Rental car safety issues

[bl1289]

Wondering if others have observed major safety issues with rental cars?


I rented a Chrysler 300 with 45,000 miles from the Atlanta office of a major rental car company and drove around for 4-5 days, then happened to notice the tires were completely bald (see photos). I took it to the nearest office of the company where they promptly exchanged it for a different car. They gave me a free tank of gas and a 3-day rental coupon. My issue is less with the financial aspect of the situation than with the insecurity as to what else might be seriously wrong with steering, brakes, etc. I asked some of my friends if they routinely check tires before getting in a rental. A few said yet, but most said no. Many said they would start doing so after hearing of my experience.


My car had a crayon "x" on the back window. I did not know it at the time, but when I turned it in I was told that is a mark used to indicate the car is known not to be suitable for rental, and they should not have rented me that car.



One friend who rents cars frequently advised that the maintenance on rental cars has gone down a lot since COVID, and cars are often significantly older.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Even more infuriating, you'd very likely be responsible for a flat or tire damage. I've never had a rental with more than 30K on it (and that one was surprising). I don't like renting cars as an individual as the contracts that no one reads are horrible for the consumer. I always do a walk around (not often fun when tired from travel) and video/photograph the condition on my phone.

 

[DrRoy]

We had a couple domestic rentals since covid. One had a problem with an electrical control board. The interactive cruise control would drop out after a while. Regular cruise would hold, and by the time we figured out what was happening it was too time consuming to go back and exchange the car.

 

[Aerides]

One friend who rents cars frequently advised that the maintenance on rental cars has gone down a lot since COVID, and cars are often significantly older.

Perhaps, but a lot of car companies sold much of their fleets in 2020 and had to buy back (new?used? after things picked up again.

I use a loyalty program with extra perks via my CC. So I stay with one company, and usually get an upgraded car - and the prices are comparable vs. shopping around for the "best" deal. I don't look at tires, but I do get to pick my car on the lot, so I'll keep that in mind...as well as a glance for that X!

 

[audreyh1]

All the cars I’ve rented have been low mileage. Sometimes very low, so there is that. Did have one very low tire once and promptly returned to the rental center. Haven’t ever seen bald tires but it’s good to check. I rent through Costco and they only use Enterprise, Alamo, Budget and Avis. Or a Tesla via Hertz. We usually pay a bit more for an intermediate SUV.

Interesting about the X. I’ve seen crayon marks on windows before.

 

[Aerides]

All the cars I’ve rented have been low mileage. Sometimes very low, so there is that.

good point. Yes, most cars I rent have under 30k miles.

 

[audreyh1]

I can’t remember the last time I saw a car with more than 20K miles and it’s usually well under 10K.

 

[mystang52]

A few years ago I rented a car, and a couple of days later got a flat. That was my first experience being charged to replace the tire. It's a long story, but ultimately I got that charge reversed. I learned my lesson, though: all subsequent rentals I make sure to check the mileage of the car, and visually inspect the tires.
I, too, have noticed that many rentals now have significant mileage on them.

 

[freedomatlast]

Looks like the tires have about 2/32" tread left in the center, by looking at the wear indicators. No belts are showing. I would have just run it, but if raining, slowed way down.

 

[Beldar]

Only once, at Atlanta Hartsfield.

We picked up a car from our usual rental agency, and a little while later noticed the turn signal on one direction was flashing very fast (burned out bulb). So I ended up using hand signals in that direction.

In the evening, we noticed one of the headlamps was off (on the same side). Fortunately we didn't drive much at night. Could have got a ticket though.

Upon returning to the airport the rental agency was "duh" about the whole issue. Every other time we rented from them we did a thorough function check of the vehicle before acceptance.

OTOH, once renting locally from the same agency, they gave us a brand new out of the box car, as in I helped the agent remove the protective plastic, etc from the interior. He drove me to a gas station to fill up as it was empty. It has something like 5 miles on the odometer. YMMV.

_B

 

[MarieIG]

That would have been something I would not expected but it does seem like a good procedure now to check the tires.

Dear son bought his current vehicle from Hertz and has deen driving it a few years now without issue. I guess he was fortunate.

 

[sengsational]

Avis rented me a van in Salt Lake City with the wear bars showing. I didn't notice until the end of the rental period. My plan, after reading horror stories here, is to just plug the tire myself if a rental tire goes flat. Not like the old days where they took care of it for free.

 

[folivier]

Not a rental but a courtesy car while getting a repair redone on my older truck. Parts of the spray in bed liner had to be redone after a repair. They gave me the keys to an Enterprise almost brand new Suburban with only a few miles on it. The guy said they'd try to have my truck done the next day. I told him not to hurry....
Another time we were in St. George, UT and needed a one way rental to fly out of Vegas. I had reserved a cheapo for that short drive. On checking in the agent asked if I'd mind an upgrade? They needed a top end Lexus sent back to Vegas. No problem!

