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IND Indianpolis Thrifty Economy (and Rental Issue)


kaisatsu
By kaisatsu,
in

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I recently booked a car via Hotwire, requesting an economy at IND. The quoted price was $141 for the rental period, and I opted to buy the additional insurance from Allianz. Once the purchase was finalized, it showed that the car was reserved with Thrifty at IND airport.

However, when I went to pick up the car after arriving at the airport, the rental agent told me that I was required to pay an additional $90 before they would allow me to drive the car off the lot. They cited a local policy that required the purchase of supplemental liability insurance, since I had booked the car with an international address. (The rental paperwork indicated that the supplemental liability insurance was optional and said nothing about a local franchise having the authority to require it.)

Is this allowed by the Hotwire purchase agreement? I understand that sometimes there may be additional fees or taxes, but $90 on a $141 rental is a huge difference! It makes me very hesitant to book with Hotwire again, since I have no idea how much I'm really going to end up paying! After all, it's not like I could refuse to pay the extra since the Hotwire booking can't be canceled, so the $141 was non-refundable. It would have cost much more than $90 to rent a new car elsewhere.

In the end, after a long discussion with the management, I managed to get the charge refunded, but only because I happen to be a US citizen with a US driver's license, and both a foreign address and a US address. I suspect that a foreign citizen with no US ties would not have been so lucky.

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I can't seem to find your win reported to the board.

As per Our Rules and Policies:

While we welcome both positive and negative experiences, please keep in mind that the spirit of this message board is helping users.

If you have a complaint, problem, or question with a recent or upcoming Priceline/Hotwire stay, we will be happy to do what we can to help, but please be considerate of the board's primary goal of helping others and first post the details of your 'win.'

It is important for everyone to know when problems and customer service issues arise, but the majority of the users come here to see winning bid information... so please oblige them with this information before asking for them for help.

Please post the details of your purchase (missing are the dates and daily rate) so we an edit the topic title accordingly and others can benefit from your win history... we will then comment accordingly.

It would be appreciated if you started to share all your wins with the board and use the requested PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your future travel purchases.

Thanks.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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I booked it fairly last minute and didn't have time before I left to post the details. I didn't mean to post this particular message as a win history but more as an inquiry about other people's experiences. I would like to know if this was a one-off incident or if more people have been stuck with exorbitant additional fees when picking up a rental.

I did get a reply from Hotwire that essentially said the agencies can charge whatever extra they want. Since I could presumably be charged double (or more) the amount quoted by Hotwire, I'm afraid I won't be able to book through them any longer. Just because you pay a certain amount to Hotwire doesn't mean that the agency can't insist that you give them hundreds of dollars more when you show up to collect the car you've already paid for. :(

So it seems that people should stop posting their win information until after they pick up the car since the actual total won't be known until afterwards, since my $141 suddenly turned into $231 when I went to pick up the car.

IND 13-18 Aug (5 days)

$141.58 paid to Hotwire

$89.67 mandatory insurance charge from Thrifty

$231.25 total <--- NOT a great deal. More expensive than booking independently through other vendors.

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I love Betterbidding and use the site (and links) for hotels quite often, and I almost always book rental cars through Hotwire or Priceline, since I don't care which company I end up renting with.

However, I booked an Economy car in IND for 5 days (13-18 Aug) at a quoted rate of $17.95 per day

I received a reservation with Thrifty for a total of $141.58 :

Car daily rate - Hotwire hot Rate: $17.95

Rental days: 5

Taxes and fees: $51.83

Subtotal: $141.58

However, when I actually went to pick up the car, the agency told me that as per their local policy I was required to buy the "Supplemental" Liability Insurance and refused to let me have the car I had already paid for unless I paid an additional $14/day plus tax.

Actual total:

Hotwire pre-paid amount: $141.58

Supplemental Liability Insurance: $70

Additional taxes on insurance: $19.67

Grand total: $231.25

According to Hotwire, local agencies are allowed to require whatever additional insurance or other purchases they choose, so in spite of Hotwire's reasonable $18/day quote, the actual daily rate was $32.

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Thanks for the follow-up!

I have never heard of anything like this (perhaps some of our international travelers can comment if they have experienced anything such as this) but, and i can only speculate, this was an over zealous sale pitch to buy the insurance. I didn't go thru Thrifty's terms with a fine tooth comb, but this thread did cause me to take a look, and i didn't see anything referencing non-US renters to buy additional insurance.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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