Your car is gonna rat you out -- and it's gonna cost you big bucks!

[Theophylact]

A story in today's New York Times tells how some car rental companies (in this tale, a Payless Car Rental agency in California) are tracking your every move and charging you for it:

Mr. Son received a shock when he returned the car. The $259.51 bill he expected had ballooned to $3,405.05 - most of it a result of a $1-a-mile fee for each of the 2,874 miles driven. It turned out that by crossing the state line, he had violated his contract with Payless.

"If we had known we couldn't drive the car outside California, we wouldn't have rented it," Mr. Son said.

Penalties for taking a rental vehicle beyond state lines or national borders are not new. But the way in which Mr. Son's surcharge was applied was somewhat novel. The rental company presented him with a map showing his exact route outside California as relayed by a tracking device in his car. Mr. Son said he was surprised to learn that his movements were being tracked. A letter was included with the bill. "Should you choose to dispute this amount," wrote Umesh Pudasaini, the Payless branch manager, "we will pursue all avenues" to collect full payment. Car rental companies have come to rely on an emerging technology called telematics - which combines satellite-based Global Positioning System tracking, wireless communications and vehicle monitoring systems - to keep tabs on their vehicles. About a quarter of the rental cars in the United States are equipped with tracking technology, analysts estimate. The industry views telematics as a way to enforce its contracts, but some customers regard it, at best, as a means to make more money and, at worst, as an invasion of privacy.

[Dooin' it]

What's hilarious is that I'd assume that the rental car company's interest is in the liability issue of driving a car outside the home state, but, in fact......these things are usually covered on a supplementary/complimentary level by both the credit card issued and the driver's primary insurance carrier.....NOT the rental car company.

If I were he, I'd get a lawyer & start going at it!

One of the stipulations that get people in trouble lately is on forms where fine-print is miniscule at best, companies are required that you "initial" boxes stating that you get the basic idea of a certain print block. In this case (unless Mr. Son is extremely lingually challenged) he could probably argue that no such acknowledgment was made........( unless they did & then he'd be screwed.)

In the end there will exist cockroaches and lawyers........(to discern a difference is strictly interpreted by the beholder) <G>

[osprey4]

Of course, lawyers work for both sides so they win regardless. Rental car companies are frequently sued by the people who rent their cars and get into accidents.

Either way, you know who's paying for all the lawyers?