He did. He came back to the phone excited and described the glasses I described to him.

He says "yes, brown plastic frames, with brown lenses" then he pauses and says to me, "Whats the name brand?" I said, "What? What do you mean?" He said, "What is the name brand of the glasses?" When I told him they are Tory Burches. He said, "Oh no these are not the glasses" and I told him they are. They are the only glasses in the glove box.

Then he tried to give me a song and dance and told me to just wait 2-3 days and call back later because it takes about that time to clean out a vehicle and get it re-rented. I told him, "There is no way I am going to wait 2-3 days to resolve this matter, when I had just purchased my glasses, because I was told I would need a pair of very good sunglasses because I had just had eye surgery." I called this suppose to be manager about 3-4 times that day hoping he would realize that stealing my glasses would result in him getting fired if he was caught. So I called back early Monday morning and spoke with another manager. He tells me the car had been rented and did not get cleaned but he would call the person that rented the vehicle and ask them to check the glove box. I don't know why because I know who had the glasses.

I called back a few hours later and he told me that the person that rented the vehicle did not call him back yet. Well, why would they? And I know for a fact he probably never called because he knew deep inside DP had the glasses. When I got home from work, I called back again and asked him to put a sign up asking the person that stole the glasses to just sneak them back and leave them on the counter. He got very hostile and demanded and assured me that his employees would never steal because they would lose their job. I can guarantee no one has lost their job. I know for a fact these people steal. What do they have to lose except a customer?

I want everyone to know that I have been renting cars (from the DC location) with no problem for years. I have left things in the vehicle and I would just call and go pick it up but the the location at Midway Chicago. I was just appalled to hear that National's rule is to fire an employee that steals but no one has ever been fired! I refused to believe that given the opportunity someone would not steal, especially someone in an environment with no camera, etc. So the National at Chicago Midway Airport, you stole my glasses and you are going to replace them one way or another! You can take that to the bank. Also for those of you reading these complaints, please do not rent from National Car Rental ever. I will spend more money to rent from a reputable rental company. Thanks.

We rented a car for eight nights from National-Citer at Geneva airport. We lost the key on day 6 and when we contacted the company to inform them, we were told that they didn't have a spare set. They said they would have to contact Paris to obtain a spare and it would take several days for this. They suggested that we break into our car for our personal effects and arrange for the car to be towed back at our expense. When I suggested that we pay to extend our rental to await the spare key and travel down to collect it, the manager Vanessa told us that she could not give us the authority to do so but that she would contact HQ and ask. She didn't phone us back.

After several attempts to speak with her, she advised that HQ would not permit us to do this. So we were left with no choice but to abandon our personal effects and arrange for the car to be towed at 350 Euros plus 200 euros for the lost key.

Update: We were just about to board our flight back to the UK when we received a call to say that someone had found our keys. Great news? Apparently they didn't make a note of who found them and where! I have since tried to call them but the staff are beyond rude. I will never use this company again.

My wife and I have recently rented a car for 10 days from National in Kayseri, Turkey (Rental agreement number:041230). We gave up the car in Sanliurfa. The car performed well except for the GPS equipment that we also rented. After the first day when we drove the Goreme, the GPS stopped working. We tried everything to get it working but nothing worked causing a significant amount of anxiety.

When I spoke to person at National (Kayseri office) about this problem, he said, "It was working when you left Kayseri and therefore it is not our National's responsibility." I find this an unacceptable response to a customer's legitimate complaint. My wife and I have been rented cars many times from National in the USA and have always been more than satisfied. The college where I teach also has used National on numerous occasions.

I am requesting a refund for the GPS equipment (that I paid for but did not work after the first day). I will be back in the States on Dec. 7th but currently can be reached by email

I'm a frequent business traveler, an executive member and a key member of Huawei procurement executive. This complaint letter is to report an incident at your Toronto airport terminal 3 office on 6 Dec. 2011. To make it clear, I have two separate National bookings as follow:

- Reservation confirmation# **, pickup from Toronto airport on 6 Dec and return to Toronto airport on 16 Dec.

Right after I returned the vehicle from Ottawa with my pregnant wife, and 2 years old child on board, we immediately selected a reserved vehicle from your Toronto airport executive areas, as I proceed to checkout, your check-out staff look at my Texas temporary driver permit with confusion and she ended up taking my Texas driver permit to her manager for consultation. It is because they have not seen a Texas temporary driver license; your on-site manager insisted this is not a valid driver license. The manager has made 35 minutes of numinous calls to his supervisors and once informed me that my driver permit provided is not valid. I refused his decision, because I have provided a valid official document from Texas Department of Public Safety. Only after he called Texas department of public safety for another 20+ minutes to realize I have provided a valid driver permit, he informed his staff to proceed vehicle rental pickup registration.

Why do I, my pregnant wife, and 2 years old child have to wait an hour with great distress and insult? Is this kind of treatment offer to all your executive member? What values have your manager bring to an executive member? Your manager refuses to provide business card to me, any reason for checking my valid driver permit or not a "sorry" to all the waiting. He only has excuse to justify his wrong doing, to cause customer pains, dissatisfaction to other customers and disruption of operation.

If anyone from this rental office has any common sense, competence and/or customer services in car rental industry, me and my family should not be penalized by your incompetence staff in verify a valid Texas driver license. Your on-site Manager doesn't have any know-how in car rental business. In summary, his incapability causes me and my family valuable hour that have direct impact to my company business loss. This is totally unacceptable in any way to treat your Executive Member, as a result this will be my last rental with National. I will no longer give my future business to National and related organization. Moreover, I will initial our corporate procurement & admin department to revoke all Canada business with National just like the one we have done in USA.

