Avoid Budget Rental Car at the Reno Airport!

aisha777 · Post by **aisha777** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:23 am

Oct. 13 I was charged $180 cleaning fee by Budget Rental Car. I received a form letter that was not even signed. It says we discovered excessive "stains, dirt, soilage."

After hearing about rental car scams, I personally detailed this car inside and out including the undercarriage. It was not opened during the event at all. It was in better shape than most rental cars I have used.

They are obviously trying to scam burning man renters.

Luckily, I made sure the person checking in my car wrote a note and initialed it saying the car was okay. But I still have a battle to get a refund on my Mastercard.

My advice: Cancel your credit card (or have it re-issued) right after renting a car from them so they can't charge the fraudulant cleaning fee. They are crooks.

Best,
Aisha

tags: "rental car", Budget rental car

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 8:54 am

And what will that do to my credit rating?

Timezone LaFontaine · Post by **Timezone LaFontaine** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 1:33 pm

Reporting a card lost and requesting a new one won't damage your credit rating. Some people do that a couple times a year.

Post by **Sham** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 1:47 pm

All rent a car companies suck. I had an accident this year in Gerlach, and the crap they put you through is amazing. I didn't take the extra insurance, but rather had my credit card cover it. This is the first accident I have had with a rental, and no matter what, I am thousands ahead of the game with the insurance money. I discovered that they live for that extra insurance money. Your regular insurance on your personal auto covers you in a rental. You are only responsible for the deductible. Also, if you have a gold or premium credit card, it will cover your deductible and other fees that the rental company charges you in case of an accident. (ie: loss of use, administrative fees) These fees would not be covered by your primary auto insurance.

All in all, I would NEVER, EVER take the insurance offered by the rent a car company as long as you have primary insurance and if you have a premium credit card, all the better. Depending on the length of the rental, you would be paying several hundred dollars more than you have to for redundant insurance.

Post by **Elderberry** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:45 pm

Shambala wrote:All rent a car companies suck. I had an accident this year in Gerlach, and the crap they put you through is amazing. I didn't take the extra insurance, but rather had my credit card cover it. This is the first accident I have had with a rental, and no matter what, I am thousands ahead of the game with the insurance money. I discovered that they live for that extra insurance money. Your regular insurance on your personal auto covers you in a rental. You are only responsible for the deductible. Also, if you have a gold or premium credit card, it will cover your deductible and other fees that the rental company charges you in case of an accident. (ie: loss of use, administrative fees) These fees would not be covered by your primary auto insurance.

All in all, I would NEVER, EVER take the insurance offered by the rent a car company as long as you have primary insurance and if you have a premium credit card, all the better. Depending on the length of the rental, you would be paying several hundred dollars more than you have to for redundant insurance.

This is excellent advice, with one notable exception. We reserved a cargo van from Enterprise Truck Rentals this past year for the burn. Made the reservation two months in advance and re-confirmed the night before. When we got there to pick up the van, they told us they were all out and offered an upgrade to an 18 foot diesel truck. We had rented U-Haul trucks--always 14 foot or above before and our personal insurance would cover it as if it was a car rental.

HOWEVER because of the size and weight of this truck, we decided to actually call our insurance company to find out that it would not be covered. So we had to take out the insurance, which almost doubled the cost we had anticipated for the rental, not to even mention the additional gas the truck required. I'm still fighting for a refund on the insurance with them, but we had no choice but to take the truck and pay the insurance because there were no options at the last minute.

So, if you are renting a truck, double check with your insurance company to make sure it is covered. (My partner's insurance had different criteria for what size vehicles they would cover than mine too, so it even varies from insurance company to insurance company.)

JK

Post by **Sham** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 5:30 pm

Another important thing to note about the rental insurance. If you DO NOT have primary insurance, your premium credit card WILL cover the full damage to your rental including all deductibles. This is all stuff I learned from my recent accident, but feel free to read the agreements from the credit card company and the car rental company.

Lord Of Ruin · Post by **Lord Of Ruin** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 11:32 am

[quote="Timezone LaFontaine"]Reporting a card lost and requesting a new one won't damage your credit rating. Some people do that a couple times a year.[/quote]

This is not true in the totality of it's effect.

Cards with less history, and more inquiries to obtain credit do indeed lower your score.

Just thought ya'd like to know....

LoR

el brew ho · Post by **el brew ho** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 2:00 pm

I would like to hear from anyone else who had a fraudulent cleaning charge from Budget in Reno this burn.

My rental was picked up on Labor Day, never got closer to the playa then Reno Airport (was driven to Tahoe only on pavement!) and I have pictures showing that it was not usually dusty or dirty, yet I was still charged a cleaning fee.

I suspect that there may have been systematic fraudulent cleaning fees, and if so I want to fight back Anyone else having experienced such problems please email me.

btw re the discussion of card replacements and credit history, credit history won't be an issue if it's a debit card not a credit card, there is no credit check required and the issuers want to cancel any possibly compromised cards ASAP so they won't build any disincentives into the system for that.

junglesmacks · Post by **junglesmacks** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 2:22 pm

I rented from Budget rental TRUCK on Gentry. I drove that sucker straight in.. got out.. rolled in the playa dust, rubbed it all over my body, jumped up and tackled the greeter with a hug, and got back in. Filled that sucker full of dirt. Partied in the back of the 16' truck all week.. gnarled it up with a mix of playa, Sailor Jerry's and god knows what else. Took it back without cleaning a g'damn thing just to see what he would charge me (offering to detail it if necessary.. he said when I rented it no worries return it dirty we will hook you up). Dude said $100 extra, and go catch your plane and thanks for the business.. I'll reserve your spot next year right now if you want.

