Dollar Rent-A-CarReviews 92

I used dollar rental in July to book a prepaid vehicle for this month. I found a better deal and immediately called dollar rental the next day to cancel the booking i made. I spoke with an unidentified male who told me he'd cancel the reservation. By October, I still never received a refund so I called again to advise them to cancel the rental. They said they would again yet I still never received a refund. I then called my bank to dispute the charge and dollar rental told my bank that I have to call them to cancel the reservation and that I couldn't charge it back because it was an authorized charge. I have called them multiple times, I've tried searching my reservation online which doesn't come up, and I've emailed them several times. This is FRAUD. They have my $180 and will not return it even after I cancelled the reservation immediately. My reservation cannot even be found and they refuse to refund my money. I would NEVER EVER rent from these people as this is a scam and fraud.

I recently rented a car from Dollar Car Rental at Buffalo Niagara International Airport and was hit with an undisclosed $139.95 fee from PlatePass after the rental period ended. Unfortunately, this experience has left me deeply disappointed with both companies, and I want to warn others about their unethical practices.

When my wife and I picked up the car, the EZ-Pass transponder was already open and active, and we were given no information at the rental desk about optional toll services like PlatePass. As tourists from a city without toll roads, we reasonably assumed the transponder was part of the service. At no point were we informed that using the transponder would automatically enroll us in a $139.95 PlatePass All-Inclusive package.

After returning home, Dollar and PlatePass attempted to charge my credit card, but the transaction was flagged as potential fraud. When I contacted them, they acknowledged that the fees were not clearly explained at pickup and offered only a partial fee reduction—still expecting me to pay administrative charges I never knowingly opted into.

The transponder was pre-activated when we got in the vehicle. We never had a chance to opt in or out. Even if the terms were buried in a lengthy rental contract, it is unreasonable to expect customers to comb through fine print for such critical information. It is clear that Dollar and PlatePass use this hidden-fee tactic to generate revenue at the expense of unsuspecting customers.

If you are planning to rent from Dollar or any company partnered with PlatePass, be extremely careful—check the transponder before driving off and ask detailed questions about their toll policy.
I hope Dollar and PlatePass address this deceptive practice. But as it stands, I will not be using their services again and strongly recommend renters consider other options to avoid similar issues. To be clear, Dollar/Thrifty/Hertz are all owned by the same company.

In 2011, a class action lawsuit was filed against Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty, and their partner PlatePass over allegations of undisclosed and misleading toll-related fees. Customers reported being charged excessive administrative fees without proper disclosure, and some were enrolled in toll programs without their knowledge or consent.

The legal proceedings culminated in settlements between 2014 and 2019. Hertz agreed to an $11 million settlement to address complaints that it had charged customers without sufficient notice about the PlatePass fees. Dollar and Thrifty faced similar legal challenges.

These cases highlight a pattern of complaints about the lack of transparency in toll-related programs offered by the Hertz Corporation. Be warned. Better yet, choose another rental company.

1)They do NOT have on-shore customer service. I'm hearing impaired (not deaf) and it was a nightmare talking to someone who did not speak English phonetically correct and with a very heavy accent.
2) I returned the car early and they will NOT credit me for 1/3 (2 days) of my rental because I used a 3rd party to get the reservation, yet I paid Dollar directly. How the &*^$# does that work?
3) You CANNOT talk to a human being without trying several times with their ridiculous phone tree. Clearly they want you to do everything via the website.
As far as I'm concerned, Dollar is a JOKE! Absolutely horrible service--all they are focused on is the almighty DOLLAR!

I booked on rentalcars.com with Dollar. It showed that I had to pay the rental fee at time of booking, and then pay for the taxes and fees at the rental counter. It was to be $95 more. I paid it at time of pickup. When I got home a week later I found another $76 charge on my credit card for taxes and fees. I have tried to work with them and my credit card company but no help from Dollar at all. Be careful not to get ripped off by Dollar or their parent company Hertz.

The Dollar Rental Car at DTW was severely understaffed. Also, they charged for an additional driver after Priceline switched the driver on the car when I signed up for a Priceline account; this was Priceline's fault, but Dollar had the power to reimburse me but refused to.

I booked and reserved a 7-seater minivan on Oct. 14,2023, to pick it up on Nov. 10,2023. I got there two hours and 17 minutes before my reservation time. Let me back up a bit. In between the time frame of October to November, I called Dollar Rent A Car to twice, one to confirm that the type vehicle would be available on the day of my pickup, and just 8 days before my scheduled pickup I called again to confirm that the van will be at the pickup location which was 2300 Rental Car Center Parkway, College Park, Georgia, USA, ATL -Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. On both occasions I got a YES confirmation. So, move forward now, during me standing in line, I keep witnessing frustrated people and folks started cussing about making a reservation and not getting a car. So, I called Dollar Rent A to confirm once again that my scheduled minivan was there at the pickup location, and they told me YES, all I must do is just wait in the line until I get to the counter. When I reached up to the counter, I stretched out the reservation paper to the agent who did not even look at it let alone took it from my hand. She just looked me in the eye and told me that there were no cars available and that I would have to wait 4-5 hours or come back in the morning. I told her I understood that, but I am not here for a car, I'm here for a minivan. She repeated herself again, so I repeated myself again also and asked to just at least check the reservation to see if there was a 7-seater minivan out there because I just called, and you guys confirmed that the van was out there. She left from behind the counter and called everyone's attention and stated that there was no vehicle on the lot, that there was a 4-5 hrs. Wait, and that time started at the time she checks in or to come back in the morning and neither one of these option is guaranteed and she cannot do any cancelling, we all have to cancel with who we purchased through.

