Car rental nightmare
 

Heads up-I recently rented a jeep from Best Deal car rental, also known as Ace. Paid for extra insurance. Rental for a week was $400, was charged an additional $392 for their front plate falling off, something they should have secured properly and which should have been covered by insurance! I did not authorize the charge and now get to start the long battle to get my money back. People where nice enough while picking up vehicle, but total pricks on return. Jeep had other issues as well, suspension and starter were problematic

Welcome to Fodor's forums.

next time you travel ask us about this stuff first, instead of joining fodors for the sole purpose of complaining about a rental company

Are you sure on a bad road or path that a bush didn't make the plate fall? Are you totally sure it wasn't by your actions?

Did you check the car before accepting it? If the plate looked fine, then what was your part?

In this day and age with everyone having phones, why didn't you take pictures when you accepted the car?

Did you call them when other problems came up?

Maybe steps to take next time regardless of where you rent?

Did you call your cc company to dispute on your end? Have them work on your behalf.

Looks as thought you had these problems in St.Martin. To late now but there is an excellent site traveltalkonline.com in which you would have been recommended where to rent a car, and all the help needed in addition to this site as well. Sorry it did not go so well for you. Lessons learned.

I too had a terrible experience with Paradise Car Rental (St. Maarten). When I returned home and received my credit card bill, I was charged 216.00 for the agreed upon car for the week from one location and 369.00 from the other location. This has been an ongoing issue and difficult to resolve at best. Be warry of these unscrupulous car rental agencies. There are FEW good ones and the others are out to bum rush you!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!DONT USE PARADISE CAR RENTAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Beware of your paperwork!!!!! We recently visited St Martin and we needed to rent a car for the week. We were quoted a quoted a rate by Antonio/Anthony of "$130 for everything plus $56 for insurance". When returned the car, we were charged $236. The increase was explained to us as taxes and fees. However, when you give a rate and say "it includes everything", that means taxes and fees. If not, then what the heck is everything?

We really had no recourse, because what he told us and what he wrote down were two different things. Therefore, only believe what you see and none of what they say.

It's up to you to check what "includes everything" means as it often does not include local taxes and airport fees. I don't think $236 for a weeks rental is too much and if the rental costs $130 + $56 for insurance then the total of $186 will be subject to local taxes. It's only $50 more than you expected. I prefer to prebook and pay beforehand, that way surprises are minimized.

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