Airport Rentals
Reviews and Complaints

Made booking via aiportrentals.com under references Peel98786 / IM3623686, to pick up car at Peel Car & Truck Rentals on July 10th.

Upon picking up the car very late that day, the employee in charged advised me of 2 additional mandatory charges that were not originally present in the booking reference:

- LDW (mandatory insurance in Canada per the rental company)

- Airport Surcharges.

Sending both my booking confirmation and a scan of the invoice from peel car rentals - they had not sent me any invoice by email, the customer service of airport rental ([protected]@goseetravel.com) reverted by telling me they would investigate the case once they or I will receive an invoice from the company by email. They reached out to the company who claimed they would do so after the rental ends on August 25th.

Upon returning the car, the officer in charge guaranteed me someone would send me an invoice by email. A few weeks after, still no sign from that rental company, and the customer service [protected]@goseetravel.com keeps putting my case on hold as they are unable to reach out to them.

Booking contract with AirportRentals.com #5RCRDMma0196334, says"A Bond (security deposit) of $500 is required at the rental counter. This is a preauthorisation which means the bond amount is frozen (or reserved) on your credit card, but not deducted."
A charge of $1, 500 was billed through my Visa, I called the rental company Routes Car Rental of 9231 Beckwith Road, Richmond, Canada to inquire why I have not been credited, they explained that they will keep my money for 10 days, that is their policy?
This was to be a "reserve" not a charge and 10 days to do a Visa refund?
Will also file a complaint with Visa and Better Business Bureau.

On May 4/17 we booked a car rental with Discount Car and Truck Rental in Vancouver, Canada. The rental period was 8/17 to 8/26/17. When we arrived at Discount, they acknowledged our reservation but told us that we were 5th in line for a vehicle and that none were available until returns came in. After a 2 hour wait, Discount arranged for a rental through another company, but for twice the agreed price. However they would not deduct the $54.19 deposit we paid AirportRentals. We corresponded several times with AirportRentals and they kept saying they were investigating. The last email was from Mathew Anderson on 9/9/17.
Still no refund.

Ronald Smith, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

This company also operates under names Motorhome Republic and Car Rental Republic as all these names appears on the letter that I received from their customer service.

On June 10, 2015, I booked the car through AirportRentals.com for pickup in the airport Ben Gurion, Tel Aviv, Israel on Aug 16. Actual rental company is Alamo Israel (also they operate under name Eldan).

During booking a got confirmation #IM12450954 with a total price of USD $137.41 and after charging non-refundable deposit remaining "Balance payable to Alamo Israel USD $123.27" - the last phrase is exact citation from their booking confirmation page.

When I came to Israel to pick up a car they told me that I had to pay $309.77 - 150+% more than quoted. And all this difference for what they said was for mandatory and undisputable insurance.

Details of the issue, my complaints and desired resolution can be found in my "Request of refund" email to AirportRentals that I am quoting below in entirety:

"During actual pick up I was surprised with mandatory insurance purchase, which would raise the total amount to $309.77 – more than 125% higher.

From the documentation that I obtained from you (and even that one after the purchase ) there is no clear indication of mandatory insurance purchase and it is not clear whether mandatory insurance is included into price.

For example paragraph “Age Requirement” in your Terms clearly defines who is considered “Under Age Driver”, clearly states that there is additional cost for such drivers and even precisely specifies amount of such cost.

There is nothing like this in regard to insurance. Paragraphs “Damage Waiver” and “Insurance Policy” are basically definitions and descriptions of CDWTP and LDW, respectively. While there is mentioning that LDW is “…mandated by the laws…”, there is, as I said, no indication whether it is already included in the cost.

Even if you would unambiguously indicate (which, I stress, you didn’t) any type of insurance as expected and mandatory additional expenses, the fact of that insurance costs is 50+% greater than the cost of actual rent becomes a key information and can’t be just “mentioned” but should be rather explicitly stressed as the one that more than doubles the cost. Otherwise one can’t reasonably expect any additional mandatory expenses exceeding 10% of the cost.

I believe I was misinformed and cheated, if not outright subjected to a fraud. When I arrived to another country with plans absolutely depending on anticipated car I was forced to pay, basically entrapped.

Having all these I insist on a refund in the amount of $172, 36 calculated as final total amount at the Car Rental Agreement (see attached) of $309.77 less total price given during purchase - $137.41."

Six day later I received response from their customer service:

"Dear Dmitriy

Thank you for your email. I am sorry to hear of your unfavourable experience after booking through our website.

Unfortunately, we are unable to refund the insurance cost. As we have stated in our booking confirmation that this is a compulsory insurance mandated by the laws of the state of Isreal. Unfortunately your booking doesnt show this cost is included in the rate we provided.

In order to prevent this situation happened again, we currently reviewing how this was displayed and looking for ways we could improve upon this. For most of US citizens, their credit card insurance will provide this cover and they are able to decline.

Once again, I apologize for the inconvenience this may caused.

Kind Regards

Austin Gong"

In other words, they refused to refund despite these facts:
1. Factual final price for insurance exceeded price for the service by more than 150%. And my point is that in such cases this very fact becomes a key information and MUST be informed upfront - clearly and prominently.

2. They really do mention "compulsory insurance mandated by the laws of the state of Isreal" in the documentation that I received. But it is given in the form of "Glossary or Term" in row of other terms. It is nowhere understood whether this insurance included or excluded from the price and, again, nowhere you can find such a key information that this cost far exceeds cost of the service.

3. In their response they also mention: "For most of US citizens, their credit card insurance will provide this cover and they are able to decline.". But I did just that - I tried to refuse insisting on just that my credit card does provide such insurance. But that my request was ignored in Israel and I had only two choices - agree to pay or refuse the rental and destroy all my plans. So in real terms I had no choice but to pay this extra cost. And refund of this extra cost is my desired resolution.