I visited Avignon, France this summer and loved it. What I didn't love though was my rental experience with National Rental Car (National/CITER) at Avignon, France. They rented me a Toyota Verso which proceeded to have issues with the clutch (I know how to drive manual) and when I called to say I had issues and wanted a replacement having put on just 40km or so, I waited for assistance but no one arrived. The car finally broke down in a small town where I waited for close to two hours for someone to fetch the car. Roadside assistance operator explained the delay as common for a Saturday in France. National replaced the car and this one ran smoothly for the next two weeks of my rental. Unfortunately, upon my return from vacation, I learned that National had charged my credit card for replacing the clutch for $3000. They explained this to have been a brand new car and the problem was due to my driving. I drove a manual car for a year prior to this experience and I had no problems the remaining two weeks of my rental period.

They have poor service at LAX car return and a staffing and management problem. We arrived at the rental car facility about 1PM on Saturday, October 29th 2011. I tried to stop the car to let my wife, who is using crutches, off as close to the airport van as possible. Even after I showed her handicapped tag to the attendant, he was insistent that I move the car. Next, I asked for a luggage cart, two of their staff looked at me and walked away, a third told me where I could get it and a fourth actually got one for me. I struggled to load all of our bags and had issues with the cart rolling away and bags falling off. A number of their staff watched this but would not move a muscle to help. They were too busy chatting with each other.

I had a reservation to rent a sedan car at National Car rental, Logan Airport, Boston. The young lady at the rental said that I could rent an SUV Kia for the same price. I dropped the car off at National in Chicago and was charged mileage $700 + because I rented the SUV and not the full size sedan. If I had known that there would be a mileage charge, I would not have rented the SUV.

National's response: Thank you for your reply and I am sorry for the confusion, please allow me to explain why you were charged for the mileage on your one-way rental. The excessive mileage charge is due to the car class that was driven. You were quoted for unlimited for driving a full size on down, any car car class above the full size vehicle that is driven will be charged for the mileage.

Our records show that you were charged for mileage due to driving an IFAR intermediate SUV, not the full size sedan which is what you booked ahead. The charges are correct and you would want to speak with your travel department about your contract details.

If you lose a key to the car, they charge you a fee of $60.00. Then, if the keys are not in it, they tow the vehicle and charge you $208.00 for a new key. Then, National will charge you the tow fee which is over $500.00. This was the conversation with the lost key department with National Car Rental. Now, if they have the key fee and delivery fee, to deliver the key is $155.00 and the key is $38.00.

I was wrongly charged by National Car Hire for a total of $33.76, following the car rental I booked through eBookers UK. I spend an hour in the customer office, and in the manager's kiosk, confirming that my rental did not include gas. As there was confusion over the terms of my rental, I was 100% assured that there would be no additional charge to my credit card. I was also instructed that I must return the car with a full tank of petrol.

I returned the car with a full tank, however, eBookers have shown me a receipt from National claiming it was 3/8 of a tank full, a charge was thus, made for $52.03. This is absolutely false, I confirmed from a National employee, verbally, that the car was indeed full. Of course, I have not retained any receipts from my US trip. I feel that National have effectively stolen from me.

Beware of Emerald Aisle or Executive users: I have been a 15-year plus customer of National, but that comes to an end now. I recently rented a car in Orlando, Florida. Upon return, a small dent in the vehicle was pointed out to me, a dent that I could not have possibly noticed when I picked out the car and certainly did not occur while I was renting to my knowledge. As frequent users know, the attendants checking in vehicles do not regularly check the vehicles for damage. Either that was the case or the car was damaged by a National employee sometime during the "recycling" period.

Now National is hounding me for a $1000.00 damage claim! Any other recent stories like this one out there?

I rented a car from National at the Denver International Airport. As I was checking in to the reservation at the kiosk, I noticed only 2 options regarding the gas fill up on returning the car. One was to pre-pay for $3.90 gal. And the other was to have them top it off for around $6 gal. I didn't like either option. I chose to just fill up the car myself on return. I expressed this to the lady behind the counter. She said I had no choice, I had to use one of their options. I asked what would happen if I returned the car with 1/2 tank. I asked if I would still be charged for a full tank. She said that I should see her if that happens or just try to return the car as close to empty as possible.

I returned the car with just under 1/2 tank and was charged $97.50 for gas. I did not have time to go in to discuss this since I had a plane to catch. I called National when I got home. They said there are no credits for any gas in the vehicle. I asked them for an explanation of charges. They said that it simply is what they charge for a pre-pay full tank. I wanted to know how many gallons or cost per gallon. They would not or could not tell me. I certainly will not use National again. I think this policy of only 2 choices on fill up is just another way to rip off people. Any other cars I have rented allow you to fill up on return. This would have only cost me about $30-$35 to fill up at the station 3 blocks from where the car rentals are located. They ripped me off for over $60.

Picked up a car at National Car Rental Det. Metro rental depot. I was told to just go out and pick any car. The agent did not go out to the lot with us nor did he explain any of the paper work. The agent also did not help with examining the car for previous damage. Other agencies have always offered that service. Hey, at 81 years old, I need all the help I can get.

I overlooked seeing some minor damage to a trunk lid and a bumper. Now. even though the lot manager agreed that the damage was obviously old damage, I got nailed for 600 bucks in damages. I agreed that I had neglected to circle the little damage review card (didn't even know I had one). But; punishing me for that oversight is just not right, and, besides being greedy, it's dumb public relations.

What's so bad about taking customers to their car and guiding them through the process? Other agencies do that.

