I used Alamo Rent A Car at Kahului Airport, Maui, HI. I found that the car originally assigned to me had a mechanical problem. I reported it to them on spot. They gave me another one. I briefly inspected the car and did not recognize a problem. No Alamo employee inspected the car.

While I was using the car, I did not cause any damage. When I returned the car, an Alamo employee (Employee #ES36HF according to Alamo’s Express Incident Report) claimed that the left front bumper was unattached. It was unattached by only about 0.2 inches (or five millimeters), and the vehicle was black, so it was not surprising that I didn’t recognize it at my brief inspection of the car at the beginning, as well as for my whole renting period. The “unattached” gap was so small that once I slightly pulled the bumper, then it was simply fixed.

Having witnessed that the unattached bumper could be easily attached, the employee nodded, saying it was OK. He repeatedly said “OK, OK.” I asked him to get rid of the report that he had filled out. He said everything would be OK, and he was doing the paperwork so that the company can fix the car for future customers.

I believed that Alamo would not charge to me. The reasons are as follows.
1. First, there was no accident while I was using the car. The car’s general condition was bad from the beginning. There were several scratches in front and back bumpers.
2. Second, the bumper issue, if any, was so minor that one could fix it by simply pulling the bumper.
3. Third, the employee said the incident report is only filed for future customers.

One week later, I received a mail from Alamo, requesting me to provide my insurance information so that they can charge me. The amount was not specified.

I searched for similar experience with Alamo at internet. The first post that I found was almost exactly the same as my own experience. It should be noted that it happened at the same place, Kahului Airport, perhaps just about a month ago. At consumeraffairs.com, under “Alamo Car Rental” section (http://www.consumeraffairs.com/travel/alamo.html), a user named “Jackie of St. Charles, IL” posted on March 19, 2012 that the Alamo employee said “no big deal” to the damage which the poster was not even responsible for, but Alamo eventually sent a claim of $1, 030. One can easily find other similar experiences at internet.

I am very disappointed at Alamo. Although Alamo Rent A Car usually provides lower prices, my recent experience, as well as the experiences of others, suggests that the quoted prices are not everything. I come to have an impression that Alamo is trying to make up the low prices by accusing the customers of the damages that they are not responsible for.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We would like to look into this further. Please email [email protected] with your full name, the exact rental location and the rental agreement number, along with any other details.

When emailing, please list reference #120331-001360 in the subject line.

Veronica
Alamo Car Rental