car rental zooms : Don't get nicked by rental car damages

car rental zooms : We recently rented a car from Enterprise Rent-A-Car on Long Iceland MacArthur Airport in Islip, NY When we return to the rental car, we pointed out some scratches and nicks to a representative. They assured us we had nothing to fear.

We drove the rental car to our son's house in East Hampton and parked it in his driveway and not use again until we return to the airport. We do not even have a full tank of gas, although we are in advance of this.

If we return the rental car, another company employee to the nicks and scratches, and claimed we were responsible for them. The representative we had originally discussed, if we then the rental car was not available.

Two weeks later we received a bill for $ 319 to cover the costs of repair and a note that the Enterprise staff we had the rental car not remember me pointed out the damage. We do not know what to do. Can you please help? - Paula Robbins, Boca Raton, Fla.

If someone tells you not to worry, you should worry.

This is especially the case if you rent a car. Other companies are using their vehicles again a thorough once over and slapping customers with repair and loss-of-use charges, even if the evidence that the tenant has been cumbersome at best.

I will keep you on the details of a second. But first I must tell you how you could have avoided this mess. Normally you have two options for a lease. The first is when you hand the keys, at which point you can about the car and check that students and buildings. The second is if you go through the review of security at the exit, and an agent will examine your rental agreement and ID.

So, if the first broker says: "Do not worry," and rejects it at first, that small form, where you observe any damage to the car, that's fine. Ask the man at the gate to note the damage. Another tip: Take your pic of your car structures with a digital camera or camera phone. Make sure that they are consistent with a time stamp so that you can show the pic for your rental car structures.

Doing, and there is no way, your car rental, you can stick with an invoice. Provided, of course, that you return the vehicle in the same condition you have.

All this brings me to your case. I have worked with companies, and I have some good and some bad news. The bad news is that you're not for each nickname. But there were a few scratches - "serious scratches" on an almost new vehicle, as a representative of the company described. "But probably what is their view on the return check-in was that the bumper divorced," she added in an e-mail containing several photos of the damaged rental car.

Someone of companies should have taken the time to scratch with you and explain that a repair bill. Based on your account, it sounds as if it was a lot of finger-point but no clear idea about your part of the damage recovery process.

Car rental companies have a well-deserved reputation for its clients with surprising bills they do not deserve. But in this case, the only error, I can conclude with Enterprise is that it is left confused about how to go about paying for a car that seems to have been damaged while you rented it. The good news is the company's $ 319 repair bill. - car rental zooms

Car rental - Downgraded Bonds for Airport car rental facility

Car rental - Fitch Ratings on Thursday downgraded the bond at the airport in Atlanta for the new rental car facility, reflecting the downturn in the economy and a corresponding decrease in the car rental business.

Fitch is now listed $ 221 million in outstanding revenue bonds from BBB +, from A-. The rating outlook has been revised to negative from stable. The bonds were issued in 2006.

The new car rental facility (known as CONRAC) is under construction adjacent to the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park, and connects to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to the people through an automated system for motor.

Falling bond CONRAC has no impact on a push through the airport to re-enter the bond market up to $ 800 million in financing to continue construction of the new Maynard Holbrook Jackson International Terminal.

The airport is also looking to refinance up to $ 590 million in the current international terminal in general revenue bonds at a better interest rate.

The gradient on the ratings reflect the car rental facility drop in business of car hire companies and the potential reduction in customer premises burden of revenue from passenger fees, when a car rental.

CONRAC is expected to open in the fall. Passenger traffic is expected that 2 percent to 3 percent dip in 2009, but the operations of rental vehicles is expected that 16 percent fall sharply from 2008 levels. Currently, car rental transactions are down 10 percent.

"The lowering of the rating and APM CONRAC bonds is based on a higher risk profile weaker than expected levels of coverage and an expected increase in the CFC project as higher than anticipated construction costs and the recent decline in car rentaltransactions, "Fitch said.- car rental

Car rentals short city on money for Smith Center

When backers of a yet unnamed downtown performing arts center went to local leaders in 2005 looking for seed money, the solution was a car rental tax hike on tourists.

On Wednesday the Las Vegas City Council shifted some of the burden of the $360 million Smith Center for the Performing Arts to locals, after estimates showed the tourism downturn hurting car rentals.

Estimates of proceeds from the rental car tax — originally projected at $150 million — dropped to $105 million.