I rented a Toyota Minivan on March 30 to April 7, 2011. I returned it at Washington D.C. Regan airport. The return area agent checked out and gave me a receipt. Also, I stopped by the site office to change my payment to the personal debit card. On early July, I received a call from one of the agent from Damage Recovery Unit of National Car Rental. The agent told me I owed $689.23 on damage of rented minivan. I explained that I had an inspection and stayed at the site office to change my payment option to my own debit card instead of a corporate card, but the agent told me I walked away according to the arrival site agent.

Therefore, I sent out a letter to Damage Recovery Unit of National Car Rental. I did not hear any response from National Car Rental, but they turned over to collection agency. Also, I sent an email to National Car Rental.

National Car Rental commits negligence by not having snow tires on any of its cars for renters going skiing in the mountains. I rented a Chevy HHR at Denver airport that apparently, with 25,000 miles, had very little tread on its tires. National says that front-wheel drive cars are all that's needed to drive in the heavy Colorado snow at 10,000 feet. Wrong. I pulled into the Dillon, CO post office a few weeks ago and slid sideways going at 2 mph into a car. The right bumper was damaged on my car and there was damage to the car hit--the sidewall of a Subaru came off.

The car proved incapable of climbing the driveway from my condo without a running, sliding start. I would drive slowly in this car especially on turns since it had no traction. Now, National wants to charge me $1,100 for the damage to the car and they still insist that bald tires on front-wheel drive cars are sufficient to avoid any claims of negligence on their part. Such negligence will ultimately cause death.

All car rental agencies at Denver airport should offer renters snow tires, studded or not. Snow tires are not on their list of "accessories." Most of the locals here know that even a 4x4 is not good enough and that snow tires with good tread are needed. How do we get car rental agencies to ensure that their renters do not die in one of their death traps?

At the auto rental desk for National adjacent to Alamo Desk, I rented an auto for 5 days at an alleged price of $24.00 per day, as told me by the local agent. I hastily signed a contract without thoroughly reading the same (my fault) and on return of the auto 5 days later, I found that I was charged a weekly rate of 243 dollars and 80 cents. Once additional charges of approx $85 were added, the total bill came to a whopping $327.86. When speaking to agent Jene on the phone, he was unable to obtain the contract for confirmation of my signing and had no concern that I was misled and duped into having that amount charged to my credit card. Perhaps this could have been avoided had I thoroughly read the initial contract. However, the entire process leaves a foul taste in my system for the two companies.

I rented a car for a trip to Indianapolis. When I picked the car up, no inspection of the car was performed with me. When I returned the car, I was told I was responsible for a few scratches on the front bumper. I did nothing to damage the car. I asked for some documentation of the condition of the car before I took it (twice) and was never provided any. I think I am a victim of a scam. I have been charged $401 for minor scratches on a bumper I did not damage.

I rented a car from the Houston Hobby airport location, upon receiving the car, I noticed several large scratches on the car. I thought that it was odd that a car in this scratched condition would be rented so I took several photos on my mobile phone (quality of pictures are poor since the glaring Texas sun did not allow for proper photos). Since I felt confident that they were knowingly renting this car in this condition, I did not say anything to the gate operator who opened the gate for me to exit. Upon returning the car, the staff at National Car Rental asked if knew that there was a large scratch on the car. I told him yes and that I had photos. I showed them to him and he said he couldn't make them out and then proceeded to tell me that if the scratches did not show up in his computer system then I had to of caused them, thus accusing me of causing the scratches.

I told him if he and his team did not perform the actual due diligence necessary on the vehicle prior to me renting this vehicle then it wasn't my fault that they were not properly maintaining their computer systems. No one from National offered to do a preinspection of the car and since I am an Emerald Club member, I merely got into a car that was waiting for me.

In essence, he called me a liar and informed me again that his faulty record keeping system did not reflect this. How in the world if no prior vehicle inspection was performed with me can they accuse me of causing this damage? This is just a devious attempt for me to be extorted to pay for damage that someone else had caused and since the current management team and process are inadequate, corrupt, and a crooked business entity, I am expected to pay for a poorly run and poorly managed organization.

I received an invoice from Marla **, Recovery Specialist stating that I now owe them $505.60 for these damages. They have my credit card on file and I am afraid that they will exercise and demand payment of damages that I did not cause. Please help protect me and the public from these crooks!

Beware National Car Rental: I rented a car via National Car Rental. Their confirmation email for the cost of the rental included a WestJet affiliate discount of $28.75. National Car Rental removed the discount on their invoice.

After repeated requests to honor their confirmation of the rental National Car Rental have refused to honor the discount. They have sent, by email, two excuses that are blatant falsehoods: Initially they stated that the difference in amounts was due to taxes. After being challenged on the validity of that statement they revised the reason by stating that 'the vehicle class driven does not qualify for the discount'. Both excuses are essentially fraudulent. I have all of the documentation.

At 4.08pm on May 27th, 2010, I made a transactional booking with the National Reservations team in the UK over the phone. I was told that the computer had lost the details so I went through the booking again making a second payment at 4:13pm. Again, I was told that the system had gone down and therefore no payment had been taken and no booking was made. However, after calling my bank I was told that both transactions had been successful. Each payment was for 213.63. I called back the reservations team and was told that no reference to my booking(s) remained on the system. They asked me to call the Customer Services team.

I called and after explaining the above, I was put on hold for 5 minutes and then directly transferred to the Reservations team again. Again, they explained that I needed to talk to the Customer Services team. I called the Customer Services team again and explained the situation. This time I was put on hold for 3 minutes before the line went dead.

