4 ms·

I recently rented a car from a similarly well-known company. When I went to return it, the location was completely abandoned. No attendant in the lot, no staff

I recently rented a car from a similarly well-known company. When I went to return it, the location was completely abandoned. No attendant in the lot, no staff in the office. I waited with other customers for 30 minutes before I finally found a staff member walking through the parking lot, who said I could just leave the keys on the dashboard and go. I had assumed there’d be some sort of more official checkout process, but was tired enough after driving all day to just accept it. Sure enough, I got an email two days later saying the car had never been returned. I explained the situation to customer service on the phone, who mostly chided me on not getting a receipt after returning (difficult to do when no one is working there). At the time I joked with friends that the rental company was going to have me arrested for car theft. Luckily I just got an email receipt from them over a week later without comment. Guess it could have gone a lot worse.

londons_explore 5y ago
This is a common scam for stealing cars... Get car rental returns to be misdirected to a nearby lot, for example by turning around a sign, taking a few cars over a few hours, and then vanishing.
- henvic 5y ago
  Source?
  - vmception 5y ago
    Its an instruction manual
  - londons_explore 5y ago
    It nearly happened to me... I only took my car away again because I got suspicious about the staff saying the other site was "only for pick ups", and decided to go fill up with fuel (it wasn't quite full, and I didn't want to be charged for returning it not full) and on the way back check the other site the opposite side of the road... Spoke to the staff there and they had no idea someone else was accepting returns of their cars! The people doing the returns often don't even know their doing anything criminal. They're normally hired from craigslist and asked to wear a yellow vest and put up a few "Hertz car return area" signs, then take return of a bunch of cars, while a car transporter is hired to pick up all the cars and take them to a port to leave the country. The whole lot is organised by the mastermind by phone, who is probably located in a foreign country and is using a VoIP number to be nearly untraceable.
    - henvic 5y ago
      Okay, now tell us you're a fiction writer for the next Fast and Furious! haha
cameronh90 5y ago
I have a similar story. Once I rented a car from a budget but fairly popular local rental company. They were cheap because rather than renting from the airport, you had to take a 15 minute bus ride to a business park. When returning, I arrive 5 mins before closing (traffic) to find the entire business park locked up. My phone is dead as the drive took much longer than expected so I couldn't call their head office or anything. While waiting outside thinking what to do, the gates opened and a car came out. I tried to signal them down to ask for them to hold open the gate for me but they just drove off when I got close, so I got back in the car and quickly drove back in as the gate was closing and very nearly scratched the side of the car on the closing gate. Inside, the business park was completely deserted so I just parked the car beside the rental company's portakabin and posted the keys through their letterbox. I walked back to the gate and realised there didn't seem to be any kind of button to exit the business park without a key or fob, so I was stuck. I wait about 45 minutes to see if anyone turns up, while looking for some kind of pedestrian exit, but find nothing. Without a phone, I realise the only way I'm getting out tonight is to climb onto the roof of one of the portakabins and try to climb out using one of the overhanging trees. Somehow I manage this without injuring myself too badly. Obviously no rental company means no shuttle bus, and no phone means no cab, so I just had to trek the several miles back to the airport, using the light pollution for direction. Next day I get a return receipt emailed through from the rental company, so it all worked out in the end.
- tzs 5y ago
  Going into a fenced in business park that appears to be closed is a bit of risk. First, they might have guard dogs roaming the lot after hours. Second, they might have motion sensitive alarms that summon the police.
  - LorenPechtel 5y ago
    So what if the police are called? He had a legitimate reason to be there, the company just messed up. The police will help him out and leave.
  - cameronh90 5y ago

londons_explore 5y ago

This is a common scam for stealing cars... Get car rental returns to be misdirected to a nearby lot, for example by turning around a sign, taking a few cars over a few hours, and then vanishing.

henvic 5y ago
Source?
- vmception 5y ago
  Its an instruction manual
- londons_explore 5y ago
  It nearly happened to me... I only took my car away again because I got suspicious about the staff saying the other site was "only for pick ups", and decided to go fill up with fuel (it wasn't quite full, and I didn't want to be charged for returning it not full) and on the way back check the other site the opposite side of the road... Spoke to the staff there and they had no idea someone else was accepting returns of their cars! The people doing the returns often don't even know their doing anything criminal. They're normally hired from craigslist and asked to wear a yellow vest and put up a few "Hertz car return area" signs, then take return of a bunch of cars, while a car transporter is hired to pick up all the cars and take them to a port to leave the country. The whole lot is organised by the mastermind by phone, who is probably located in a foreign country and is using a VoIP number to be nearly untraceable.
  - henvic 5y ago
    Okay, now tell us you're a fiction writer for the next Fast and Furious! haha

cameronh90 5y ago

I have a similar story. Once I rented a car from a budget but fairly popular local rental company. They were cheap because rather than renting from the airport, you had to take a 15 minute bus ride to a business park. When returning, I arrive 5 mins before closing (traffic) to find the entire business park locked up. My phone is dead as the drive took much longer than expected so I couldn't call their head office or anything. While waiting outside thinking what to do, the gates opened and a car came out. I tried to signal them down to ask for them to hold open the gate for me but they just drove off when I got close, so I got back in the car and quickly drove back in as the gate was closing and very nearly scratched the side of the car on the closing gate. Inside, the business park was completely deserted so I just parked the car beside the rental company's portakabin and posted the keys through their letterbox. I walked back to the gate and realised there didn't seem to be any kind of button to exit the business park without a key or fob, so I was stuck. I wait about 45 minutes to see if anyone turns up, while looking for some kind of pedestrian exit, but find nothing. Without a phone, I realise the only way I'm getting out tonight is to climb onto the roof of one of the portakabins and try to climb out using one of the overhanging trees. Somehow I manage this without injuring myself too badly. Obviously no rental company means no shuttle bus, and no phone means no cab, so I just had to trek the several miles back to the airport, using the light pollution for direction. Next day I get a return receipt emailed through from the rental company, so it all worked out in the end.

tzs 5y ago
Going into a fenced in business park that appears to be closed is a bit of risk. First, they might have guard dogs roaming the lot after hours. Second, they might have motion sensitive alarms that summon the police.
- LorenPechtel 5y ago
  So what if the police are called? He had a legitimate reason to be there, the company just messed up. The police will help him out and leave.
- cameronh90 5y ago