No coverage for rental car flat tire

[tulak]

But isn’t this driven by consumers?

People price shop to find the cheapest deals, for both car rentals and plane tickets. Companies need to make money somewhere, so they offer less options at a lower price and you pay extra for upgrades. I don’t have any problems with this model. It saves money and I can choose what I want.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tulak But isn’t this driven by consumers? People price shop to find the cheapest deals, for both car rentals and plane tickets. Companies need to make money somewhere, so they offer less options at a lower price and you pay extra for upgrades. I don’t have any problems with this model. It saves money and I can choose what I want.

Yeah, I have to agree that ultimately, it IS our own fault. Department stores - with actual sales people to "help" you are long gone. Dressing up to fly someplace is long gone (Jammies are now common - yuk!). Most things are now price rather than service driven.

I like the low prices, but my "relationship" with providers is now more "adversarial" than cooperative. I feel like they are out to figure a way to take every nickel from me, so I only use their services if there is no other way. For instance, I have to fly to get to the mainland. But once here, I drive or I don't go. Subjecting myself to the airlines "voluntarily" is something I'm not yet prepared to do. If they ever complete "the bridge" I'll stop flying altogether. Oh, and I'll drive my own car. YMMV

[ohyes]

Last year, a tire indicator light lit up in our Enterprise rental while on vacation in FL. We drove to closest Enterprise location in Ft Walton Beach and were directed to a tire dealer a mile away. The manager there told us they replace Enterprise tires allllll the time. The tire incident took a couple hours out of our vacation fun.

When we returned the rental car to our hometown Enterprise location, the employee who checked us in took $100 off our rental charges. We were happy with that. All was forgiven and we have stayed with Enterprise.

This flat tire/rental car company post got my attention.

[Koolau]

ca. 1987, rented a car in Seattle. Got almost to Portland en route to San Diego. New car w/6000 miles simply refused to go into gear. Called rental co. at 10:00PM. They said leave keys in dead car and it would be replaced while we slept. Sure enough, replacement car was in the same stall that the dead car had occupied.

Replacement car had 67K on the od! It was a year old and looked like it had been ridden hard and put away wet - many times. But it ran. First night, noticed one side headlights were out. Co. authorized $25 to replace. Unfortunately, it was an '86 which meant it had dual headlights and both were out. So, had the guys replace the low beam light since we didn't plan much night driving. It would be drivable - but not strictly legal.

Next day, the "bad brakes" indicator started to squeal. Co. would not replace brakes, so I pulled the wheel and bent the "squealer" away from the rotor. I'm sure when they DID replace the brakes, they had to replace the rotor as well.

All this was completed by day 3 of 12 days. Upon arrival in SDCA, we'd put 1400 miles on the car though only authorized to use 700 miles (otherwise, so much per mile charges to be added - we expected to pay the extra and budgeted for it.) Upon turning in the car, the guy was puzzled by the paperwork involved due to the car-exchange. He forgot to add the mileage charge. I didn't correct him. I figured the rental co. owed me for the 6 hours of wasted time their cars had cost me.

All this was back in the "good old days" when companies were actually competing on the basis of loyalty due to good cars/good service. Now - I test drive a rental around the lot before taking it, Try the lights, heat, AC, look at the tires, take pics of any damage, etc. etc. It's a new world. YMMV

[VanWinkle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetiredAt55.5 Priced at $6 a day, that does seem to be a great revenue generator, given the odds of getting a flat tire. Even considering towing charges and wheel damages.

6 dollars a day on a 150 dollar tire is like spending 450.00 per day to
insure a 10,000 dollar car. Seems like a pretty good revenue generator
to me!!

VW

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VanWinkle 6 dollars a day on a 150 dollar tire is like spending 450.00 per day to insure a 10,000 dollar car. Seems like a pretty good revenue generator to me!! VW

Heh, heh, the nasty troll that hides within me makes me think one should get the insurance next time they need a rental for one day. Then, return the car with 4 slashed tires.