First of all, National Car Rental has taken an unlawful payment twice from my account of $213.63. And they did not provide me with any reference. Secondly, I wasted over 30 minutes trying to sort the matter out and get a refund. This is completely an unacceptable behavior from National. I am disgusted with my treatment and the lack of help in resolving this issue. All I wanted to do was to book a car for 5 days. I have used National Car rental for over 3 years, booking and renting cars every few months.

I am left out of pocket with no help or refund at this moment. My only course of action is to continue to call (at my own further expense to get my refund). I am seriously disappointed and let down. I feel I want to take this matter to the highest authority, and of course will promptly make use of a rival car rental firm from now on.

I was charged several times on my account. I called for two weeks straight to try to get this resolved. I talked to a manager who said they were going to resolve the problem but never did. I called back many times. The phone just rang and rang for half an hour. When I finally did get a live person, they said hold on and put me back to the automated machine to start all over again. I cannot get to the money I need in my account to move and pay for my moving truck. All I ask is that they fax over paperwork stating that they are not charging me the first charge. A total of almost $600 was held up on my account due to them charging me several times when the final bill was on suppose to be $282.

National's counter employees are rude, mean, have no desire to help you, give you the idea that you are completely in the wrong and was told I didn't know what I was talking about and when offered to show the girl my receipt, she told me "Just keep it because I will not look at it!"

My customers cannot ever get a car on time, they are told they have no reservation, it is not a Direct Bill, the counter employees tell my customers they must provide a credit card and take the insurance. They must or they will not get a car! Even though we have been doing business with NCR for years and suddenly within the last 2 months the Nashville Airport national Car Rental has lost their minds!

I believe they are scamming people to take their personal information. We have been on a Direct Bill for over 10 years and suddenly we are not but by the next day or when the car is returned, the problem has been fixed, my customer is not charged, It is a direct bill and all is right with the world! No way. Scamming is going on! They are too high in cost and I will do everything in my power to move our corporate account to another car rental!

I rented a car from National Car Rental while visiting Illinois. A car ran a yield sign and crashed into my rental car. The other driver got a ticket. Now I get a call from National saying I owe for "diminishment of value, loss of use and administrative costs" $2,190 dollars. They said the other party's insurance won't cover these costs. All I can say is I had to hire a lawyer. I will never rent from them again. I'm having to hire a lawyer. I would rather give a lawyer this money than pay National for bogus charges, but I'm still going to be out money.

The company does not make the fact clear, that they demand a cash or card deposit when reserving and paying for a rental, online or by phone, and state that checkout station will only want to see the card used. When collecting, they then demand cash or card deposit of $250.00, which is withdrawn in seconds from the account. However, when returning the rental car, the operative stated when asked, that the refund would take a couple of hours. I returned the car on 17/03/2010, 9AM. As of noon of 19/03/2010, no refund has been made. The unavailability of the money, has caused inconvenience, embarrassment, as I was unable to complete a prearranged purchase of a vehicle, and left me without funds.

My car was hit by a man driving a National rental car. He was at fault. I tried calling National car rentals, only to be given numbers that are busy all day, everyday. This accident happened about a month ago, and I haven't, as of yet, spoken with anyone at National about this matter. $2,000 worth of damage was done to my car. A passenger was injured, resulting in an emergency room visit, that left her in pain for a week. I really need to get my car fixed, and her bill needs to be taken care of.

Neither category contained a car similar to a Malibu. The mid-size group included PT Cruiser, Ford Focus, VW Beetle, Pontiac Vibe, and Toyota Matrix. These are NOT similar to a Malibu. A Ford Fusion would have been similar. I had to drive in very bad weather in a smaller, less-safe car than I had reserved. I believe that I was charged for a bigger car than I was given.

Rented a car in Paris for a weekend in November 2009. Made sure to request CDW, GPS, and everything else. On our return to Paris a car in front of us in a turn lane onto the freeway rolled back into the car, and the hitch went through the front bumper. When we returned to Paris, we had a copy of the accident report, and had called it in. The third party that hit us admitted liability. As we had CDW coverage, the office said we were fine and not to worry. I insisted on a copy of the report before I left.

Once home I found a bill for 1300 Euros on my credit card statement. According to National there are two CDWs, the first comes with a deductable, and the second comes with a zero deductable called a super CDW. This had not been explained to us initially. I called National and explained that the third party admitted (in writing on the report I had submitted) to being liable for the accident. National told me the rental company blames the renter, and rarely follows up with the third party because its easier to bill the third party than to chase the third partys insurance company. Absolutely disgusting practice. Currently $2019 out of pocket.

Rented a car on june 30,2009 from National car rental on July 12, a young lady rear ended me ,It was clearly her fault ,Geico her insurance CO,just started to investigate this in Oct. well imagine my surprise when I get a letter from a collection agency saying I owe National 913.98 I called them gave them my report of the accident,as of today 11/16/2009* i get another letter from the collection agency OK now geico agrees to pay for 698.00 of it .The collection agency telling me some insurance companies don't pay for the days the car is in the shop getting fixed which a a loss for National.The collection agency saying its my responsibility for the remaining bill. Its not my fault she hit me.hadshe not hit me the car wouldnt of been the shop right? What do you suppose will happpen here. The remaining is 215.00

I rented a car last week from National at XNA airport. When I returned the car, I explained to Jennifer that the tires were completely bald. She said "oh, that car will go out of service in a couple weeks." When I asked her if she would continue renting, she handed me my receipt, did not thank me or anything and just walked away.

