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Ripoff Alert: Economy Rent A Car - Rent Max

Fernandina Beach...
Destination Expert
for Amelia Island, Fernandina Beach
3,527 posts
220 helpful votes
Ripoff Alert: Economy Rent A Car - Rent Max

I was adding a couple of personal days to a business trip to Miami Beach and needed a rental car. As a veteran traveler I know the off-brand rental companies, especially those off-airport, entice with low daily rates and then hope to sell the customer on add-ons such as insurance, GPS, additional driver, etc. I have personal auto insurance from a national insurance company (AM Best rate A+ - Superior) and have never had an issue with declining the rental car insurance. Well, I made my reservation online through the Economy Rent A Car website at a rate of $18.19/day for an economy car. After my meeting was over, I got to the Miami airport and took the train out to the consolidated Rental Car Center. Following the instructions given with my reservation confirmation, I called the local agent, Rent Max, to arrange to be picked up by their shuttle. Be aware that for any off-premise car rental you have to wait outside at Bay #1 which is not near any door where you can stay inside and see out, but it is covered by an awning. Anyway, the shuttle arrives after about 12 minutes and the driver is polite and assists all of us with our bags. It is a short ride to the rental counter. When I get to the desk the clerk asks for driver's license and method of payment. He then makes mention of insurance and I tell him that I had declined all insurance coverage as I had full coverage through my car insurance and give him my FL proof of insurance card. The clerk tells me that they only accept waivers from certain insurance carriers such as GEICO and this information was provided when I made the reservation and the cheapest they offer is $17.95/day which would essentially double my base rate. I told him this information was not provided to me during the reservation process as I would not have used them had I known that. He says that it was posted and he would show me. He then goes to the Economy Rent A Car website and clicks on the "Policies" page and then on the "Insurance" sub-category. He can never get the page to load, so he pulls out a print out of the page which does list in the fine print the companies they accept. I tell him that the link was never shown during the reservation process. He says it is and proceeds to go through mocking an online reservation to attempt to prove it to me. Well, the link never appears and he blames it on a computer problem, but says he cannot waive the company policy. I ask if there will be any fee for cancelling and he says no, so I ask him to cancel the reservation. I take the shuttle back to the Car Rental Center and proceed to get a car from Payless where my 2 day total bill was $58 compared to what would have been $90 from Economy. I intend to report this to Economy corporate, Miami Airport Authority and Miami Better Business Bureau as I believe it to be a highly deceptive business practice.

Iowa
10,760 posts
27 helpful votes
161. Re: Ripoff Alert: Economy Rent A Car - Rent Max

Don...Actually, you would have been informed when you booked the car. I think the policy stinks but it is there to be read when making a reservation.

2 posts
1 helpful vote
162. Re: Ripoff Alert: Economy Rent A Car - Rent Max

Scam Alert!!! If you plan on traveling and renting an economy vehicle in Ft. Lauderdale, do NOT rent from this company. They will try to sell you their gas prices claiming they are lower than the gas stations and its completely false. If your flight is an early one, you need to drop the car at their location with the keys locked inside the vehicle and call a cab to take you to the airport. Their location is in a very high crime area and not well lighted, so you need to wait for a cab while sitting in your car hoping not to get mugged or killed. Horrible experience. This company leaves a lot to be desired. They should be shot down and investigated for fraudulent practices. Shame o me for not checking the out before I booked.

2 posts
1 helpful vote
163. Re: Ripoff Alert: Economy Rent A Car - Rent Max

Scam Alert!!! Do NOT rent from this company. Rent Max is a vacationers nightmare. If your flight leaves early in the morning, you will need to park the rental in front of their high crime area location, leave the keys inside the vehicle and call a taxi to take you to the airport. They open at 8am and no shuttle service is available if your flight is an early one. They try to sell you their gas at a supposedly lower price than the market price, which is completely false. Cars are limited and when you arrive for your rental, they never have what you rented, available. So they make you wait until you are tired of waiting and accept whatever they have in stock. Filthy and smelly vehicles, less than desirable, nor acceptable. Unfortunately, you are stuck, unless you are willing to pay for a penalty of canceling and paying last minute rates looking for another rental car. Don't be another victim, avoid and advise, tell everyone you know to avoid this company. They should have their operations license suspended and revoked. Alert!!!!!

Kefar Sava, Israel
2 posts
86 helpful votes
164. Re: Ripoff Alert: Economy Rent A Car - Rent Max

Be extra careful !

Service okay, you get the car seems okay, but you can pay much more then you agreed.

They forced us to pay for something we definitely said we did not want.

We chose this company because of the low price. The location not at the airport and it's a little bit complicated and extension, but the difference in cost worth it. When we got to the vehicle, like everywhere, they offered us extras.

As always we said there is no need.

The official bit scared us for the toll road fees, but the additional payment, especialy for the extra insurance, double the price and we say no need.

We went into the car my wife suggested we will take the toll fees extra.