The council approved Wednesday the sale of $105 million in bonds against the car rental tax, but the city still needed to make up the $45 million difference.

Like magic, the good news came: Acting Deputy City Manager Mark Vincent announced about an hour later at the council meeting that the city, after a long effort, was about to close on the $85 million sale of redevelopment agency bonds to go toward various high-profile redevelopment efforts.

The funding would include money to make up the rental car tax shortfall in the city’s obligation for the Smith Center, which will rise in the 61-acre Union Park, the budding second downtown Las Vegas.

The bonds will be repaid from tax revenue raised within the downtown redevelopment area, not from the general fund.

Still, the vote marked a shift toward financing more reliant on residents. When the Legislature authorized local government to raise the tax on rental cars by 2 percentage points and use the money for the center, locals were prominently exempted.

Vincent hinted that the city would be able to meet the shortfall in remarks he made Tuesday to the Clark County Commission.

“We believe we can cover any shortfall as a result of any temporary economic situation,” Vincent said.

Smith Center officials say they’re following a conservative economic model, meaning they need to have all financing in place before breaking ground. Don Snyder, chairman of the Las Vegas Performing Arts Center Foundation, said after the council meeting that he hopes groundbreaking will happen within 60 days.

Construction costs are estimated at $245 million.

Plans for the Smith Center are the result of a decadelong effort to build a world-class performing arts center downtown.

In December, Snyder said that in addition to the city’s funding, the center had been relying on a $100 million bond issue through Bank of America as well as private fundraising.

That’s changed, said Myron Martin, president of the foundation. In addition to the city’s complete donation, which includes another $20 million for a total of $170 million, the center about a year ago received a $100 million gift from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. It has also received 42 additional gifts of $1 million or more.

Added together, that’s more than $310 million. Much of the rest, said Martin, will come from a $30 million to $35 million bank letter of credit, instead of the $100 million bond issue.

After the council meeting, Snyder said fundraising is going so well that by the time ground is broken, he expects excess funds will go toward operating costs.

Martin and Snyder appeared visibly relieved at the council meeting when they heard the city’s obligations would be met.

“We did breathe a sigh of relief this morning when those redevelopment bonds had sold,” Martin said.

Much is at stake for the city in plans for the Smith Center. Though local media recently have been fixated on more controversial city redevelopment projects such as the proposed city hall or the mob museum, the fact is that without the Smith Center, much of Union Park is in jeopardy.

The Smith Center is the “anchor tenant” at Union Park, Vincent said at the council meeting — the one most of the others are counting on to succeed.By Sam Skolnik

New York driver crashes rental car

A driver from Long Island, New York, convicted of driving while intoxicated rented a car from Enterprise car rental in order to bypass the court-mandated breath-test device installed in his own car.After crashing the rental car while driving under the influence, the driver is hospitalized in critical condition as the Stony Brook University Medical Center, on Long Island, according to an Associated Press report.

Police in Suffolk County reported that 27-year-old Marvin Rice Jr., from Shirley, New York, rented a car so that he could avoid using the court-mandated breath analyzer that had been installed in his own vehicle, after being convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol in 2005.

Rice crashed into a telephone pole in Brentwood, New York, on Crooked Hill Road early on Sunday morning, wrecking the rental vehicle, according to a police spokesperson.

He rented a Volkswagen Jetta from Enterprise Rent-A-Car that was not equipped with the alcohol-detection device. Such as device does not permit the ignition of a car to be unlocked if alcohol is detected in the driver’s breath analysis. Rice’s arraignment is set for April 13 in Central Islip for the current charges of driving while intoxicated.

Car rental firms fine a way for rejected customers

ABU DHABI- Car rental companies are finding new ways to cash in on prospective buyers whose vehicle loan applications have been rejected by banks.Diamondlease and Fast Rent A Car UAE are targeting these customers with lease-to-buy programmes, circumventing banks that have cut back on loans for low to middle-income earners due to tightened lending standards caused by the credit crisis.

“[Of] those customers which the bank has eliminated, we want to filter the good customers out,” said Hashif Basheer, the area manager at Diamondlease in Abu Dhabi.Buying a car has become increasingly difficult in recent months following the economic downturn, with banks raising down payment minimums, minimum salary requirements and interest rates. The growing number of rejected customers is cutting into sales at car dealers, but some rental companies see this as an opportunity.

