Am I responsible for a flat tire of a rental car?
David Sangster
: I got a rental car from "Dollar Rent A Car" in California last month.
[ stuff deleted ]
: I got a flat tire.
: [Am] I be responsible for this?
Don't know the answer to your question, but here is my experience:
I rented a car from National, and was returning (late) to the
airport when I got a flat. I was 1 mile from the airport, and
had approx. 15 mins to catch my plane (if I missed it, I would
have been stuck there overnight). My solution: I "rimmed" it the
entire way back. COmpletely destroyed the tire. Walked up to the
counter, told th lady what happened and she said "don't worry about
it - it happens all the time".
Re-read your rental contract - if it does not *explicitly* state
that you are responsible for flats (and flats don't fall under
their definition of "comprehensive" or similar), I'd say you are
off the hook.
-DAvid Sangster (dav...@jamdown.corp.hp.com)
Peter Kim
>ns...@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu (Naiming Shen) writes:
>
>
>>I got a rental car from "Dollar Rent A Car" in California last
>>collision waiver insurance since I was using AT&T Universal card
>>and that should cover the insurance. The second day on the highway
>>I got a flat tire. I spend almost half an hour in the rain to
>>change to a spare tire and I went to the "Dollar" the second day
>>to get the car exchanged. Yesterday I got a bill from the "Dollar"
>>saying I much to pay them $44 for the repair and one day down of the car.
>>I think when I got the car, the tire could have had problem, why should
>>I be responsible for this?
>
>right off the bat. You ran over something that punctured it after you
>gambled with the CDW and you lost. You are now responsible because
>you signed a contract to that effect when you rented the car. Pay
>what you owe, quit your whining and quit looking for a way out of
>your responsibilities. "Responsibility", strange concept, no?
>
>John
>
John, I believe the guy is asking a reasonable question. I believe the
tire damage can be considered 'wear & tear'. Hard to believe but I think
most rental agencies accept that as a standard. I once got a crack in the
windshield due to a kicked up pebble, but the rental guys said 'wear &
tear item', and said nothing of it. Also, if that doesn't work it sounds
like your AT&T card should cover some if not all of the cost. Good luck!
- Peter Kim
William C Tom
>
>I got a rental car from "Dollar Rent A Car" in California last
>month. I didn't pay the rental company
>collision waiver insurance since I was using AT&T Universal card
>and that should cover the insurance. The second day on the highway
>I got a flat tire. I spend almost half an hour in the rain to
>change to a spare tire and I went to the "Dollar" the second day
>to get the car exchanged. Yesterday I got a bill from the "Dollar"
>saying I much to pay them $44 for the repair and one day down of the car.
>I think when I got the car, the tire could have had problem, why should
>similar experience which I can use when talking to their customer
>service next week and what is the car rental industry's general
>policy towards the flat tire issue. BTW, AT&T told me flat tire
>is not collision and they would not pay for this, but they didn't
>think I should be hold responsible for the flat tire. Thanks.
I had a similar experience with Dollar last December. I got a flat at
10 pm 1 hour west of Philadelphia. I had rented out the car at my
home location 300 miles away, and so I thought that the nearest
Dollar location (in Philly) would help me out instead. After getting
the runaround by the Philly Dollar, my home Dollar, and the national
Dollar road-emergency office, I put on the spare-tire (11 pm, 25
degrees) and drove into Philly since the spare tire wouldn't last
the 300 miles home. At the Dollar office there, I was told that the
only thing they will do for me would be to rent me a new car, after
which I would have to pay for the cost and labor of a new tire,
PLUS the expenses of having the old car driven back to my home
location! The latter costs $10/mile both ways - $600 in total!
I ended up staying the night in Philly, buying and installing a new tire
the next day, and then driving back home. My total cost from
the flat tire mishap: $40 for cheap motel room, $80 for new tire,
and lost business from missing a day at home. Dollar refused to
reimburse any part of this. Even if I had taken the rip-off
collision damage insurance, I wouldn't have avoided any of the above.
Moral: not all car-rental companies are alike. I was told that
each Dollar office is a self-standing franchise, whose only
connection to other offices is the sign, reservation system, and
national advertising.
In contrast, outfits like Hertz and Avis are integrated entities which
will be able to exchange cars at different sites if you have a
road emergency.
Except for purely vacation travel, I now rent from the national chains
instead of the franchises.