I went back inside and told the guy that we will take the toll extra.

I asked if I should sign and he said no.

After we returned from the trip we got the bill on email and was very surprised to find they charge us much higher than agreed.

They sent us an agreement we sign with some Acronyms we did not know what is this and they say we asked for the big extra: insurance upgrade. This is not true !

They also not ready to admit their mistake and return the extra pay.

Therefore I suggest to be very careful before you choose this company.

I suggest you choose another company.

Tucson, Arizona
1 post
5 helpful votes
165. Re: Ripoff Alert: Economy Rent A Car - Rent Max

AVOID these jokers like the plague. After my business travel into Orlando was delayed a few hours, I arrived at Economy Rental car to pick up my $8/day midsize car reservation. I was told that I was 3 hours late and my reservation was canceled after 2 hours. I was told that the specific car they had reserved for me was no longer on the lot. They said they had the same exact size car in inventory (midsize), and they could make me a new reservation for $95/day. That is a 11 times price increase!!! I walked across the street and rented a car from a competitor or $17/day. Please use anyone else beside this car company. Tell your friends to avoid Economy Rent a Car.

Fernandina Beach...
1 post
36 helpful votes
166. Re: Ripoff Alert: Economy Rent A Car - Rent Max

This week I booked a car from them at Orlando. Rate on my confirmation was $13.00 dollars a day plus tax. optional insurance was $9.95 per day which I declined since I have coverage on a CC.

Get to the location and they advise they will not release any car from the lot without proof of "transferable insurance" Oh, and since you did not select insurance at time of booking, the price is now $20.00 per day.

I have never had a rental car company pull this move before. As far as I am concerned this is blatant false advertising

Run...do not walk...away from any dealings with these people!

New Jersey
2 posts
135 helpful votes
167. Re: Ripoff Alert: Economy Rent A Car - Rent Max

we need to get all the complainants to pull together and get a class action suit started! the state of FL should be ashamed of themselves for ALLOWING this to continue.I am going to look into this when i return home. perhaps starting a website to get contact information for all those who have been ripped off and lied to.

Vermont
1 post
6 helpful votes
168. Re: Ripoff Alert: Economy Rent A Car - Rent Max

I thought maybe RENT MAX had changed in few years. They have not, stay away.

I recently rented a car in Fort Lauderdale from rent max car rental. I

am encountered high-pressure sales, yelling and arguing with customers and

unfriendly overbearing, condescending, customer service representatives.

Problem one: I was pressured to buy more insurance even though online I

proved with my insurance declarations page I had adequate coverage. The

representative did not like my chosen deductible amount and insisted I

would have difficulty with my $1000 deductible if I had an accident. He

demanded I should pay fee to lower it. He insisted again and again and

again arguing with me about my choice.

Problem Two: I was lied to about tolls, telling him I was just driving to

Miami on 95, he insisted that I would encounter tolls along the way. He

told me that I would be charged $25 each time I went through the unmanned

toll if I didn’t buy the toll coverage. I spent $30 only to find that I

did not need it at all. I simply needed to stay out of the high-speed

lane. I am sure they have traveled the main road in the 30 minute drive to

Miami and lied to me to in crease profit.

Problem three: I was told was that they didn’t open till 8 AM and because

my early flight I would need to get a cab. I have never heard of an

airport rental agency that doesn’t open early morning since so many people

travel between 6 and 9 AM. So I add another $15 to my spending.

By this time, I have been arguing for about a half an hour with them.

Problem four: He wanted me to pre-buy gas, not knowing the price of gas in

South Florida I ask questions about the price of gas. I am so sick of

fighting, I finally gave up and allowed him to add money to my bill to

fill the tank when I got back, I just wanted to get out of there. I

ended up returning the car using only a half a tank of gas so again I lost

here too.

2 posts
169. Re: Ripoff Alert: Economy Rent A Car - Rent Max

This rental company SUCKS! They think they are pros at the old "bait and switch". IT took them 45 minutes to pick us up at the airport, then they tried to charge us $1000 (!!!!) for insurance because we didn't bring proof of insurance. WHo carries that with them - been renting cars for 45 years and have never had to! Argued with them, then found in the contract that it is $18.95/day. Ended up paying that....had no choice at that point. THen the $250 deposit... never had to do that before. Then the toll scam - we didn't opt for that and never had an issue, all toll booths we went through took cash.

The 2 guys that drove the shuttle were very nice.

It's been 2 weeks and we are still waiting for our $250 deposit - calling our credit card company to deal with it.

DO NOT USE RENT MAX!!!

I am pretty sure the 5 star reviews are fake.

Mio, Michigan
1 post
77 helpful votes
170. Re: Ripoff Alert: Economy Rent A Car - Rent Max

Do not rent from this company!! Same thing happened to us in Orlando. The driver back to airport said they are scamming everyone. Same thing when we went back to the Orlando airport...everyone seems to know about Economy ripping everyone off.

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