For most travelers, renting a vehicle is a benign and uneventful task: book a reservation, arrive at the rental car facility, collect the vehicle, drive it, return it as scheduled, pay for the rental — but when rental car agents lie, do not believe them.
When Rental Car Agents Lie, Do Not Believe Them.
Agents at rental car facilities are incentivized to convince customers to purchase the use of optional items during their rentals — such as ski racks, child safety seats, fuel, toll transponders, Global Positioning System navigation devices, adding a driver to the reservation, and insurance as seven examples of those options — as they earn a commission on each item.
Much of the time, the agent will try to upsell you on something — and if you are honestly convinced that you need it and you purchase it, everyone wins: the agent earns a commission; and you get to use something which you need. A simple “no, thank you” usually ends the upselling process…
…but although rare, an agent will engage in the “hard sell” and actually resort to outright lying to convince you to purchase something to earn that commission — which adds up with each customer that acquiesces. This is especially true with insurance for rental vehicles, with which some unscrupulous agents at rental car facilities will lie to intimidate customers into purchasing policies which are worth little to them.
Those lies include — but are not limited to:
- Coercing customers to purchase insurance because it is “required” in that state — and that the law in that state voided insurance from credit cards for rental vehicles — which is not true. Rental car companies typically automatically cover the bare minimum on vehicles in each state; and most renters already have some form of insurance with either their own automobile insurance policy, or with coverage from certain credit cards.
- Claiming that proof of insurance is required by asking for official documents before letting the customer take the rental vehicle, which is usually not true with the major rental car companies in the United States. Documents are typically not required as proof of insurance when renting a vehicle.
If the agent is unrelenting in the quest to earn a commission off of a product or service you do not need, either:
- Request that you speak to a manager at the rental car facility
- Escalate the matter with the corporate office of the rental car company.
You can record the entire interaction on your portable electronic device and then inform the agent that you have recorded the conversation to see if his or her attitude changes — but keep in mind that privacy laws in that state could possible render the recording as a violation of the privacy of the agent and therefore could potentially be ineffective.
If you are a member of a rental car membership program, you will likely be able to skip the counter altogether and head straight for the vehicle — which usually means no interaction with any employees other than the one at the gate to let you drive through once all documents are reviewed — but that convenience is usually only available at airports. If you are renting a vehicle from a local neighborhood facility, you will be interacting with an employee.
Final Boarding Call
Do not be coerced by an overzealous agent at a rental car facility. Be prepared by:
- Carefully reading and reviewing the rules, terms, and conditions of the contract before booking your reservation
- Knowing the laws pertaining to renting vehicles in the states in which you will rent them
- Print a copy of each to have with you — or, at least have the sources ready to access from your portable electronic device
Please share your experiences in the Comments section below if you have had to deal with an agent at a rental car facility who would do just about anything to sell something to you in order to earn a commission. Thank you in advance.
All photographs ©2019 and ©2021 by Brian Cohen.
