ERIC M.

I booked a rental car through Hotwire and had this horrible experience at the rental agency.

When I arrived to pick up the vehicle the attendant told me to email the declarations page from my insurance. She also told me that I must pay for the Toll system fee even though I had my own device to use.

Once she received the declarations page she indicated that I did not have enough insurance, my current coverage is $300,000/$500,000/$100,000 for Liability. $300,000 per person, $500,000 per occurrence, and $100,000 in Property Damage. This is the highest insurance coverage the carrier offers, there is no higher limit available. I also let her know that I had an umbrella policy, to which she said they did not accept umbrella policies.

I requested to see the policies where it indicated what the insurance requirements were. She provided a page that I have attached indicating that I needed to provide a $2,500 deposit if I was to decline the insurance and the Toll system fee. Mind you that the insurance that the rental company sells has a maximum liability of $75,000 and the one I provided is for $500,000.

I provided the credit card that I used to reserve the vehicle. The lady said that she attempted the charge and it was denied. I requested that she run it again and said she had to request permission to run it again. She said she ran it again and that it was denied.

I proceeded to call the card issuing company and was told that the charge had not been attempted. By this time the rental car attendant was helping another customer. Since I had the credit card company representative on the line, I tried to get her attention but she refused to even acknowledge me. I asked the person on the phone to please wait for a moment but the rental car agency lady simply refused to even look at me or help me in any way. I had to hang up with the credit card representative since I was getting nowhere with the rental car company and wait my turn.

Finally, it was my turn again and I requested that she run the card again, once again she said she had to ask for permission to run the charge again. She said she ran it and declined again. I requested a receipt of her running the card and she fumbled with the machine for a while and would not give me the receipt.

I then asked if she would run any one of my other credit cards to pay for the deposit, she said she had to call and get permission to do so. Out of frustration, I laughed, she kept saying she needed permission but she never requested permission from anyone. At that point she said I was laughing at her, I said I was not, I was just frustrated, but she was not going to have it, she told me to get out and that she was not going to rent to me because I was laughing at her.

I called and texted HotWire and they told me it was a non-refundable rate and I did not have the required insurance (which I have), so it was on me and there would be no refund processed.

Clearly the rental car company lowballs the rental rate and tried to upsell me services that I did not need and was not going to rent to me since I did not get any of their ridiculously overpriced items that I did not need.

I booked a rental car through Hotwire and had this horrible experience at the rental agency.

When I arrived to pick up the vehicle the attendant told me to email the declarations page from my insurance. She also told me that I must pay for the Toll system fee even though I had my own device to use.

Once she received the declarations page she indicated that I did not have enough insurance, my current coverage is $300,000/$500,000/$100,000 for Liability. $300,000 per person, $500,000 per occurrence, and $100,000 in Property Damage. This is the highest insurance coverage the carrier offers, there is no higher limit available. I also let her know that I had an umbrella policy, to which she said they did not accept umbrella policies.

I requested to see the policies where it indicated what the insurance requirements were. She provided a page that I have attached indicating that I needed to provide a $2,500 deposit if I was to decline the insurance and the Toll system fee. Mind you that the insurance that the rental company sells has a maximum liability of $75,000 and the one I provided is for $500,000.

I provided the credit card that I used to reserve the vehicle. The lady said that she attempted the charge and it was denied. I requested that she run it again and said she had to request permission to run it again. She said she ran it again and that it was denied.

I proceeded to call the card issuing company and was told that the charge had not been attempted. By this time the rental car attendant was helping another customer. Since I had the credit card company representative on the line, I tried to get her attention but she refused to even acknowledge me. I asked the person on the phone to please wait for a moment but the rental car agency lady simply refused to even look at me or help me in any way. I had to hang up with the credit card representative since I was getting nowhere with the rental car company and wait my turn.

Finally, it was my turn again and I requested that she run the card again, once again she said she had to ask for permission to run the charge again. She said she ran it and declined again. I requested a receipt of her running the card and she fumbled with the machine for a while and would not give me the receipt.

I then asked if she would run any one of my other credit cards to pay for the deposit, she said she had to call and get permission to do so. Out of frustration, I laughed, she kept saying she needed permission but she never requested permission from anyone. At that point she said I was laughing at her, I said I was not, I was just frustrated, but she was not going to have it, she told me to get out and that she was not going to rent to me because I was laughing at her.

I called and texted HotWire and they told me it was a non-refundable rate and I did not have the required insurance (which I have), so it was on me and there would be no refund processed.

Clearly the rental car company lowballs the rental rate and tried to upsell me services that I did not need and was not going to rent to me since I did not get any of their ridiculously overpriced items that I did not need.