Confessions of a Charlotte rental car agent

The last time I rented a car I forgot to turn the lights on and drove for several miles through Newark, NJ before realizing that my car was completely dark. I wonder if one of those rental car agents has a confession about me?

Here are one Charlotte agent’s stories about the pressure to sell rental protection, bloody backseats and stolen tires.

What’s the best part about your job? The worst?

Getting to drive around in all of the different types of cars (Mustangs, BMWs, Challengers, Chargers, Cadillacs, etc.)

We get a discount on rental cars, so I rent a different vehicle to drive around just because!

The worst part would probably be the hours.

Do I really need to get the extra rental insurance? I feel like you guys are ripping me off.

You don’t really need it.

In most cases, your insurance will transfer over to the rental (but you will have to pay the deductible).

My obvious job is to rent cars, but the larger goal is to “sell, sell, sell” the extra protection to any and everybody who’s renting a car. That’s how you move up to a higher paying position.

Has anyone crashed their rental car while pulling out of the lot?

Yes… this lady rents a small 4-door car and as I’m explaining the protections to her, she yells at me about how, “The protection package is such a scam and that I should just do my job.”

She then proceeds to immediately back up and hit a telephone pole while trying to leave. I just walked outside and asked her, “Do you want to pay your deductible now or later?” BEST. MOMENT. EVER.

What’s the weirdest thing someone’s left in a rental car?

We received a returned car from another state that had massive amounts of blood in the passenger and back seats.

It was already dried up, but it wasn’t like someone had a nose bleed… it was like someone got shot and bled out in the car. We left the car where it was sitting and called the police. Come to find out—the car had made its way from a few states over and the police were looking for it because it was part of an active investigation.

What’s the most annoying thing your customers do?

Book an online minivan reservation the week of Thanksgiving and think we should have one ready for them even though we already have 15 other minivan reservations that were booked months ago.

Has anyone else left a rental car in a weird place and you had to go pick it up?

There was a guy who rented a Challenger earlier in the week. I get a call and he’s asking if we could pick him up, because the rental car shut off while driving, and he left it in the middle of the highway. Of course I asked if he ran out of gas. He proceeds to tell me that he had just filled up at the gas station before getting on the highway and then the car shut off. *DING DING*

“OK, did you put the right type of gas in the car?”

“Uhh… I think so… I don’t know what type it takes, so I put diesel in there.”

At this point, I’m floored. All the cars take regular unleaded gas, and this is clearly stated on the gas gauge IN THE CAR.

I tell this guy that he’s not getting another car because he destroyed this one.

I also tell him he needs to figure out a way to get the car out of the middle of the highway, back to our location and that he will continue to be charged until the car shows up.

For some reason, this guy was upset WITH ME for not helping him out.

Any other confessions?

Sometimes people will rent cars and exchange the tires off of them for the old ones on their cars and then return it expecting us not to notice that the tires are now bald.

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