Budget/Domicar Israel Auto Repair Scam

Budget Rent-a-Car of Israel, run by Domicar, Ltd., rented a car to my company that had a number of minor scratches. No big deal, and they were all accounted for. When I returned the car, they claimed there was new "damage," and they pointed out a grease smudge. On the spot, I wiped most of it off with my finger, but they still claimed it was damaged, which I vigorously protested. On the "damage report," I even stated that it was a dirt spot, nothing more. They said they would take a closer look, and not do anything if the mark was minor.

A few weeks later, I saw that my credit card was charged $539 from Budget, with no explanation. After after having my credit card impose a charge-back, and writing a note to Budget Customer Service, I found out that Budget Israel had gone ahead without my authorization and "fixed" the smudge.

Charges included: $115 for an Assessor's Report (which comes out to over $600/hr); $115 for paint (which comes out to about $1,000/gallon); and $93 for an inexplicable "handling fee."

Budget corporate washed its hands of any customer service, stating that I had to deal with the Israel office. Our company's local Israeli employee (who could have had the spot buffed out for under $50) contacted Budget directly, and was turned away -- they said they would only deal with me, even though our employee was the second driver of the car in question. They rejected all of our entreaties that the "mark" was not a scratch, and even it was, it was no different than the untreated scratches already on the car. And even if it was an actual scratch, the charges were outrageous. Their response was that we should take it up with our insurance company. If we were to do that, it would be a fraudulent procedure, since the insurance company would be paying for unnecessary work at an unacceptable rate.

Budget at no time responded directly to our questions about the high rate, or about the presence of other previous scratches, or any other point we made. They simply said in essence "our invoice remains."

We believe that they have a scam running in which they charge foreign customers outrageous sums for unnecessary work, and they usually get away with it because of insurance payments. Their parent company, Budget, is allowing this to happen, without concern for its customers. We make freguent trips to Israel, but we certainly will never deal with them or Budget again.

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Another similar story of mine - rented a car in the Budget T-A office half a year ago (!) and now they charged me for some 15 USD with no explanation. Though no damages was caused then, no accidents or violation of traffic rules. Seems these guys just easily charge foreign tourists any time they wish.

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I rented a car with budget domicar over 2 years ago and I received a $15 charge on my credit card this week. There is no explanation for why they've charged me. For most people I think these little charges fly under the radar but I'm worried about random charges in the future as well.

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Similar issue here with these people. Car rental from Budget, Ben Gurion Airport Tel Aviv, all paid up at the time, returned without any extra charges, and two months later they charge my credit card with no explanation or direct contact. I am disputing the credit card charge and will see what happens.

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Beware of Budget/Domicar rentals in Israel-you may rent through Budget outside of Israel but then you are dealing with this independent licensee of Budget in Israel. They charged my credit card a lot of extra money-I needed someone in Israel to call them-found out that I gave in the car too early!! There was no written info on this nor was this told to me verbally. They are taking advantage of tourists-be careful.

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I had a similar thing Just happened on my trip to Israel, with exactly the same routine, and today a month after the trip

I was charged $35.15 for a car full of scratches. maybe I was charged less because I am a Hebrew speaker and I called the scam on the spot.

I'll never rent from Budget again, what' the use even if they seem to be cheaper, you wind up pay up the nose in the end

Jan 2010