Sold.

Class act all the way. Unrelated, but just another referral for Budget on Gentry as being 1000% burner friendly and straight up an asset to our community.

Theres Always One · Post by **Theres Always One** » Tue Sep 28, 2010 6:24 pm

aisha777 wrote:Oct. 13 I was charged $180 cleaning fee by Budget Rental Car. I received a form letter that was not even signed. It says we discovered excessive "stains, dirt, soilage."

After hearing about rental car scams, I personally detailed this car inside and out including the undercarriage. It was not opened during the event at all. It was in better shape than most rental cars I have used.

They are obviously trying to scam burning man renters.

Luckily, I made sure the person checking in my car wrote a note and initialed it saying the car was okay. But I still have a battle to get a refund on my Mastercard.

My advice: Cancel your credit card (or have it re-issued) right after renting a car from them so they can't charge the fraudulant cleaning fee. They are crooks.

Best,
Aisha

tags: "rental car", Budget rental car

How about you just suck it up like an adult and chalk it up to the cost of going to burning man? $180? You're bitching about $180? The people at the Budget Rental Car in Reno aren't dumb. They know where you are going and they don't really have to rent to you either. If enough people thought like you they might decide that it really isn't worth it to rent to burners all together and decide to stop. Then where will you be? Asking for a ride on the side of the road.

You "detailed" the car yourself did you? I'm sure you did a bang up job. Look, I drove my own car and I paid $150 to detail my car the same as if I had rented a car. It's just part of the deal. If you had paid to have the car detailed then they still charged you $180 that is one thing. But you did it yourself so you get no points. Next year put some money aside for this and then you won't be all huffy puffy about it afterwards.

yumyumms · Post by **yumyumms** » Tue Sep 28, 2010 9:44 pm

[quote="junglesmacks"]I rented from Budget rental TRUCK on Gentry. I drove that sucker straight in.. got out.. rolled in the playa dust, rubbed it all over my body, jumped up and tackled the greeter with a hug, and got back in. Filled that sucker full of dirt. Partied in the back of the 16' truck all week.. gnarled it up with a mix of playa, Sailor Jerry's and god knows what else. Took it back without cleaning a g'damn thing just to see what he would charge me (offering to detail it if necessary.. he said when I rented it no worries return it dirty we will hook you up). Dude said $100 extra, and go catch your plane and thanks for the business.. I'll reserve your spot next year right now if you want.

Sold.

Class act all the way. Unrelated, but just another referral for Budget on Gentry as being 1000% burner friendly and straight up an asset to our community.[/quote]

Probably the third time on this board I am agreeing with you about this

I did clean my truck tho- cost me $85 from some car cleaning company about a mile away from the rental spot. That was after talking them down!

Next year I will be hooking up with budget off gentry

btw- joe saw the truck, commented that it was the cleanest one he saw all day and told me right off he wasnt gonna charge any clean fee- this was without doing a vinegar wash or anythng.

My box truck/salvation army matress was more comfortable than anything else I saw on the playa. All my neighbors had complaints about their sleeping conditions... not me. And I had tons of room

junglesmacks · Post by **junglesmacks** » Wed Sep 29, 2010 6:56 am

yumyumms wrote: I did clean my truck tho- cost me $85 from some car cleaning company about a mile away from the rental spot. That was after talking them down!

Yeah.. I weighed out my cleaning options, and realized that it would cost me not much more to just turn it back to them like it was. $100. For the convenience and lack of hassle especially in my post-playa state, it was worth it's weight in gold.

yumyumms wrote:My box truck/salvation army mattress was more comfortable than anything else I saw on the playa. All my neighbors had complaints about their sleeping conditions... not me. And I had tons of room

Yup! I loved all the people coming over to my setup and going.. "WOW.. you used your head! I'm so doing this next year..". I can't imagine a better option for people flying in except if you have $6k to blow on an RV. I'm already planning my "pimp my box truck" ideas for next year!

Post by **Sham** » Wed Sep 29, 2010 8:53 am

I found that if you sign up for the various "frequent renters" programs that every car rental company has, they tend to go easy on you at the return. They are looking at you as a person that always rents cars and the shortsightedness of trying to nick you for a cleaning charge makes no sense. This has worked for me for the last 10 years, although I do clean the cars pretty well.

Another thing to keep in mind are "indicators" that you've been to the playa. You can clean the car spotless, but they will look at your dusty luggage, dates the car was rented, mileage, and most important, your appearance.

Drop you bags off at the terminal beforehand if possible. Try not to look too burnerish or have the least burnerish person in your group bring the car back. Also, clean the door jams and dashboard area with a DRY microfiber cloth. Pay attention to all the little details and you will avoid the extra charges.

Avoid Budget Rental Car at the Reno Airport!

Avoid Budget Rental Car at the Reno Airport!

Another Burner Budget RAC rip off in Reno

Re: Avoid Budget Rental Car at the Reno Airport!