I had a tire blow out on the freeway at the speed limit. I ve experienced such a flat, and I knew t

But there were two little problems. alamo auto rental complaints First, Reise thinks one of the tires was faulty. And second, the car didn t have a spare tire; instead, it came with a canister that could be used to fix a leaky tire, she says.
When we returned the car the Hertz people told us we would be charged £150 for the tire. Apparently we were supposed to fix the flat with the canister and take it somewhere – but when you are traveling between small villages, where would you take it? she asks.
It s no secret that car rental companies have been more aggressive in charging customers for damage to their vehicles. But a flat tire is not an open-and-shut case. If you re off-roading, for example and I m not suggesting that Reise and her husband were then the tire damage would be on the customer.
Reise insists she drove the car responsibly. alamo auto rental complaints What s more, if she d had a spare tire, she could have spared Hertz the expense of servicing the vehicle. alamo auto rental complaints She s more than capable of changing the tire on a car.
Notice that even Hertz UK doesn t believe she is responsible for the tire replacement.  Just the roadside assistance (which doesn t quite add up if you believe that DIY at the side of a narrow road is unsafe).
Perhaps the companies can revise their contracts alamo auto rental complaints accordingly and revise what they tell the public and the media ( The companies say they ll provide free [roadside] service if the renter didn t cause the problem ) if they want to change course alamo auto rental complaints and follow a caveat alamo auto rental complaints emptor model where the customer is responsible for any and all breakdowns if they don t buy [extra] insurance.
alamo auto rental complaints The vehicle belongs to Hertz, the tire belongs to Hertz.  A reputable auto rental company should keep their vehicles in good condition, including a spare tire.  If not, the renter should be responsible for making the vehicle whole to continue the rental they re paying for and Hertz is responsible for the cost of a usable alamo auto rental complaints car.  What are we supposed to do?  Take every rental car to a mechanic for a complete checkup before we leave town on vacation?  This concept of that s the way it is is ridiculous.  Just another alamo auto rental complaints wonderful way for the consumer to be cheated.
The two situations aren t comparable. I m lending my car to my friend, not renting it to him. No money changed hands. And if he gets a flat, as friends we ll come to a reasonable accommodation. But when I rent a car a business arrangement alamo auto rental complaints both I and the rental company are tacitly aware of potholes, building materials, trash and other junk often strewn along today s roadways. To me, that counts as normal wear and tear. I don t need to buy extra insurance to cover it (though I suppose I have it with my premium credit card). Unless I ve behaved irresponsibly travelling dirt roads and such it s the rental car company s responsibility to eat the damage. As I ve said, I merely alamo auto rental complaints handed it over to my card company, it leaned on the rental company and the rental company alamo auto rental complaints caved immediately.
What he is saying is that the leak may not be noticable once you have filled the tire with crap. Also, the fix a flat stuff makes a mess and tire shop charge EXTRA for times where this has been used.
I do agree though that they gave the roadside number for assistance, so if there was a significant charge for the service, it should have been communicated up front. Sadly, $75 pounds for a tire fix is still way too much.
People are siding with the OP in the poll because the charge was for the roadside assistance, or at least it seemed that way, because the OP was told they could have just inflated it and driven alamo auto rental complaints it somewhere for a fix. there was no mention of a charge to fix the tire at an approved place. Considering it takes less than an hour to fix a tire completely and in the US I have paid no more than $25 for the service, alamo auto rental complaints it appears a hundred and fifty is a pretty damn big charge.
Best of luck finding anybody who could accurately diagnose where or when a nail ended up in a tire. I once picked up a nail on a secondary vehicle and actually saw it in the tire. I wasn t using the vehicle so it sat for weeks before the tire finally lost enough air to be obviously low.  I ve also had tires with slow leaks that quite suddenly alamo auto rental complaints turned into flats because the object shifted or somesuch.
I agree with you.  And making matters worse in this case, the $10 repair of the flat tire isn t what the customer was charged for; they got hammered for roughly $230 for roadside assistance. alamo auto rental complaints No way did it cost Hertz that much for the assistance and they were probably going to turn a profit on this deal even if they bought a brand new tire. (And charging the renter for a brand new tire wouldn t have really been fair given the old damaged tire was partially worn out at the time.)
You can easily total an auto by doing everything right, doing nothing wrong, and things alamo auto rental complaints happen and the car goes off the road and crashes into a light pole.  If this customer had driven into the light pole and totaled the car, are you saying it is not their fault and they should not pay for the damage to the vehicle?