Under Diamondlease’s newly launched programme customers could sign up for one, two or three-year leases for new vehicles, and had the option to buy the car for a pre-agreed amount after that term expired, Mr Basheer said.Customers would have to apply and wait to be approved for the programme, he said, but some of those who would be rejected by the banks would be accepted for a lease-to-own deal, he added.

Fast Rent A Car will reveal a similar plan in a week’s time. Under its terms, customers would be able to lease a used car for 12 months and own the vehicle at the end of that term, said Rania Kakos-Yazbeck, the marketing manager at the -company.

“Due to the meltdown, banks are not offering auto finances any more,” she said. “A lot of people want their own cars, but can’t pay and can’t get auto financing.”

As people become increasingly concerned about their jobs, the short-term commitment of a rental or lease-to-own agreement may be preferable, Ms Kakos-Yazbeck said.

Roger Tannoury, the finance and insurance manager at Abu Dhabi Motors, a BMW and Mini dealership, said more of his firm’s customers were opting to lease this year.

Last year, less than 10 per cent of business came in through leasing programmes, he said, but this year that figure was up to 25 per cent.

“When you are leasing you are not having any liability,” he said. “You can just bring the car back. Nobody would like to have long-term -liability.”

For those wanting to buy a car, only about half were being approved for loans under the banks’ tightened requirements, Mr Tannoury said. Historically, about 80 per cent to 90 per cent of applicants were approved.

“Too many banks stopped their car loans,” he said.

Some car dealerships have been devising ways around the banks’ tightening standards, assisting with down payments and engineering financing deals with reluctant banks in order to restart sales.

Mike Devereux, the president of General Motors Middle East, said his company had joined a local bank to negotiate lower interest rates and faster approvals for customers. GM also offered Dh10,000 (US$2,720) as part of the customers’ down payments, he said.

“At the height of it, we were seeing rejection rates of up to 30 per cent, 35 per cent even, when historically we would have seen rejection rates of about 5 per cent,” he said. “I’m sure that has been halved.”

As dealers scramble to get customers out the door with a car and a loan, Phil Horton, the managing director of BMW Middle East, said there may be a glimmer of hope that lending standards would ease in the near future.

“In the UAE, some of the smaller banks who probably weren’t active previously, or as active in the auto industry, are seeing an opportunity in the market and coming in, and are prepared to give credit,” he said.Sean Drury, the managing director of HSBC Middle East Finance, the bank’s vehicle loan division, said the bank was continuing to require a minimum monthly salary of Dh20,000, up from Dh10,000, and was being more cautious about making car loans.

If the market changed, the bank may adjust accordingly, he said. “This is important for responsible lending. We are giving out loans to those who can repay them in these difficult times.”

And there is evidence that people are having a harder time making payments.
According to a report last month, more than 3,000 cars were abandoned last year to escape loans, which is more than double the number of 2007.

Rental car struggles

As your lawmakers get ready to tackle Nevada's budget crisis, think about this: Last year, $41 million came to the state from people renting cars. Of that $41 million, $7 million went to Clark County.With tourism down, the number of people that are visiting are being more frugal. That means tough times for the rental car industry and less money for our state budget.

David Blanchard says when he and his wife visit Las Vegas, they usually get a full-size car. He says the switch to a compact was only one way they saved a few dollars this trip. "The only thing we did was rent the car, we didn't take any of the extras - gas, insurance, or anything else."

They might research the price of gas and even bring their own GPS instead of renting one from a rental car company.Customers cutting out non-essential add-ons or even choosing to avoid renting a car altogether are trends Advantage Rental president Maria Romano says she's noticed lately. Romano adds this is the most challenging business climate she's seen in her almost three decades as president of her own rental car company.

In December, flights to McCarran were down 15 percent from the same time in 2007. That translated to a $5 million loss in just one month to the rental car companies at the airport.

The fierce competition for an ever-shrinking pool of customers caused companies to slash prices, prices that couldn't maintain a profit margin. "Renting cars at 10-dollars-a-day isn't going to cut it in this industry, you need to make at least $35-$40 a day," Romano said.

Nevada has the fifth highest tax rate on rental cars in the country. About 30 percent is added to the final bill, money that goes back to the state. So when this industry suffers, it's just one more blow to the state budget.

"I think it's going to take a lot of us at least a year before our bottom lines are healthy again," said Romano.

Car rental companies say with numbers down, they are holding onto their inventory for longer periods of time. That's another blow to the auto industry as they suffer from reduced fleet sales to those companies.