National Car Rental Consumer Reviews - Page 6

JFK AIRPORT, NEW YORK -- After a long flight I finally got to the Federal Circle station where many of the rental places are. Expect very slow service - maybe 30 minutes or more to get a car. My car was none too clean, but at least it ran fine. But coming back to return it with a lot of luggage was a nightmare. No help whatever from staff to get the luggage 100 yards to the hotel shuttles. A cart rental costs $5.00, but was inconveniently located and did not accept credit cards. Compared with car rental at other US airports, not to mention European, the service represents a real embarrassment as a welcome to the USA.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA -- We were very disappointed that Specialty Cars did not follow through with the delivery service as promised. We had the car reserved for weeks and were assured it would be delivered to our San Francisco hotel on Sunday, 7/11, at 11 am. That morning by 11:45 am there was no car and no attempt to notify us of a delay. Thankfully, we were close to the Ofarrell store, so my husband walked, bypassed the chronic long line of customers and got the car. By that time, we were a good 2 hours behind schedule. We even joined the 'Emerald' National service to qualify for the delivery. National Car Rental will hear from us and we will cancel our 'Emerald' status.

It was clear the Ofarrell St office was hopelessly understaffed. We tried a number of times, Fri & Sat, to approach the store for a possible upgrade and were met with long, slow lines. Needless to say, we had better ways to spend our valuable vacation time, especially, with a car already reserved. I'm sorry to say, we will not be using National Car Rental or any of its affiliates again.

I rented a vehicle from National at LAX in August 2009, and in July 2010. I received a call from a collection agency to collect for damage to the vehicle. This was the first I had ever heard of any damage, and I do not recall any damage on the vehicle. The agency promptly sent the supporting documentation and photos. Since it had been almost a year I could not recall if I talked to anybody at rental about the damage to note it, and I no longer had my receipt/rental agreement.

National claims they tried to contact me via mail, but they were sending the correspondence to an old address. They said it was my responsibility to update my address information as an Emerald Club member. I had moved a year prior and had updated my driver license, but driver license and address are on separate pages therefore I forgot to update address at the same time. My mistake, BUT their website design is seriously flawed in design and function not to prompt for this AND their attempts to try to locate me regardless are a result of laziness or stupidity.

I mean as an Emerald Club member they had my email address to send a message they were trying to reach me, and in addition I updated my address a few months ago in my profile but obviously their system and process sucks and they did not try to reach me again before giving the claim to the collection agency. They could have had this handled 11 months ago, but instead they handed it off to a collection agency and now have an upset frequent renter. No longer will I rent a car from National, Alamo or Enterprise (they are all owned by Enterprise).

CALGARY ALBERTA -- Seven months after renting a vehicle from National Car Rental, they forward me an invoice for alleged hail damage to the vehicle "while it was in my possession". In addition, this is after an additional 15,000 kms were put on the vehicle and for repairs in Toronto when the vehicle was rented in Calgary.

The invoices that they claim are my responsibility for "hail damage" include dent repairs and auto body damage - both with conflicting and inconsistent repair work. It's as if they went through all their rentals for the year and pulled any that were rented during storms in Canada. I will never refer this company nor rent from them again. Presently, my lawyer is involved due to this outrageous claim and their business practices.

MILAN, MALPENSA AIRPORT -- Word of warning to all travelers who plan to rent a car in Italy, please avoid using Maggiore (also using National brand). I arrived to their office in Malpensa airport to find out they were is chaos. Nobody got their reserved and paid car and they were just handing over whatever cars they happened to have. We were planning to go same night some 300 km and they even suggested us to stay in a hotel for next day to wait a car. They were unwilling to pay the hotel though and could not even confirm car for the next day.