8/30/2023 I reserved a car for 10/16/2023 with total cost of $60.08 and prepaid $43.15 on a crdit card, knowing $16.93 would be due on 10/16/2023.
At NO TIME during the ATL Airport pickup did I ask for or authorize a Vehicle Upgrade or extra insurance coverage. Before returning the car, I refilled the gas tank at a station less than 3 miles from Atlanta airport.
10/16/2023 Dollar charged an EXTRA $78.74 to my credit card.
I communicated by displeasure to a Dollar agent online. Only response I got was a copy of a bill showing extra $78,74 charges for upgrade & insurance.
CONSUMERS BEWARE! I will NEVER rent from Dollar ever again. FYI, Hertz owns Dollar.

I had prepaid for a reservation, but had to cancel several days in advance due to COVID. Since there was a problem with the credit card we used I tried several times to contact customer service to cancel, but they never replied. According to their policy, if the rental is cancelled more than 24 hours ahead of time, they will refund all but $100. But they've totally ignored our requests, and since the deadline is now past they won't refund anything. So now we're out $224.

If I could leave a negative star I would. We waited 20mins for a shuttle bus whilst every other rental company sent multiple buses to pickup, then we waited 45mins to be registered. Here the fun really started when we were threatened with a 6 hour wait unless we wanted to pay $200/day extra for an upgrade (that was then dropped to $85/day) and when we queried this to speak to another member of staff the individual serving us said we disrespected him and he wouldn't deal with us.

So on we went to another staff member who was very friendly. Told us the wait was 1 hour for a car. This felt ridiculous since we had booked already however we've now been waiting 4 hours and no sign of a car….we've been told another 2 is the max but that sometimes people wait 8 hours.

It's currently 2am….

This is a sham of a company. The original staff member was a scammer and the fact that they overbooked to this level is basically criminal.

I will never use Dollar, Hertz or Thrifty again - they are all the same company and are all treating their customers the same.

AWFUL

DO NOT RENT A CAR HERE.
They scam you in front of your nose.
After a flight of 11 hours and TWO HOURS of waiting in front of the Dollar desk, they have scammed us. Women behind the desk "only" needed our signature for the deposit. Well okay, we thought. Nothing was explained. We drove away with our car and after checking our creditcard after a few days we were SHOCKED. They have added a premium road service we NEVER AGREED TO. We tried to call immediately but they are NOT reachable. After calling for 2 hours (!) a women picked up and she was everything but helpfull. Even moody and saying we had to fill in a complaint form. We did so but the form was out of service. Such a bad and scammy company scamming travelers while they are EXHAUSTED. Shame on you.

I book the car through Priceline, and they charged me $115 dollars in advance to my trip. When I reached at airport dollar front desk to pick up the car, the lady at front desk said this electric car, you want to go for upgrade and I said Yes, then she upgraded car and again gave me a new amount price $223.27, when I told to her that I have already paid $115 online and take off that amount from $223, she did not replied to me properly and more over she is very careless answers when I ask any question. I was very disappointed and walk away because I am not intending fight with her for car rentals. I thought they might be charged $223 - $115 = $108, But I am seeing both charges on my credit card now. So, just for Sedan car for 3 days rental, it ended up charged from me $339.24. This is something not right. Usually, I go with other rentals for some reason, but this is first time I go with Dollar Car rentals, and had a worst experience. I never come back again if I am going to fall in trap like this by overcharging from customers by misleading from front desk person

Terrible service in Las Vegas on September 5th, 2023!
Impossible to pick up a car on time, 30 people were staying in line...
Desk staff rude and angry with customer despite their failure to provide car at promised time.
NEVER AGAIN!

I planned a fly fishing trip to Yellowstone for over a year and I rented a station wagon in Salt Lake City tfor the trip. It was supposed to be under $600 but cost me over a thousand. I drive over 6 hours to Yellowstone, cook dinner, set up air mattress in the car and discover the driver's window wouldn't go up. It was 37° and raining, I froze. The next day I had to drive back to SLC to exchange the car and missing my fishing trip. The agent asked why I was exchanging the car I told him the window wouldn't go up and he asked if it was a Suburu and I said yes, he said they've had that problem before with that car. I missed my fishing trip and lost my deposit for it, then turned the car in early but they refused to give me any money back. ALSO, the front brake rotors were warped on the second car. STAY AWAY!

