Woman's rental car fight earns her a $9,000 refund | NBC New York

A Long Island woman got a refund of more than $9,000 after a battle over an Avis rental. News 4's Lynda Baquero reports.

[@davidthaler7018]

Yeah…I didn’t buy the “no roadside assistance information.” She just couldn’t be bothered and risk missing her flight.

[@jessea3165]

weird how you know all that.. crystal ball?

[@davidthaler7018]

@@jessea3165 Yes…just like.i knew you’d post that comment. :-)

[@FlyBoyMT]

@@jessea3165and the fact that they said it’s listed on all the keychains they give you. Are you that dense? What an idiot.

[@mdavis3262]

They left the car at the side of the road..thats their fault

[@user-yg2nu7zc4c]

👀🤣.

[@QuickStix26]

I was going to say for once, the rental co. is not at fault. That $9k bill though, seems way too excessive.

[@rlbk525]

$9000 seems excessive but she screwed up by just leaving the car on the side of the road. I feel like she’s lying about road side assistance too!! This situation probably cost her more in time and aggravation than what it would have had she changed her flight plans!

[@tomv5988]

9K seems like an excessive charge to me.

[@brittneyrobinson2761]

As a regular Avis customer, I can confirm that the roadside service number is indeed on the keychain😑

[@rogergeyer9851]

When the car breaks down, it's rather HARD to do that though. Now, if they provide the number to call on the keychain, then that's on the customer if they don't call.

[@brittneyrobinson2761]

@@rogergeyer9851 The number is always on the keychain. If not, there is a customer service number on the receipt. Once you call them, they will give you the number and transfer your call. She was charged because one, she left the car just anywhere. And secondly, depending on when the car was located and officially returned, she was still charged a daily rate and late fees.

[@dlight9849]

Seems like an entitled person who didn't want to miss her flight. I have rented from Enterprise several times and they clearly point out the Roadside Assistance info when you sign for the car during pickup.

[@neilkurzman4907]

Seems like an entitled corporation. They should’ve just towed the car.

[@dlight9849]

@@neilkurzman4907 Avis *did* tow the car. That spoiled entitled lady just didn't want to call Roadside Assistance and wait for the tow truck. Like the reporter said -- Roadside Assistance is on all key chains.

[@BTrain-is8ch]

@@neilkurzman4907 If the rental agreement says you're responsible for bringing the car back to their location that's your responsibility until they tell you something different, preferably in writing.

[@neilkurzman4907]

@@BTrain-is8ch $9000 Why not 1 million

[@BTrain-is8ch]

@@neilkurzman4907 The rental agreement likely specifies how penalties are applied. You do know what signing an agreement entails right? You don't just get to opt out of it whenever and however you like. Not everything is "corporate greed" or "late stage capitalism". A lot of the time its children trapped in adult bodies behaving poorly.

[@lemontea128]

So she didn’t see the number on the keychain 🤔

[@jasondereksmith1]

Entitled woman....she should have been charged.

[@dtxgmoney]

AVIS refunded as a PR move, but they should've forced her to pay. It's her choice to opt out of the coverage.

[@amyeastman8764]

She should pay something for sure. $9k is very excessive but she needs to pay something

[@rogergeyer9851]

Yes, charged. NOT $9000 though. Maybe $100 or even $200, but don't be ridiculous. How would YOU like it if you got charged 90 times as much as a fair price for various services?

[@PanamaJones7]

“When behaving like you’re privileged costs you 9k” there I fixed the title. 🙌🏾

[@elliotte6611]

Only reason they refunded was because she went to press she should have been forced to pay because she didnt want to wait for roadside and abandoned the vehicle on side of road

[@mafosa8519]

What was the 9 thousand for?

[@stolennimbus]

It's for the less than full gas tank.

[@Michelle-cz1vj]

😂😂😂

[@pragmaticcoder6910]

I had bad experience with Avis too, I returned the rental car and handed over the keys to front desk receptionist at Avis and they charged me for 13 days more days as they could find the car 😂 After fighting with customer care like crazy then they refunded the money. Avis has a bad return system and they have to change the process.

[@mia1shooter]

So what exactly was the $9k for for???

[@chaboondavis123]

Dumb! It was her responsibility period!

[@HaveyoumetKen]

She shouldn’t have abandoned the vehicle but that 9k charge is definitely beyond excessive. So neither party was in the absolute right here. At best that’s like a 100-200 vehicle pickup charge/abandonement fee especially if it’s enroute to the airport it’s not like it was 3000 miles away.

