I can’t consider a lot worse than reserving a rental automotive on a trip and coming outdoors to see it gone with out a hint. The place do you go? What do you do? You most likely had some vital stuff in there. You’re in an unfamiliar city with solely rideshares to get round. That’s nightmare gas. One particular person apparently had that actual factor occur to them when their Avis rental automotive was seized by police on account of an incorrect stolen automobile report.

It’s potential no one will ever unravel the story—and in response to The New York Occasions report, Avis simply straight up lied about it anyway—however allegedly a earlier renter reported their rental automotive stolen, then will need to have discovered it parked on a special avenue and returned it as if nothing occurred. When the rental automotive company rented the automotive to a different consumer shortly thereafter, it was by no means taken off the stolen automotive record, and when police tracked down the license plate, they hauled it again to the impound lot.

The shopper, now out the cash to hire the automotive, was compelled to take a $100 Uber to the airport. Based on their report of the incident, they referred to as Avis to get the fees reversed and have been mainly informed to pound sand. The corporate allegedly fought a bank card chargeback, by no means issued an apology, and when confronted concerning the problem claimed they by no means knew the automotive was reported stolen. The police report later says when the stolen automobile was referred to as into Avis, a consultant of the company confirmed the automotive was stolen and so they wished it again.

“We remorse that the refund didn’t happen extra expeditiously. Avis solely experiences to authorities as a final resort and has complete safeguards in place to forestall misguided or untimely theft notifications,” the assertion continued, then it famous that the automotive rented to Lorraine “was reported stolen by a earlier renter with out our prior information, which brought about our buyer’s rental automotive to be towed.”

There’s a complete lot of he-said-she-said occurring right here. I’m inclined to belief the renter over the company or the police, however it’s fully potential no one will ever know the true actuality. The shopper did finally get their a refund, however goodness what an annoying course of that will need to have been. NYT’s Seth Kugel has filed a Freedom Of Info Act request to get the dueling police experiences launched, however that would take months.

Rental vehicles are alleged to take among the stress away out of your journey. You simply present up on the airport and there’s a automotive there ready for you. However if you happen to can’t depend on that automotive to be there while you stand up the subsequent morning, what’s the precise worth?