I called the National Car Rental customer service. The first call simply routed me back to XNA. When I called back, the lady said there was nothing she could do except note it. All I asked for was to speak to someone in management. She said they don't work that way. I explained I am Emerald Club, rent three times a month and just cancelled my next reservation with National. That was Wednesday the 28th. She said she would have someone call me, to wait 24-48 hours. It is now Monday night the 2nd. The bald tires, the manager's poor treatment and the incredible experience with customer service means my business goes elsewhere.

Atesa claimed that wrong gas was put in the car. I provided the copy for gas station receipt but got no positive results. Customer Service is terrible - would not respond for two weeks. My advice - stay away from National! I was overcharged for 310 EU

The Paris airport affiliate of National (National/Citer), is trying to scam me $706 Euro for alleged damage and expenses to a rooftop windshield on a French car, the Picasso C-4. The charge was removed from my Chase VISA credit card upon my request to Chase VISA. However, they have sent registered, threatening, mailed letters demanding payment to my driver's license address. National/Citer has not contacted Chase VISA at all since the April 17 charge date.

The car rental was prepaid for by a third party, "Transhire Worldwide" in January. They took pains to exclude windshield damage. I had been awake over 24 hours. I arrived in Paris from an overnight Gulf Air flight from Bahrain. I got to the National/Citer desk in Roissy at around 8:30AM April 6, 2009. After getting the necessary paperwork finalized, the young (Arab-looking) National/Citer vehicle attendant had me wait 1/2 hour at the airport courtesy desk just give me the keys. No apologies.

The car was in a darkened garage at the Roissy Airport. I had to find it myself. An interior retractable sunshade covered the alleged "damaged windshield' in question (it was almost on the roof of the car). In the dark parking garage, there was no one at the car to do a check out. There was no reason why that attendant could not have gone over the car with me.

Equally bad, when I returned the car before 8:30 AM on April 13, 2009, no one was there at the parking garage to do any check in. I returned the keys to a girl at National/Citer courtesy desk. An unexplained charge appeared on my Chase VISA account on April 17. I immediately disputed it. She asked if everything was okay, I said yes, no problems, which as far as I knew, as absolutely true. That was all that took place upon the car return.

This is contrary to what "Emilie" at citer.fr said in her email (29 April) to Mark R. of Transhire Worldwide: She said that "Client advised the agent at the counter that the car has scratches to the front and rear bumpers, but mothing regarding the windscreen."

Also, the check-in form which I received from Transhire Worldwide, not National/Citer, has numerous irregularities: No one signed it, there's no date or time, the three "X" marks for damage forms a perfect isosceles triangle, and part of the damage comments are crossed out. There's no indication of rear bumper damage anywhere as stated by "Emilie" in the email to Transhire Worldwide.

This case is very similar to The State of Arizona vs. PCR Venture of Phoenix, LLC dba Payless Car Rental (Case No. 2009-016742), where Payless was fined $100,000 + numerous expenses and reimbursements. I am awaiting a response from National/Citer. I am having to waste time/money contacting National/Citer. I am suspicious of all car rental outfits and postponing, delaying, or cancelling car reservations for in the future.

After renting the car at the Heathrow Airport location while on a vacation in London England on the 2nd of July, 2009, car broke down after only 30 miles, with a clutch problem (this was new car with 966 miles on the clock only). After calling the local breakdown services, the car was towed back to National location at Heathrow where the check in agent proceed to charge my VISA card for the damage caused to the car. The agent was not interested in my story, showed no regards for customer services and said that Americans dont know how to drive a stick.

Fact of the matter is that I have been driving a stick all my life and am a UK citizen who now resides in US, who had passed UK (stick only) driving test. Also, the agent was very adamant that I should pay for the car repairs and the 574 (english pounds) DLW (Damage Liability Waiver) and refused to look at the fact that car may been damaged or had issues prior to us renting the car, after all 30 miles were driven in a new car. After, further discussions with duty manager, the charge was take off and another rental car was given to us, matter closed, so it seemed.

Two days later, the charge of 574 english pounds appeared on my VISA statement, which I have asked VISA to dispute and have sent 3 emails to the National Car Rental customer services, but no reply.

I am writing this with the intent is to warn, for the most part, visitors to the Island of Puerto Rico but really anyone who drives through the highway tolls down there. I believe this is a public awareness matter: it is easy to fall in the trap as a driver profiting the Car rental companies down there.

Let me explain. I just returned from Puerto Rico on a short vacation trip and rented a car from the National Car rental at the Luis Munos Marin Airport. The local road authority, Autoridad de Carreteras y Transportacion (ACT), agency has instituted the AutoExpreso (AE) on their highways, I suppose with good intentions, but it turns out to become a trap for visitors, or folks who don't travel a lot through these major roads. It turns out that once you reach the attendant he/she does NOT take any kind of money to get you legally through the toll. You are forced to violate the toll [ unlike any of the major toll roads in the US]. This is a trap because if you dont have the AutoExpresso KIT and by mistake you enter the lane, you are forced to run through the toll without paying, forcing you to buy the KIT or face the fine.

The fine is $100, you are handed a piece of paper with a phone number to call. You are told that the first violation is usually pardoned by the ACT agency, you have to prove indeed first violation. However, if you have a rental car you have to deal with the rental car company directly. The rental car company is ready for you, they will always charges a processing fee of $25 on every violation, no exceptions even on the first one. After talking to the rental car company [Ferdinan] he stated that since their rate of violations is from 150 to 250 cars a day they are forced to charge a service fee, and have someone dedicated to process these violations for them. Gee, Id like to make that kind of money! This Rental car company is using the AutoExpreso policy to make money, nothing less than $450K-$500K/ year or more. And this is only one company!

