When your rental breaks down who is responsible

[WhyMe]

Picked up my rental today. It's a Ford fusion with 12k I asked the guy what would happen if the vehicle broke down while I had it. He was not sure the answer

Seeing it's under warranty if it was to break down , who would be responsible? Anyone had a rental break down while it in your possession? How did the process work?

This thing has start stop and it sucks. Very odd feeling

 

[RhondaHonda]

If it's mechanical breakdown the rental car company would handle it and bring you another vehicle in my experience. If you wreck it and don't pay for the damage waiver, your insurance or credit card would pay for the tow/repairs.

 

[02SE]

I've had a lot of rental cars. In fact I have one right now. A few have broken down. I just call the rental company and have them bring another vehicle to me.

 

[Hall]

It's not your car. It's not your problem. Please don't say that the thought crossed your mind that it's your problem.

 

[PimTac]

Didn't you see the 1.800 number to call if you have a problem?


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Another play thread from why me.

 

[Dave9]

Surely you read the rental agreement that you signed? If not you might have given up your first born.

Yes they handle any breakdown that is not attributable to gross negligence on your part. Running out of gas is not their fault, except possibly if the gas gauge is broken.

 

[14Accent]

Most, if not all rental agreements specifically PROHIBIT having the vehicle serviced while it's in your possession. I've had two separate service issues with rentals:

Jeep GC rented in Vegas for a drive to Salt Lake. I didn't realize until we hit the road that the tires were terribly cupped and it shook to high heaven at anything over 70. When we got to SLC I had a tire place rotate them, just to see. It didn't help, so I swapped it out at the airport. I didn't say anything about the rotate, just that the vibration was unacceptable.

The other time was a Maserati Ghibli I rented from National. It was a birthday present to myself, and they only had one, so I ignored the issues until I returned the car. It had several warning lights come and go over the weekend, the tires were so loud it sounded like a bearing was going out, and one of the underbody panels came off in the rain, which I then had to re-attach to prevent further damage. I told them all these things at the return, and they took of a considerable amount of money. I basically paid the full-size rate for the weekend when all was said and done.

 

[ecotourist]

One of our friends rented a U-Haul truck for a cross country move. The truck didn't run very well and eventually stopped en-route and wouldn't start again. The rental company brought him a replacement truck.

He had to move that full load from one truck to the other at the side of the road.

The only good part was that the mileage of the poor running truck had been really bad and the rental company refunded a considerable amount of money to subsidize the excessive fuel costs.

 

[ecotourist]

Originally Posted by 14Accent
Most, if not all rental agreements specifically PROHIBIT having the vehicle serviced while it's in your possession.

I rented some sort of small Chevrolet in Atlantic Canada a few years ago. The "I want an oil change" light was on. It was quite irritating actually. Every time I started the car there it was again and I had to fiddle with it so the gauge would show something useful. It was all I could do not to stop somewhere and get it changed.

When I took it back I told the clerk the car was demanding an oil change. "Nope, everything is alright", said the clerk. "I checked the oil level myself before you left." Big Sigh!

 

[ls1mike]

Had a rental Camry set the check engine light. Called the company and they had me bring it to the nearest branch where they swapped the car out.

 

[Cujet]

2018 Subaru Crosstrek Avis rental lost the CVT at 2400 miles. Left us stranded at I-84 in NY.

Called Avis, they claimed to send a tow truck. I asked if they could send another car, the answer was no. I had plenty of time, but a flight to catch, so I took Uber to the airport. Cost me about $140 for that Uber ride. Avis charged me 1 cent ( $0.01) for the rental car which I had for a week and drove 500 miles.

During the many hours I waited, the tow truck never came. I left the keys in the car, as it was unable to move.

 

[Rolla07]

I remember an Impala I was going to rent had a check engine light on with 2000kms on it..they had no other decent car choices, so I begged them to let me take the Impala. It ran great, 9l per 100 and took it from Montreal to Virginia Beach and back...never an issue.