I had an incredibly frustrating experience with Dollar Rent A Car. Their customer service was abysmal, and I was left completely in the dark about the charges. You still receive a charge for the car even after you return it to them without any explanation or communication about how the charge came about. The staff members I encountered were rude and unprofessional, adding to my dissatisfaction. To make matters worse, the waiting times for both picking up and returning the car were unreasonably long. It was a highly inconvenient and disappointing experience. Don't even think about renting from them.

I had a reservation today at the Dollar Car Rental at the Nashville, Tennessee International

To begin, the line at the location was extremely long - only one employee was checking in for Dollar, Hertz, and Thrifty. It took two hours to finally check in and receive my vehicle.

Then, the car immediately and dangerously over heated and the air conditioning failed. The high temperature today is 97 degrees.

I called Dollar, who referred me to roadside assistance. Roadside assistance inexplicably told me to drive the car back to the pickup location. This could have resulted in disaster as the vehicle was beginning to emit a burning smell. Fortunately I was paying attention and recognized the problem before it completely overheated.

I said I didn't feel safe doing that and eventually roadside assistance agreed to have it was towed away.

The Dollar main customer service center then was unhelpful- and I was told I had to go back to the check-in counter to receive assistance. And wait another 2+ hours presumably.

Assuming they can even help me at all.

The agent told me I could call the desk for help - but refused to give me the telephone number. She said I could go online and find the number. I went to the website, only to find the same number I had just called.

Frustrating and frightening to say the least. Reading other reviews, I doubt that I will receive any recompense and quite possibly will incur additional fees - but we shall see.

It is worth it to pay slightly more for a different rental company.

Apparently- each location is a franchise and the parent company has no ability to intervene when problems arise.

I shall never use Dollar ever again. Nor shall I use Thrifty or Hertz.

I rented from them in February 2023. I parked in a parking garage and there was column to the left rear of the car. I forgot about it and when I backed out I looked left and right and then at the backup camera as it was a garage and not a busy street. The column was perfectly in my blind spot and I turned too quickly and scraped and dented the door. The repair bill was sent to my insurance who found dollar failed to provide evidence they cost that much. My insurance company kept in constant contact with me and has requested documentation several times but dollar will not return their calls. When you rent from them you sign something that says in the event of damages, YOU the driver will have to seek payment from the insurance, the driver is responsible for all amounts due. The only communication I have received from dollar is a statement, a threat to send to collections and harassing calls saying they will sue if I don't pay. The claim is still under review with my insurance today and I am in collections with dollar for them not fulfilling their obligations. This has tanked my credit and caused significant stress. I'm learning they do this all the time. Do not rent from them.

Worst rental experience ever. Waited 2 hours to pick up a car I had reserved at the Chicago airport. All the other rental companies seemed to manage the volume fine, but Dollar was completely understaffed for their reservations. Do not use this company.

They charge you afterwards for ridiculously things. Customer service is just ignoring you if you reach out.
Never rent a car here!

I could rate this company a zero I totally would. First of all let me say the entire staff must hate their job, they are put out and unapproachable and rude as can be! I had a rental car reserved for 8:30 a.m. I arrived at 8:31 a.m. First person in line no waiting. I was charged again for the taxes I paid and was told I needed ins for the car which I already paid for when I reserved and paid for the car online. Was given a ticket to go down stairs and pick up my car its appox 8:40 go down give the man down there my ticket and was told to wait during this time many many people have come and gone were given there cars and on their way! Finally after 20 mintutes I asked the guy where is our car and why are we still waiting? He mumbled something as he continued on his cell phone. So we waited longer and in anther 10 minutes I asked again why is this taking so long he said they are washing the car. Then a girl comes down and I asked her how long as at least 30 other people have come and taken their cars while we are still waiting, she said the same thing, they are cleaning the car, I told her this is unacceptable as it is cold and windy out I have 2 elderly people with me and a special needs adult with autism with me, I am told by her it is not her problem this is corporates issues not hers. I go back upstairs and ask for a manager, explained the situation and once again I am told this is a corporate issue, uggggggg really! I was given this song and dance about cars come in dirty and need maintence etc... got no where. Finally an hour and a half later the car appears, filthy (which I thought they were washing and cleaning the car) looks like it scraped a tree or a building something, this car was so gross and smelled not to mention the change oil light was on the whole time ( so much for we are maintaining the car). So I go back upstairs and ask for the manager again as I do not want to be charged for the shape and damage this car already has to it so he filled out a slip not an apology or anything at all. I was so embarrased to drive this car. Not what you expect from a rental car company. I never should have had to pay for this car this was the worst rental car experience of my life never ever ever would I recommend this company to anyone ever. If corporate does care they will train these people in customer service and how to treat customers and please them to make them happy! Litteraly steer clear of this company at all cost!