j_999_9

Be extra-careful about gathering up your belongings when turning in a rental car in Orlando, because it's unlikely you'll get them back if left in car. This happened to a friend of mine who was turning in an Avis rental car at the aiport:

He was headed back to the airport in the rental car, and took out his wallet to get money to pay a toll. He placed the wallet on the passenger seat, and then forgot it was there when he turned in the rental car.

Of course, he later realized what happened (getting on the plane was another story). So he called Avis and asked if someone had turned in his wallet.

He was told: The cars are turned in to a contractor, and we're not responsible for the actions of the contractor, nor will we investigate. Consider your wallet stolen.

If you've been to Orlando, you know that the cars are turned in to a central area, so it's likely more than one rental co. uses the contractor.

starrsville

How did he get on the plane? Was his DL not in his wallet?

j_999_9

Yeah, starr, as I said, that was another story, but since you asked ...

EVERYTHING was in the wallet -- money CCs, DL, etc.

First of all, he notified Amex, and they sent him money and a new CC immediately.

As for getting on the plane -- and this may come in handy some day -- the airlines will let you fly w/o ID if you can produce a police report that your ID was stolen.

happytrailstoyou

I don't think this is about a problem specific to Orlando or Avis but a general warning for men to keep their wallets on their persons rather than on the passenger seats of automobiles.

It is always important to double-check for belongings when departing a hotel room, an airplane, or any other place where possessions are stored temporarily.

emd

I have never gotten anything back that I have left in a hotel, in a cruise ship cabin, in a rent car, on an airplane. I have left things in all those places, and call and try to track it down. Never have gotten any of it back.

swaymock

I left a good black leather jacket in my National car at the San Juan airport car return about a year ago. By the time I had reached the airport on the shuttle bus, the folks checking my car over had already radioed to the shuttle driver that a jacket had been found. I didn't even know it was missing as yet. We dropped my husband and luggage off at the airport and the shuttle driver quickly whisked me back to the car return (without even stopping to pick up additional renters who were going that way), we got my jacket and zipped back to the airport. You can bet he got a nice tip

There are happy endings.

gail

Regarding hgow to get on a plane, it is my understanding that OP is partially correct. (Our son lost his wallet in WY prior to flight).

There is surprisingly no law requiring ID for domestic flights, but there might as well be since all airlines require ID. If one has lost ID, you go to check in and the airline will summons whatever local law enforcement is assigned to that airport - sherrif, police, State troopers, etc. It is up to them to tell airline you can fly.

A very informative Jackson Hole, WY officer explained to us that this could involve them contacting home state Motor Vehicle Dept., and/or any substitute info they can get from you - such as outgoing boarding pass, even monograms, credit card receipts - they just need to feel comfortable you are who you say you are.

In our case, they told us a police report was useless. To quote them "you can put anything you want on a police report when you file it. That does not make it true."

So it appears to vary case by case whether or not you can get on a plane.

nytraveler

His wallet wasn;t stolen. He carelessly left it behind. It would be very nice of someone to turn it in - but not something that you can really expect.

Obviously there's no way of knowing who eventually found it - not is there any way to hold anyone responsible - except him - for losing it.

I found a wallet once in a parking space - that is someone pulled out and as I started to pull in I saw something on the street. Got out, found it was a wallet, picked it up and went home. Inside the wallet were credit cards, license, medical card, etc - but no cash (obviously someone had picked a purse, taken the cash and thrown the wallet away). I tracked down the owner, called her and told her I had it. She hadn;t missed it yet.

She then asked me to deliver the wallet. I was busy, said I didn't have time (it was about 30 minutes from my house) and said she should come get it. So - she instructed me to mail it to her - overnight - and use part of the money to pay for it. I told her there was no money, I was busy - and she hadn;t even thanked me yet. She then accused me of being the thief.

At that point I told her I was taking it to the polce station - and if she wanted it to get it there. When I explained to them the clerk said this behavior is not rare - some people are just "entitled". I don;t know if she ever bothered to go get it.

Separately, I had a friend whose checking account was cancelled by the bank when her check book was "stolen" 3 times in 2 years (it was never stolen - she was just a ditz and kept leaving it places).

j_999_9

Interesting human experience, nyt, but I disagree with your definition of "stolen." So do the police. If you find someone's wallet with ID in it, and you keep the money and the wallet without notifying the owner or the police, that's considered theft.

It's the same as if you in error receive an extra $1,000 from an ATM machine. Failure to return the money is classified as theft.

swaymock

I'm curious as to an insurance company's definition of theft. My aunt left her camera in a taxi. Of course after discovering it was missing, the taxi company reported it had not been turned in. The insurance company told my aunt that was a lost item not a stolen item and wouldn't pay up on her homeowner's policy. So is it loss or theft.

nytraveler

I think you missed the point. No one knows for sure where the wallet is, who if anyone has it, and who if anyone took something out of it.

All we know is that the owner missed it after leaving it in a car. It could have slipped down between the seats and the back - or in the area between the seats (I've found all sorts of things under the seats when cleaning out my car.)

If you go away and leave your wallet somewhere with open access to a number of people - it's not reasonable to expect to get it back with contents intact.

J_Correa

We inherited a 1957 truck and when we took the seat and gas tank out of it, we found all sorts of stuff - including an old wallet, an unopened pack of Camel cigarettes that had to have been there since at least 1965, and a set of keys in a leather case.

j_999_9

NYT: You missed the point. The rental co. wouldn't even bother to check the car to see if the wallet was there -- between the seats or otherwise.

nytraveler

Did he go back and try to look for it in the rental car?

SusieQQ

>You missed the point. The rental co. wouldn't even bother to check the car to see if the wallet was there -- between the seats or otherwise.<

You missed the point...if you leave anything behind do not expect to retrieve it.

happytrailstoyou

Your friend should have contacted Avis's "contractor" to search the car. Right?

Nikki

After we returned our rental car in Copenhagen, my daughter was upset to find that she had left a CD in the CD player. We did not contact the rental car company, but a week later we received the CD in the mail at home in the US. We were all surprised and pleased, never would have expected this.

j_999_9

Apprently, SusieQ, you're wrong. From the posts here, plenty of people, including me, have left stuff behind and gotten it back. If you could read, you'd know that.

NYT, you have officially achieved your goal of bugging the crap out of me. AS I SAID, he called the rental co. and asked for their help in retrieving the wallet from the car; they blew him off. Now, do you suggest that, with all the other problems he was having, he should return to the rental area at Orlando and go car-to-car until he found the one he rented, and then without authorization, begin searching the car?

And, oh, right, he should track down the contractor, after Avis refused to cooperate with him on that.

I think I'll bail on this thread; it's just getting a bit too dense in here.

SusieQQ

Gee,i_999_9, why don't you take a reading lesson...I said "don't EXPECT to get it back". Of course that doesn't mean that SOMETIMES it happens. Why did you have to turn nasty just because I disagreed with you?