Avis Rent A Car

Located in a Randall’s parking lot. I needed a car ASAP due to my flooded car and called my insurance to book a car with them on a Sunday. I went to Avis and they found my reservation. However, I spoke to someone from a call center earlier and thought the representative had talked with my insurance (but they didn’t). Some car rental places doesn’t want to waste time and call the insurance company to get their approval to bill for the rental. The manager-​in-​training was a good sport and helped me out by calling my insurance company (took a good 30 mins to reach the appropriate insurance rep.) The manager also gave me some suggestions on what to do with my flooded car. He was really friendly. The only negative comment that I have is with the walk through to the car. He did a walk through with me, but he didn’t bring out the sheet where you mark any damages to the car. So we had to memorize what was wrong with the car and go back inside to record the data. Overall, my experience wasn’t too bad.

I recently rented a car from AVIS, in Pearland, TX, for 7 days. I’d pointed out their office window at the car I wanted to rent but another sales person said «give her the Hyundia Sonota», (a different car). I passed on their insurance since I have my own. We were given the keys across the counter and left on our trip. Note: The car was pulled into a parking space so that the front of the car was not visible to us. No one ever offered me a walk around, nor did I think to do one.
The day after returning the car I received a phone call from Avis saying that I need to come in and fill out an accident report. Also they were charging me a cleaning fee $ 70 for excessive dirt. And for gas because the tank was half empty. I was in shock. I’d forgotten to fill the gas tank so that part was understandable.
Then I did an internet search googling «car rental damage» and was shocked to find so many people being charged for car damage that they didn’t cause. The scam is to get multiple customers to pay for a single repair over and over again to cover their fleet maintenance costs.
Today I went to Avis to meet the manager-​in-​training of this location in Pearland, Tx. He showed me the damage there was a scratch on the hood and the grill appeared to be dented in. The damage looked old. I told him I had not seen it nor had I been offered a walk around. I was not involved in any incident with this car. Also, I had no intention of completing a accident report for an accident that didn’t happen. He said signing the paperwork was saying that the car was in perfect condition?
I told him the only report I’m filling out is a police report. Then I called 911 and asked if they could come resolve this dispute. A Brazoria County Sherriff’s deputy arrived, observed the damage and said that it looked like the damage was old. He spoke to the manager-​in-​training, returned outside and told me that I needed to fill out the accident report but not sign if didn’t feel comfortable doing so. I wrote down that the damage looked old, that no walk around was ever offered, and did not sign the form.
Also the manager showed me pics on his cell phone of the back seat floor and back seat where there was some trash I will admit. This was a 7 day car trip, nothing required heavy cleaning, just throwing away the trash and sweep. They charged me $ 70 stating that the car had to be «sent out» for cleaning yet the outside hadn’t been washed because there were still bugs on the front of it. So that didn’t add up either. I believe it was another way of making even more money from off me.
Note: While I was waiting for the police to arrive, a sales person walked out to the parking lot with a customer and a paper and pen in hand and they proceeded to do a walk around on the car he was renting. It felt like they were rubbing my nose in it.