I dont even want to speculate how much all the Rental Car companies in the Island combined are making off this policy. No wonder why they [ the rental companies] dont offer the KIT, and dont warn you about it either.

This is how it happened. On one of my passes through one of these very crowded tolls, traffic gravitated me to enter the AutoExpreso lane. I though, I'll pay the attendant and it will be fine. I approached the toll and had my $1.50 at hand in quarters to either drop-in or hand to the attendant. Nothing in any of the fine print that you can read from the distance warns you of the policy until you find yourself talking to the attendant, who lays out the bad news. At that point there is nothing you can do [ you cant back-up, you cant change lanes, the traffic behind you is pushing you forward ] but run through the toll and subjected to a $100 fine. I called the AE number on the piece of paper handed to me and explained what happened to the AE representative.

They offer two options (1) to pay the $100 fine, or buy the KIT for $20. I though about buying the KIT but I really cant because it really pertains to the Car and not to me, and it is NOT transferrable to other cars. At that point you are really at the mercy of the rental car company. Hopefully you can understand my frustration, how easy is to fall on this trap, and who the likely victims are going to be.

I am a U.S. citizen who rented the car on line from carrentals [online] after reading from them that National Car rental was renting an economy car in Phoenix, AZ for 199.95 per week. After I put in my credit card number they informed me of a $99 surcharge. By that time I was tired of looking and said okay. When I got to the airport they wanted to give me a 7 passenger suv. I said I reserved an economy car and then I reviewed the document I downloaded from carrental and saw that they changed the car rental from an economy car to a suv. I told National Car Rental, that there was a mistake and that I wanted an economy car. They refigured the weeks rental to $540 for an ecomony car. They explained that there was a high demand for economy cars and that they were therefore more expensive! I said no way!

Then they demanded that I take the collision damage insurance. They know that the credit card companies offer this as a coverage and as I reserved and was paying for the car with an American Credit Card, Chase Visa, there already was collision damage insurance. As I had a few hours of sleep the previous night, had been arguing with the employee, manager and supervisor for an hour and a half and my appointment in Phoenix was fast approaching, I just wanted to get out of there. I signed whatever they put in front of me and left with two other disgusted and angry National Car renters. This is plain abuse and deliberate overcharging by National Car Rental. ALL NATIONAL CAR RENTAL EMPLOYEES KNOW THAT IF YOU PAY WITH A CREDIT CARD THAT THE COLLISION DAMAGE INSURANCE IS COVERED BY THE CREDIT CARD COMPANIES.

When I refused the coverage, they implied that I would not get the car. This is a complete rip off as is the surcharge they revealed to me AFTER they had my credit card number. I was just back at carrentals to reproduce the abuse and document it and saw that they completely changed their format on the net. I have found a lot of complaints about carrentals and National Car Rentals on the net.

I doubt that carrentals or National Car Rental are going to reply to me so I will be sending a complaint about both of them to AZ BBB, filing a complaint to AZ Attorney General Consumer Fraud Office, a complaint to Department of Transportation and to whatever government offices oversee car rentals. By the way I am a U.S. citizen and used a Chase Bank Visa Card. I imagine that these abuses are rarely challenged and the little carrentals and National Car Rental lose on these complaints are made up by the thousands who do not challenge them. I have contacted my credit card company to withhold payment and am contesting the charges. I am informed that this is a common abuse and Chase Credit Card will investigate and charge back to these agencies the rental. Of course the seven passenger suv used much more gas and was 5 times the car that one person needs. Needless to say, I will not be using carrentals or National Car Rental ever again.

I spent an hour and a half arguing with them. They intimidated me into signing up for something that they knew was covered by the credit card, Collision Damage Insurance. The suv used much more gasoline than the economy car I wanted. It was a typical bait and switch. I asked for an economy car, carrental.com showed me a great price and after I entered my credit card, revealed the ridiculous surcharges. The airport blackmailed me into taking the suv by telling me that the economy car was twice as expensive. In my opinion they are taught to exact any extra they can from unwary customers in any way, shape or form including withholding a car, lying and altering charges to get one to agree to whatever they want.

Harrowing Experience at National Car Rental March 30, 2009 Dear Sir, I wanted to relate my incredibly poor experience, during my vacation, with National Car Rental from the Tampa International Airport. The first car I was given, unknown to us, was checked out without an engine oil cap. This resulted in a massive oil spill under the hood which, with the very hot engine, could have caught fire placing me and the other passengers in grave danger.

Upon calling for assistance this car was eventually (after 4 hours) replaced by another vehicle that night. Unfortunately the situation did not end there. Upon driving for a mere 10 miles next day, we discovered that one of the tires was leaking air. We pumped air in from a gas station only to find that the tire was punctured and became completely flat.

We called road-side assistance again and was given a series of run-arounds for another 4 hours. We made tens of phone calls but no one seemed to know anything and blamed everyone else. Finally a person showed up to put on the spare tire and told us to drive back to the airport (we were 35 miles away) and get yet another car. The staff at the rental location was not sympathetic either and after much arguing gave us a small discount as a consolation to make up for the two days of lost vacation. This is the nature of customer service from National Car Rental these days! I do have the glorified membership of National Emerald Club no less!

I had rented a car and paid for un upgrade, but when I arrived there were no upgrades, I offered to pay for an additional upgrade but the kid could not figure out the credit card machine, the car we ended up with had bald tires and totally unsafe for Montana highways in the dead of winter so we ended up having to go have tires put on, when leaving there we were pulled over to find out the license was expired. No sorry or anything when we returned the car.