Thanks to you and @TonyA_says:disqus for this little tidbit.  I promptly went out and checked my Subaru Forester yep, that language is there.  Warranty expired 12,000 miles ago, so that point is moot.  Checked my husband s Honda Crosstour (AWD).  Now *that* warranty and owner s manual says while replacing 4 is preferred, 2 is the minimum and doesn t void any warranties if only 2 of the 4 are replaced.  Again, thanks for making me aware!
Hey, are you a minor league ballplayer in your spare time?  Omaha Storm Chasers, batting avg .309 as of Saturday?  Got to wonder you ve been a mechanic, a lover of gourmet food, travel agent and maybe this same Tony A. (same last name as yours) is also you, moonlighting?
On a UK site called Tyre Price Advisor I found Michelin alamo auto rental complaints tires in the 63-69 GBP price range. Based on those prices, it would seem that Hertz may have initially overcharged the renter, but ultimately reduced the charge to something akin to the price of a new tire.
But that conclusion assumes that: 1) The tire was damaged beyond repair, which always seems to happen when I run over a nail while driving my own car; 2) the renter should pay for all costs of repair/replacement simply because the problem occurred during the rental period.
Okay, have had time to think about this (didn t get to read this until I got home a couple of hours ago).  I think part of the 150 pound charge included the charge for roadside assistance.  I also think Ms. Reise got charged for a new tire.  Why do I think that?
If I have AAA come to change a tire and the spare is also dead, they tow me to the nearest place to fix a tire.  They can t fix the tire on-site.  (Happened to my mom.)  If I have a can of Fix-a-Flat, either I or they would use that before towing.  They *aren t* going to bring me a replacement tire.
So - Ms. Reise s tire wasn t fixable with Fix-a-Flat. Ms. Reise s thought that the tire was faulty as opposed to merely being stuck with a nail leads me to think the sidewall blew out or the tire was shredded by the time she pulled over to address the situation.  There isn t enough Fix-a-Flat in the world to deal with that situation.
If the rental car didn t come with a spare, either alamo auto rental complaints Hertz had to pull that replacement tire off another car in inventory, take one out of some hypothetical back room or go out and buy one.  All of those options cost money.  If the flat tire was repairable, there may or may not be a credit toward the cost of the replacement tire, but I kind of doubt that.  The administrative fees and loss of use fees and miscellaneous malarkey markups would eat up any credit .
Ms. Reise would undoubtedly be upset if part of her vacation were spent waiting alamo auto rental complaints for a small village s garage to get in the specific tire needed to replace her tire, had she been towed and then left to fend for herself. alamo auto rental complaints My local garage sometimes has to wait 2-3 days to get tires for my Subaru Forester.  I have an entire list of places where I ve had to spend lots of time, sometimes days, waiting for a replacement part for my car.  Perhaps the OP could look at the now 75 pound charge as the value of her vacation time.
I have no idea what her particular contract said about who pays for what part in what circumstances.  Side wall blowing alamo auto rental complaints out?  Manufacturer warranty should come into play and Hertz should work with the OP on that.  Driving on a flat tire until it shreds?  OP s responsibility.  I don t know.  Just my thoughts.  Sorry for the length of the post.
I picked up a nasty nail in the tire of my BMW  wagon with all wheel drive and had only one tire replaced at the BMW dealer lucked out because the tread wear was close enough.  Their first thought alamo auto rental complaints was to repair the tire, but the nail was a bit too close to the edge of the tread (3/4 ) and I was uncomfortable with it.
I had a tire blow out on the freeway at the speed limit.  I ve experienced such a flat, and I knew the whump, whump meant a flat tire that was shredded on the sidewalls. I talked to the service writer when I got it replaced and explained what happened.  He said there s no way a tire can survive alamo auto rental complaints a blowout at that high a speed.  It basically shreds itself from the heat and motion within seconds, but at least a good tire will stay in one piece even though there are dozens alamo auto rental complaints of holes in it.  A tire that completely flies off (and I ve seen several) is not a good thing.
For the most part I think forcing anyone to replace a tire should be prorated for the wear.  I would be patently unfair to force someone to pay the entire cost of a tire that s near the end of its life.  The tires I bought came with an included prorated flat repair or replacement policy from the seller.  They made me pay for the installation for my last flat, but I got a brand new tire for only the cost of the wear from the original to 4/32 .  They charged me $20 for a $120 tire.  I think that was fair.
Agree on the prorating that s how manufacturer s warranties work and would be a good model to follow i