[@firewater365]

This would not work for a lot of people. She left the vehicle on the side of the road and thought everything was fine? Ohhhhh mannnnnn

[@ro7601]

Why rent a car when you can just Uber or Lyft around.

[@enarush1]

You don’t have to worry about the driver canceling on you, you can came and go as you please, renting a car can be cheaper depending on how long you keep the car, etc etc

[@hector10908]

Avoid renting from hertz y’all Avis is okay I’ve never had an issue with them.

[@tomv5988]

You know on the handful of times I've rented a car they were always scratched up. One time I saw so many scratches I did not feel like I should rent that car at all. I understand people beat those cars

[@lemontea128]

What’s this got to do worth this story

[@Mateo-hr4to]

Its pretty simple, you ARE responsible for the vehicle. If she didn't have rental insurance, her bill could even be over $20.000, that in the case of a brand new rental vehicle being totaled, because of her negligence. To get a bill of over $9.000, I am guessing it's high due to her declining rental insurance coverage

[@neilkurzman4907]

So why would they need to charge her $9000 to recover their disabled vehicle? It certainly didn’t cost them $9000 to have it towed.

[@user-yg2nu7zc4c]

I'm not going to wait for road side assistance nor am i going to change the tire. Did i mention that I'm a woman? It's your problem.

[@venusfan]

entitled much, the car had a flat so you left it on the side of the road. If it was her range rover that broke down she wouldn't have just left it on the side of the highway.

[@indianoutlaw5702]

In our next episode of "Karen's Renting Cars"....

[@astromech2530]

avis shouldn’t had refund her a dime for leaving the rental car on the highway. she didn’t bother checking online for roadside assistance number or paperwork

[@dianev6180]

So does the rental car company pay your expenses if you miss your flight because of a vehicle breakdown? I'll think twice about car rentals, I don't think it should be my problem that their car broke down, unless it ran out of gas. I think the first time she called their rep could have made the call for her or at least conference call the tow company with her and allowed them to leave keys with the tow driver. Companies these days feel entitled, it's not just the customer unless your story goes viral they will not do the right thing. Corporate greed, there is probably some standard contract language that says they are not responsible for breakdowns and any fallout, like missed flights.

[@dtxgmoney]

You're right maybe you shouldn't rent a car because you agree to their terms when they do, and they offer insurance/coverage for these type of things.

[@brandonf9984]

She said it was a tire issue which can be pinned onto the consumer. Legally she is responsible for getting the vehicle back to the location because if that car was damaged or something else happened to the car it is her responsibility because it never officially returned.

[@amyeastman8764]

No. Car rental is a risk. I’ve had a couple break down on me. One was a quite new Cadillac STS which suddenly wouldn’t start when I was at volcanos national park in Hawaii. Of course it was my flight day. Flight didn’t leave until evening so I didn’t come close to missing it but it was a pain! I called the roadside assistance and I actually would have had to pay a fee for whatever company it was (can’t even remember) because I didn’t have their expensive insurance package. I had AAA so called them which was free for me. The fee was only like $50 but still…..before that I was under the impression if the rental car broke down the rental company takes care of towing it even if you didn’t get the extra insurance. But not for every company. Abandoning the vehicle didn’t cross my mind. I’d have been too paranoid they’d bill me for $$$ like they did here

[@maxiboy2704]

I feel like this was done by a desk jockey with too much power

[@sleb6259]

Why not in other languages because your pandering to Spanish speaking people. Why I don't know

[@davidsecord6412]

Ummmmm......you abandoned the vehicle on the side of the highway. It is in the contract. If it was stolen, you would have been on the hook for that. I can't believe she received a refund

[@fashiondiva6972]

Come on now, Nicole, be honest…roadside assistance told you it was going to take 90+ mins to arrive and you weren’t about to wait that long. Magically that became “I wasn’t provided any roadside assistance info so I left the car on the side of the road for my own convenience.” Does it suck when a rental has problems? Absolutely, but it does happen. But you know what doesn’t happen, Karen, er, I mean Nicole? People don’t just abandon their rental cars when things do happen then have the audacity to cry about being charged for failing to properly return the vehicle. Granted 9k is excessive but the whole ordeal was avoidable if you just weren’t an entitled lazy customer. You reaped what you sowed🤦🏾‍♀️