Now that I have your attention, I'm writing because I wanted some opinions about an issue I have with a car, specifically a car that my wife and I rented from an international agency. Back in the end of March I rented a vehicle from an Alamo agency in South Africa. Drove it fine with no issues and returned the car with a full tank of gas to the agency. The representatives checked the car and said it was okay so we signed the appropriate papers and were on our way.

It just so happened that our flight was delayed several hours, however. About 1-2 hours later a rep came up and said that the car was leaking oil. This was weird because we had not noticed a leak - the oil light was not on and there were no spots/spills in places where we had parked. Anyway they said that we had to cover an inspection fee and that they would let us know if any charges would be made to our credit card.

Fast forward 3 months later and we come to find that we have a bill to the tune of over FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! Needless to say we were shocked and appalled at such a ludicrous amount. Not only did they not inform us of their intention to bill us this amount, but they billed us 3 MONTHS AFTER THE SUPPOSED incident! In their report they said that the engine was making loud noises, which we did not experience at all.

Anyway, sketchy rental agency practices aside, I just wanted to get a sense of what is typical to pay for fixing an oil leak (for a 2005/6? Honda Civic). I know it probably depends on the nature of the problem, but I want to get a full range of what would be considered typical expenditures for this problem. Also, considering that the light was not on, we did not see any leakage spots, and the engine was working fine for us, how possible is it that some kind of damage was sustained after our use of the car? Especially considering that the inspection and billing took place 3 months later?!?

Thanks so much for your advice and opinions,

Jon

 

holy crap...you were scammed big time.

the cost to fix an oil leak, no matter what components are replaced, couldn't be no more than $1000 for parts and labor. it probably wouldn't even cost $500.

EDIT: the main causes of oil leaks are seals and gaskets.....they are some of the cheapest things to replace on a vehicle.

 

I hit a rock that put a fist size hole in my oil pan. After parts, labor, and towing it cost me about 680 dollars. This was in California.

 

$4,000 is a little absurd for an oil leak. It sounds like a scam to me. I would contact your credit card company and dispute the charges.....especially since you signed the papers that said the car was returned ok. You may want to get in touch with Alamo corporate as well.

 

Unless you put a nice window in the block anything over $1K is madness, dispute it with your credit card company. They are trying to make money off of you because they think they can get you to pay up.

 

Sorry to hear your situation.
everyone has posted the correct way to go about this. I hope you get your money back. Whats the agency's name? this way people can be aware of their practices.

 

Definitely got scammed, plus the fact that they inspected the car prior to you signing the proper paper work clears you of any legal responsibility towards fixing the car. By you signing that they agreed the car was in orderly form when you returned it. I would bring that up in court when you fight this ridiculous claim.

Like stated i would be shocked to charge a customer over 1k to fix an oil leak considering most are just standard seals/gaskets in which the parts are cheap and labor shouldnt cost over a few hours.

 

kinda hard to fight that in court.....the rental car agency is in south africa.

 

Thanks for the support and information. Just so you know, the rental agency in question is Alamo.

The thing that complicates the situation is that, although we signed the paperwork, they didn't provide us with a copy. I know - stupid us for not getting that, but when you're travelling you just wanna get to where you gotta go. Anyway for all I know, it was paperwork saying that the frame of the car was fine, nothing about the engine. Apparently we signed our life away when we entered into the rental agreement.

Just so you guys know, we have already disputed the charges and at first our claim was rejected, but we resubmitted. They requested more detailed information about our experience, so all I can do is write a letter. Now it's just our word against theirs.

The thing that gets me is that they checked out the car 2 1/2 months after the supposed incident!!! Not only that, but they never inspected the undercarriage BEFORE we rented - why do it afterwards? How are we to know that something didn't happen beforehand to predispose the vehicle to have an oil leak? For that matter, how are we to know that something didn't have during that 2 1/2 months. Maybe they drove it or rented it to someone else while the oil started to leak.

Such an aggravating experience!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dirtySOHC’s &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">kinda hard to fight that in court.....the rental car agency is in south africa.</TD></TR></TABLE>

They would have a representative fight you in a court local to you.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by slodaddy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Such an aggravating experience! </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah sorry to hear, but if they had rented the car after you and would have required inspections everytime then they cant pin the fault on you as it should have been addressed prior.

 

How would they reject the claim? Refuse to pay the bill and state the charges are erroneous. Once I left the foreign country with them stating what they did I would have cancled that card and got a new one issued.

 

^^ Boingo

Do a stop payment on the credit card and claim that it's fraud (which it is)

 

Regarding the cancellation of a card/stop payment/fraud, this whole inquiry is about fraudulent charges. You're kind of at the mercy of the credit card company when it comes to what they deem acceptable in the investigation. Maybe they take a hardline approach to the rental agreement. Maybe they side with us and see it as nonsense. Maybe they try to come up with a more reasonable concession. I'm hopeful, but there's no guarantee they'll come through for us. And you can't just cancel a card with a debt on it - even if you think it's fraudulent. "Stop payment" is typically done just for checks, I believe.

 

^ Nope,

I've issued a stop payment on my credit card for a fraudulent Paypal charge.

 

Huh - I'll have to look into that, but I'm pretty sure the auto shop has already been paid. Then again, I could be wrong. I think the funds are "on hold" - whatever that means. Probably that the amount is still reflected in our CC balance statement until a determination is made about the fraud case.