4 months after Avis rental through AARP Avis alleging vehicle damage

[KimberlyL939365]

My girlfriends and I rented a vehicle in Phoenix from Avis through AARP for 4 day.  Everything was fine, car was great and checked back in with a full tank, no illuminated dashboard warnings, etc.  4 months later they send me a letter saying we damaged a tire by running over a nail and charged my credit card $83.00.  Why 4 months later?  Why replace the tire?  All they keep saying is we declined their damage waiver (for $39/day) so I feel like we're being blamed for something their employees or anyone before us could have done and they're punishing us for not taking their damage waiver.  They can provide no photographs and sent me some non-descript generic repair invoice with no identifying information on it.  I'm not the only one out there feeling like they're being shaken down by the car rental companies months after a rental.  If this is how they do business AARP should cut ties with them.

[AARPAngelaC]

Hi there, AARP Member Benefits Team here to help. We certainly understand your concern regarding the service provided by Avis. We’d be happy to forward your concern to the Escalation team we work with at Avis for their thorough review and investigation if you’d like. To do this, we will need more information. Please send me a private message in the AARP Online Community by clicking this link and entering my username, “AARPAngelaC” into the “Send to” box https://community.aarp.org/t5/notes/composepage. Please provide the following details in your message:

• Your first & last name
• Your AARP membership number (or home address)
• Best contact phone number
• Avis rental reservation number

We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate you informing us of your concern. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

[Travis55Chevy]

I at one time worked for Avis, and they are relentless about damages tp their fleet. Most locations have their service centers to repair minor things and its possible they repaired this tire numerous times before sending it to a tire company and rhey found that the tire was not repairable. They are rather slow in billing. I know you can dis pute the charge but they will eventually sue you and the costs will be more. They are surrounded by their corpoarte Lawyers and can afford to drag it out. I agree a flat tire should be business expense but the pandemic caused these rental outfits to sell off cars and get their fleets working again so their costs are being  examined beyond normal . So if you think things get better at Budget Hertz or National are diffrent think again. they are all in the same boat  I suggest you read your contract and as far as their insurance goes you don't need to purchase it your credit card or insurance will cover their cost.

[WebWiseWoman]

Thank you so much for your post! I was just considering rental for the holiday weekend via AARP at AVIS. I think there must be a legal reason they CANNOT do this, but that would probably be either state or federal somewhere.

I'd highly recommend contacting credit card company and disputing charge and/or requesting new card so they don't have the original open to any charges? Just a suggestion.

Please let us know how this turns out?

Thanks in advance!

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