In February I went to Toronto for a business trip. We needed a rental car and found a deal on line to get a vehicle from Alamo/National.

What we thought was a good deal was not one at all.

Once we arrived at the airport, we signed a deal with them for a rental for 4 days, unlimited km, and a GPS unit. We decided that we should rent a GPS unit from them so it would be easier to navigate around the busy streets of Toronto. We rented a SUV and enjoyed the vehicle very much.

We were leaving Toronto on an early morning flight on Sunday and would have to drop off the vehicle and leave the keys in the mailbox at the Alamo rental store as the business was not open until 7:00 am. We didn't have time to fill up the gas tank, and we went on a toll highway, and knew that there would be an additional charge for those items. What we didn't expect was an EXTRA charge of $349.00 for the GPS unit on our bill.

Alamo said that we did not return the GPS unit (this same unit can be purchased for around $200.00 at Best Buy)with the car rental. When we returned the vehicle we put the GPS unit in the glove box so if anyone was walking by the vehicle they would not be tempted to steal it or break into the car, locked the doors and put the keys in the Alamo return box.

Alamo is accusing us of not returning the GPS unit. These are my theories on what happened. One of the workers that checked the vehicle forgot to check off that the GPS was returned, they did not check the glove box, an employee saw this was an opportunity to take it(theft from any business by employees is not uncommon), or the GPS unit was still in the vehicle upon the next person renting the vehicle and the new customers took it.

Not only on the bill we were charged for the GPS unit they still had enough nerve to charge us for the rental of it for the 4 days we had the vehicle!

Alamo also included in their bill a letter stating that we would not be able to rent from them again in the future, which of course after this occurrence I would never rent from them and not recommend their company either.

We as lo checked with Visa to see if they could do anything about this bill and they said because we signed a contract the rental car company can basically charge whatever they want afterwards.

This bill is an expense that will be written off as a business trip anyways but it has left a bad taste in my mouth front renting from this company (we always rent from Enterprise and have had nothing but the best of service from that company)and for thinking that people in the big city of Toronto are dishonest. Living in the WEST is the BEST. This incident does not want me to go back and do business in that city again.

I have phone the Alamo rental at Pearson International, left messages and nobody is returning my cars.

Please make consumers aware that when renting a vehicle, NEVER drop a vehicle off as you do not know what kind of extra charges may appear on your credit card after you leave.


Warmest Regards,

Laurel