Loading ...Travellers have had to be wary of scams for many years, and these days the scams often begin as soon as you’re at your destination airport, at the car rental desk.
Bill Swan, of Crawley, decided that for his summer holiday he’d swap his home for a road trip that included a drive through the national parks of California. Not long after he touched down, however, he became victim to what he sees as a swindle by the car rental company, but something the company might consider just good business practice.
“We booked an ordinary car for a trip around California, at £160 for a fortnight. We picked up the car at San Francisco airport after a 12-hour flight. We were warmly welcomed by the rental rep, who was really interested in where we were going.”
Mr and Mrs Swan intended to drive through Sequoia and Yosemite national parks. When the told the representative this, he looked horrified.
“He said we would not be allowed in a national park unless the car was a four-wheel drive. He urged us to upgrade, to which we reluctantly agreed. We ended up with a ridiculously large and thirsty Jeep Cherokee. And when we reached Yosemite we realised we’d been had – there was no reason at all why a normal car could not access the national park.”
The Swans ending up feeling that they’d been foolish, and were also out of pocket. The rental that was meant to cost £160, ended up costing them £541. Included in this higher sum was insurance, that if annualised would have cost an unbelievable £7,400.
The upgrade also used much more fuel than he had planned for: “From my perspective the vehicle was a downgrade; we didn’t want the lumbering, ugly, gas-guzzler we were told we needed to have.”