 

[Lolvoguy]

I have taken to the practice of checking air on all my rentals...regardless of it's age.
Mostly because I tend to do a lot of highway driving when I rent and I'd like to get the best possible fuel economy while on my trip.

Aside from that, I only ensure there's enough gas in the tank and in the winter/slushy months, there's enough windshield washer fluid.
If it needs anything else, it gets returned ASAP for another car.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I rented a VW Jetta that kept blowing lights. Enterprise was willing to replace it , even offered an upgrade, but it would have been 2.5 hours in the wrong direction to get a replacement car. We were in the middle of nowhere PA.

Ended up stopping at a few Walmarts and Autozones to keep buying bulbs. Surprisingly enough, they did reimburse the price of the bulbs

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted by Cujet
2018 Subaru Crosstrek Avis rental lost the CVT at 2400 miles. Left us stranded at I-84 in NY.

Called Avis, they claimed to send a tow truck. I asked if they could send another car, the answer was no. I had plenty of time, but a flight to catch, so I took Uber to the airport. Cost me about $140 for that Uber ride. Avis charged me 1 cent ( $0.01) for the rental car which I had for a week and drove 500 miles.

During the many hours I waited, the tow truck never came. I left the keys in the car, as it was unable to move.



That's the worst when you rent a car and it ends up causing exactly what you want to avoid. I rented a car to go to NYC so my Focus wouldn't get dented / scratched and beat up in NYC. Of course, someone hit it in the apartment parking lot where I lived while I was gone. Never left a note or let management know. So that was kind of a bust. Meanwhile, nothing happened to the rental in NYC. Probably would have been better off just driving my car.

 

[road_rascal]

When I moved from Denver to St. Paul back in 1991 I rented a Ryder box truck (24' I think) and a car trailer. The truck broke down between Lincoln and Omaha (the fuel pump failed). Ryder called in a heavy tow truck, hauled it to a shop in Greenwood and had me back on the road in about 4 hours. Shout out to the nice State Trooper who gave me a lift to the Greenwood truck stop. This was the only time I had an issue with a rental.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted by road_rascal
When I moved from Denver to St. Paul back in 1991 I rented a Ryder box truck (24' I think) and a car trailer. The truck broke down between Lincoln and Omaha (the fuel pump failed). Ryder called in a heavy tow truck, hauled it to a shop in Greenwood and had me back on the road in about 4 hours. Shout out to the nice State Trooper who gave me a lift to the Greenwood truck stop. This was the only time I had an issue with a rental.


Back in the early 00s my parents rented a Uhaul to move my grandmother into my uncle's house. It was a late 80s F-SUPERDUTY with an IDI and a 3 speed auto. The transmission was slipping bad. I remember we came to a stoplight on a hill and the truck just rolled back. Ended up having to back all the way down the hill and run through the stoplight hoping no one was coming. We didn't have to pay for a new transmission but we did tell them that the transmission was burnt up.

 

[nthach]

I never had to test that - I'd give the rental company a call before AAA though. Most rentals seem to be decently maintained.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted by WhyMe
Picked up my rental today. It's a Ford fusion with 12k I asked the guy what would happen if the vehicle broke down while I had it. He was not sure the answer




Just curious who the heck you rented the vehicle from, where the counter or lot person couldn't answer that question for you.

 

[antonmnster]

I rented an Alfa Romeo Gulia In Zurich and drove it about 1700 miles around Europe last month. It had a ZF 8 speed, the one pretty much in everything these days, and the car had 800 km on it when I picked it up.

What I noticed on Day 2 was the odor of ATF when the car was hot and I stopped. I was curious, so I put the car halfway up on a curb and couldn't see any evidence of a leak. The pan looked totally dry, the lines coming out of the trans were dry, and the lines - esp where they rose up around the cabin air intake - were all dry.

I just drove the car. I didn't want to go through the hassle of trading the car and ending up with a Panda.