After one hour and trying two cars, we got a car which we all and our luggage fit in. Personnel was in hurry to close their office so if the last car we got was unsuitable, they wouldn't be there to help us. They just went home. Certainly also the snow chains I got for the car were not the right size for the car I rented. This was no longer a surprise to me when they are unable to have a car available which I reserved two weeks earlier and which was confirmed to me. So I suggest that you avoid using Maggiore car rental in Italy if you want to get a car which you have rented. Avoiding them also saves you couple hours of your precious holiday time.

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA -- My daughter came to San Diego for Thanksgiving & rented a car from National Car Rental. She was supposed to return the car the week after Thanksgiving & fly back to Vermont. During her stay, my real estate office kind of fell apart so she stayed here to help her dad & I put it back together. She was in contact with the San Diego office of National throughout this period. They had all of our phone numbers, addresses, etc. I even talked to the company.

The day before we had planned on taking the car back in, some lady (we now think it is their "bounty hunter") called & we told her we were taking the car in the next day. I guess she figured that if she didn't move fast, she was not going to get paid for her "find". So, my daughter is driving down the street & all of a sudden about 10 cop cars converge on her, get her out of the car, hands up, guns pointed, the whole bit.

At any rate, Tami is taken to jail, we have to bail her out, hire an attorney, etc, etc. And all this time we had been talking to the National Car Rental office. This was an unfair bogus charge. They could have at any time just said bring the car back in. They had our credit card on file paying for it so I'm not sure what their reasoning was. The point is - don't rent from National whatever you do!!!

560 BESSIE COLEMAN DR, ILLINOIS -- On the National website, I reserved a "standard" car at Chicago O'Hare Airport that was described as a "Chevrolet Malibu or similar." There was no "standard" grouping of cars at this location. The bus driver said that I should choose a compact. Her boss said that I should choose a mid-size car. Neither category contained a car similar to a Malibu. The mid-size group included PT Cruiser, Ford Focus, VW Beetle, Pontiac Vibe, and Toyota Matrix. These are NOT similar to a Malibu. A Ford Fusion would have been similar. I had to drive in very bad weather in a smaller, less-safe car than I had reserved. I believe that I was charged for a bigger car than I was given.

I rented there a minivan to move a few boxes. On pickup, I noticed a stain on the backseat, but didn't care, because I never picked up a fully clean car anywhere. The only thing I did with the seat was to fold it down. On return, they charged me for that stain, which was very obviously an old stain that had been there at least for a few months. Two employees claimed they verified that the car was in clean condition before, so clearly they were lying.

Also at the pickup, the guy who was doing the walk-around did not note any dents or scratches before I noticed them (and there were many). So clearly he was hoping I miss one, s. t. they can charge me afterwards. To me their business model is clearly fraud.

P.O. BOX 610068, TEXAS -- Rented a car from National Car Rental in Dallas, TX. I returned it in a rush and left my computer bag in the car. I realized my mistake and returned to collect my bag 1 hour later. I called ahead to alert them. When I got there they handed me my bag only it was missing my laptop, iTouch, wifi card and several cables. The manager was called, and I waited... After 15 minutes he returned with my laptop and several cables. I told him I was still missing my iTouch and wireless card.

He told me that he would once again call everyone who touched the car and really turn the "heat up" on them... He mentioned that when he does this it usually produces results. (This is a regular occurrence??) Once again no iTouch, no wireless card. Managers won't return my phone calls. He also informed me that he had narrowed it down to 2 people who could have touched the car, but couldn't be sure. Seems to me they are supporting organized crime. Very disappointed. Managers will not call me back.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA -- DO NOT rent from National Car Rental! I recently rented a minivan from them and halfway through my trip discovered the car was infested with cockroaches. When I returned the car the two managers I spoke to were not at all surprised and did not even want to inspect the car to see the dead roaches we had killed all over the car. They told me they would do an investigation and have now charged me for the rental and said they did not find anything. Luckily I took pictures of the cockroaches, one of which is coming out of the vent. They NEVER once apologized either. I suspect this is not the first time this has happened.