We wasted a whole day having to get new tires put on.

My husband rented a Nissan Maxima from National Car Rental at the Bozeman, Montana airport in July 2008. The car was in his possession for only five hours, and he drove a total of 51 miles. He returned it after hours, to the airport location; and used the key drop. A few days later, he got a call from PurCo, telling him he owed $308 for rock chip damage to the windshield, down in the lower right corner of the windshield on the passenger side, which they said happened during the five hours he had rented the car. The claim was so ridiculous that he almost laughed. He told the woman that there was no way that damage happened during his short rental, and that he would be disputing the claim.

They sent us documentation, showing a tiny white speck on the windshield, the alleged chip. We did dispute it, for months. They rejected all disputes.PurCo recently called and said they had reduced the fee to $230 if we paid by a certain date. We paid it.

Bottom line: If my husband had been responsible for the damage, we would be upfront and honest about it. We own up to our responsibilities. We also know that damage was not done on my husband's rental time, so we refuse to say it did. We will NEVER rent from Alamo or National again; and we will take our own pictures of any rental cars from now on, as well as inspect them with a fine-toothed comb before we return them. Our advice: DO NOT RENT FROM NATIONAL OR ALAMO.

UNACCEPTABLE 5-HOUR WAIT I rented a car with National one month in advance. I had to pick it up at their Union Square premises in San Francisco. I arrived punctually on the agreed time and date and had to wait for almost 5 hours to pick up the car.

All clients from National and Alamo (both companies share the same premises) were made to wait in line, first in the street under the burning sun and afterwards in an unhealthy garage. No explanation was given by National or Alamo employees and they did not seem surprised by such unacceptable situation, so I guess it must be usual.

Picked up rental on 6-15-08. Warning light on. Called desk, advised to put air in the tires Did so, got up the next morning with a flat tire. (Nail) Put on spare, drove to Atlanta as planned. Called 800 number, told to just keep driving with spare, and to call the office I rented from. Got the answering machine, left a message. No call back. Before returning car on 6-22, called to remind them of problem, and ask if I needed to have tire repaired before return. Told to just leave it as is, and return. Charged a $25 dollar fee and called by management. They made no record of me calling and leaving a message. These people are inept!

$25 dollars not a big deal, just hate dealing with ineptitude

Due to a change in my travel plans, I needed to return my car at the Shreveport, LA airport location and not the little Rock location I had picked it up at. As I was very rushed, when I looked at the final bill sheet, I did not notice that my bill had gone from $524 to $1404. I mis-read the $880 amount as the final amount and not an up charge. After calling customer service several times, as well as the Little Rock location several times, I have not been satisfied. I was even put on hold and hung up on twice by the Little Rock location.

I was overcharged $880.

i am a frequent traveler and for at least the last year or so i have noticed a disturbing trend by these auto rental companies. at every rental i have had during this time when i leave the rental agency the fuel gage shows slightly less than full it seems they are not filling the gas tank completely. the amount is usually less than 2 gallons below full but on three occassions the gage showed 3/4 to 7/8 of a tank instead of full.

when i complained at the counter (twice i drove off before i noticed the discrepency and had to return to have the situation corrected) the agent apoligized and either had the tank filled or noted the shortage on the agreement. this has happened so many times to me that i am now careful to check the fuel gage closely.
it boggels the mind to think how much the thousands of auto renters are cheated in this manner (if it is deliberate) and how much the rental companies gain by not completely filling the fuel tank. my last rental (dollar) was short 3 gallons, at todays prices almost $10.00.

my economic damage has been minimal because i am now aware and make it a point to check the fuel gage and take the time to have the potential damage corrected. i have no idea how much damage i suffered before i became aware of this problem. the potential damage to the general auto renting public could amount to millions of dollars!

I am writing this to complain and dispute the over-charge of National Car Rental. The charge on my account is higher than the amount shown on my sales receipt. On Monday 1/1/2007, I picked up an economic car at the Columbus International Airport & returned it 2 days earlier on Friday evening 1/5/2007. However, the customer service on the counter has over-charged me with the amount of $306.09, instead of $158.69.

This is very rediculous because even with a regular Weekday Rate for economy car rental of National at that time is only $27.48/day, then the maximum amount that I should be paid for 5 days rental should be less than the amount of weekly rate that is $158.69; therefore, I agreed to pay the amount of weekly rate but I still have been over chargedd with amount of $306.09. I called 1-800 Customer Service line to dispute the charge but the woman name Jeniffer has been denied to resolve my problem with a bad and very unprofessional attitude.

I want National Car Rentals resolve my complaint appropriate way and they should credit back to my account of $147.40; otherwise, I will dispute the over charge with my credit card company. I will never rent a car with National again. If the National Car Rentals does not resolve this problem in an appropriate result, I will tell all my family members, my friends and my co-workers not to have business with National Car Rentals forever to avoid the bad experience I just got with the National Car Rentals.

Rented a car from National, car was in perfect condition. Returned in the same condition and 3 months later had a collections agency trying to collect $200 for an alleged crack in the windshield. The 3rd party is more than willing to work with my credit card company so they get paid.

The car company had no car check out service, no check in service available. They are playing the odds that people will just pay. I prefer not to give in to this type of baloney. I would not be able to do this to them.

Will fight, but no doubt have to involve my insurance or credit card to pay.

One month after returning a rental car from National they have sent me a Loss/Damage report claiming I owe them money. This was followed 2 days later by a letter from a collectiona agency called Viking Billing Service looking for $245.97.

