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| *Ostroff, Fair and Company>>>Personal Finance |
Can a car-rental company take money out of my account without authorization? |
I'm SO ticked off right now....I feel like I could turn into Incredible Hulk and like, break a brick with my bare hands. Ok anyway, We got a free car rental from Enterprise while our car was in the shop. (Someone rear-ended me when I was driving my bfs car) So when we went to get the rental car, they told us we wouldn't have any fees except for a $25 security deposit that would be refunded when we brought the car back. During the 3rd day we had the car, we get a phone call saying that we owe them $40 for rental insurance. So I gave my boyfriend my debit card and said he could use it for the fee. The next day after we gave the car back, my boyfriend calls Enterprise asking when he will get his refund. The guy tells him that he's not getting a refund because they took it and put it toward the rental insurance and that we also owe them another $14. (When we were told rental insurance was $10 a day). My boyfriend said he would personally come in and pay it because he had some questions The rental car company cannot force you to pay for supplementary insurance, or anything other than the basic collision. $40 seems like a very large sum for basic insurance. I've charged back these type of additional charges to credit card companies, but this is more difficult to do with a debit card since the money has already been debited. it also sounds like they double counted the charge, so ask Enterprise for an itemized receipt outlining everything they charged and debited you for. Then you can contact your bank about unauthorized debits and see if your bank can pay you back. Sorry for the frustration! I work for a rental car agency, fortunately, I don't work for Enterprise. Unfortunately, you are at their mercy becauce you gave them your card and permission to use it, no matter what amount you authorized them to. However, I don't understand why they are forcing this insurance on you. If you have full-coverage auto insurance, that insurance will likely transfer to the rental car in case of an accident. And any additional insurance that they would offer would be at your discretion only, not required. But, if you have liablity-only or if your full-coverage policy does not transfer to a rental car, then you are forced to purchase the additional insurance for the rental, buying thier insurance if you have no insurance for a rental on your own would be required by law. You can go back to thier office and pay in cash, and then after that they can credit your debit card. Since they charged you twice for the additional insurance, check with your bank's policies about disputing the charge, see if you can get a credit for the additional $$ they took, provided that you have reciepts for all the transactions. If you have an obligation and you gave them your account information. |
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