 

[Sunset]

I thought I've always been careful renting cars, walk around it looking for dents/scratches and cracked windshields.

I'd even take pictures.

Once went back in the office to point out the cracked windshield and they assigned me a different car.

Now I know to check the tires, and the lights !

 

[audreyh1]

And the tire pressure!

If the tire is really low you should be able to see if the tire is not adequately inflated.

Our was down to 15psi on one tire! The in car display took a while to come up as is typical and we were out of the parking garage before it showed the problem. Then a long route of spaghetti turns to get back. They quickly sent us to a new one.

 

[Cayman]

I've rented quite a few and have driven alot of rental miles during the past 3 years in particular. Primarily National, Enterprise and Hertz. Yes the fleet was getting long in tooth, especially during auto shortages 2021-2022. We encountered numerous safety issues, including a nearly flat tire that showed up 30 miles after pick-up, Sams Club handily fixed it gratis because they were nice service guys. Rentals often had 20-30k+ miles and showed more wear than normal.

My favorite recent rental car safety issue - drove a Challenger GT from midwest to Florida in April without functioning AC nor defrost. Seems I picked it up that way, there was a repair ticket I found later in the vehicle. Foggy windows part of the drive through mountains. Drove w/windows down in the cold. A real pleasure. National didn't comp me anything. I was busy and just exchanged cars.

 

[athena53]

Thanks for the warning- I don't rent very often and do know to check for prior damage but hadn't thought about tires.

One huge concern I have is that the Owner's Manual is always missing from the glove box. The person most likely to need it to find out how things work, what the warning lights mean, etc.- someone who's never driven that model before renting it- has no information. I once resorted to posting a question to my FB contacts about what a particular indicator (display plus dinging) meant. I was changing lanes without signaling so it determined that I was drifting. I'd really like to know if a warning light means, "Pull over and stop immediately or the engine will seize".

I mentioned this to one place and their response was, "Well, it might get stolen". True, but how is that MY problem? Check it and charge the last renter for a replacement if it's gone.

 

[jollystomper]

I always rent from Hertz now, since free Five Star status + retiree discount = very good rental prices. I do check out the car and take pictures and videos of everything. The only issue I have had with Hertz, after leaving the lot, was low tire pressure on two occasions. Once I was lucky, staying a block from a rental location, so I got a new car there instead of going back to the airport. The other was at the local Hertz about 15 minutes away. I filled the tire at home and called them to let them know. It was not an issue during the rental, and they waived the charge for me returning the car without a full tank.

When with Megacorp we also used National/Enterprise and those were troublesome in some way, shape or fashion about a 3rd of the time.

 

[braumeister]

I used to use Avis almost exclusively, since I got a good discount through USAA. But their service has declined to the point that I'm using Hertz more and more recently. National has also improved greatly, so I use them as well. Never had any good luck with Enterprise.

 

[GrayHare]

Rentals with between 1,000 and 10,000 miles on them might be best. A rental agency gave me a brand new car once, odometer under 10 miles. That car made it another 30 miles into a remote area before some manufacturing defect let all the transmission fluid leak out. It was a long night.

 

[MuirWannabe]

My experience with Turo thus far is the cars are pretty new and well maintained. Maybe more incentive to keep them up since its owner responsible instead of a megacorp.

 

[1242Vintage]

Last couple years I worked (2018 & 2019) was renting cars for work every week. Caught a few with worn tires or cracks in the windshield and refused to take the vehicle.

Couple of memorable rental car fails from a “National” rental car agency.

Drove a nearly new Subaru over 400 miles that was low two quarts of oil. I was shocked when the first quart added didn’t register on the dipstick so bought and added another quart before driving 400 miles back home. Always wondered how much oil the little engine in a Legacy holds.

And then there was a vehicle with only one working windshield wiper. And of course the working wiper was on the passenger side. Found this out in a rainstorm on Interstate 5 in the wasteland between Stockton and Los Angeles at 3 a.m.

 

[cbo111]

I rented a Honda Accord last summer for a month. The odometer read 45K miles and the check engine light came on after a few days. I was nowhere near a rental agency to swap, so I called Enterprise and they said "don't worry about it, should be fine." So I drove it for another three weeks with no issues except for that nerve-wracking light. A couple weeks ago I rented a compact car from Enterprise. They tried to put me in a subcompact (Chevy Spark, very small). I asked if they had any compacts. They guy said "no, but I can put you in a new Audi Q5 for the compact price." That was a sweet ride.