There was no damage to my car. I'm very careful about looking prior and after. There was also a National staff emember who checked the milage and inspected the vehicle PRIOR to giving me my receipt. He saw nothing and reported nothing. This was a vacation with my entire family. We had no incidents with the car whatsoever. This whole episode didn't sound right to me and I checked the Web. Sure enough, there were complaints about National doing just this - charging folks when there is no damage.

I rented a Chevy Impala from Nationa for 11 days in May/June 2006. I returned the vehicle on-time on June 5. Handed the employeed receiving vehicles my keys and proced to walk the approx 15 feet to the bench to wait the 10 inutes or so for the shuttle to the airport. The girl checked the car back in, I presume. To the best of my knowledge there was nothing wrong with the vehicle. The rental was paid with my Visa platinum card.

I received a letter from National dated July 13 2006, more than two monthes later, stating their Recovery Department received a Loss/Damage Report on the vehicle I had rented, and to contact my credit card and or insurance company to report the loss.

At no point in their letter did they tell me the nature of the damage or when it was discovered.

Several days later I received a letter from VIKING BILLING SERVICE, stating they were processing the claim for National Car Rental. I was asked to please remit payment of $244.77.

I called the number listed on the original letter from National. I was unable to reach a living person but left my phone number address and a request for a copy of the Loss/Damage report so that I may know what damages they want me to pay for. Although they recorded message says a person will call back within 72 hours, there wa no phone call.

I presumed that they must just be getting the information in the mail and didn't think much of it. I received another letter from Viking this one dated September 6 making another request for payment. on September 14, I again called the number on my first National Car Rental damage letter whick is 1-800-327-0421.

In my message I insisted that I needed the Loss/Damage report to know what they expect me to pay for and why, and I insisted that someone should be calling me back in a timely manner. Today a Dennis Neumann from Viking called to try to get payment. I told him I needed written information in regards to what I was being charged for. Through the course of a couple phone calls he finally told me he had pictures of damage to the bumper of the car, couldn't tell if it was front or back. I asked for a copy of the damage report at which he told me he would send a copy if I promised to make the payment. I told him I would not promis to pay a thing. He told me that I really don't want this to go into collections and most people just pay and try to get reimbursed from their credit card or insurance companies. I told him I would speak to my husband and see if he knew anything about damage to the bumper, which he did not. This seems patently unfair that a company can send a demand for payment more that two months after I turned the vehicle in. I was at the terminal within ear shot and certainly eyesight of the car rental company personell, if there was a problem they could have reached me.

National will not send any kind of proof of damage or that I was the one that caused the damage. How long do they have to make a claim for damage to the rental car? Do I have any recourse? I realize that it is only $244.77, but what am I buying with that? Nobody will send any documentation, it seems like coercion.

There is the unspoken threat of this going on my credit report if I don't cough up the money.

I rented a car from National on 1/11/06 at Dulles airport (Wash, DC area). Originally, I had planned to stay for 4 days (including a Sat stay over). The rate I was given was $33.99. However, I had to leave that Friday (after a 2 day stay). To my utter dismay the per day rate increased to $99.99! The normal, non-discounted, non-Saturday stay over, is $53.95. This company is a TOTAL RIPOFF! Do not do business with these crooks! Buyer beware!

I am writing to complain about National Car Rental at 6511 St. Jacques street west in Montreal. They have trained their employees to be liars and thieves. I went in on Saturday morning to inquire if they had a car of truck for rent to move some supplies. They quoted me a price and told me that taxes, insurance and the first 50 kms were included in the price. This information was then repeated two more times. Everyone present heard this claim including myself, my brother and my 12 year old daughter.

They then gave me an invoice that was written in code, which I signed and we went on our merry way. When we returned the truck the next day I was charged for 56 kilometres. When I enquired why I was being charged for the full 56 kilometres when the first 50 were supposed to be free, the salesman explained there was nothing in my written contract to that effect. I then repeated that he himself had told me this the day before, and I confirmed with my brother and daughter who all remembered hearing this. Again the rip-off artist referred to my contract and said there was nothing stating this detail in the contract. I pointed out that I had believed in his word, he did not deny saying this but again referred to the contract. This company is the worst. Real stinkers, I warn you all to stay far away from them.

I have since heard a story from a female colleague who said the same thing happened to her with National, and the level of gas in the tank, it seems they play with the fuel gauge to make it look full and 5 minutes off their lot the gauge suddenly plummets to empty, and you are charged if you do not fill it up. They have quite a scam going, I guess I should have checked this site before I rented, the full lot was too good to be true.

We had rented a car from National Car Rental at Honolulu Airport from 15 Oct.- 16 Dec. with a prepaid voucher that included full insurance coverage and second driver charges.

I late Jan. 2005 we discovered to our horror that National Car Rental had charged our credit card by about 4000$ in several instalments.

What in particular made us think that something illegal might be involved was that two charges were made in January, more than a month after we had turned the car in at the Honolulu airport and gotten a receipt that all charges had been paid. We had then our credit card cancelled because we were worried and also were advised by experts that fraud might be involved in these charges.

After days of frantic phone calls it slowly came to light that none of the charges made by National to our VISA card was justified. They all have to be taken back.We signed an Affidavit to the credit card company about fraudulent use of our card

Until today I still have to hear from National Car Rental how it could happen that their employees could take $4000 out of our account and to receive a written apology, or some offer for compensation.

Loss of 4 days of vacation time,

cancelation of credit card, emotional trauma and fear of being ripped off by farud from inside National

threatening us with letters

I missed my appointment, and incurred further travel expenses (food, gas, etc) while waiting. Also I had to drive home tired at night with no reimburesment for a hotel.