I reserved a car from Rent-A-Wreck Seattle in March for a two-week holiday in September 2008. I showed up at the airport in the evening (having flown from overseas) and called the number Rent-A-Wreck had given me for the free shuttle to collect my car. I was told that they had no vehicles so they could not honor the reservation I had made even though I had given them my credit card details and had a reservation number. I asked them what I should do and the man on the end of the line just kept repeating that he had no vehicles. I could try again the following day but as I needed transport to get from the airport to my motel for that night and to head north the following day at 6 am, I was forced to trawl the airport car rental counters, finally coming away with a minivan (for only two of us) for $175 more than my original quote from Rent-A-Wreck. Several days later, I did find out that they had called my home (we do not have cell phones) and let my mother know that a car had come back later that night but it was too late. I emailed Rent-A-Wreck to complain about their unreliability when we returned from holiday, but several weeks have gone by and there has been no response.

I reserved a car from Rent-A-Wreck Seattle in March for a two-week holiday in September 2008. I showed up at the airport in the evening (having flown from overseas) and called the number Rent-A-Wreck had given me for the free shuttle to collect my car. I was told that they had no vehicles so they could not honor the reservation I had made even though I had given them my credit card details and had a reservation number. I asked them what I should do and the man on the end of the line just kept repeating that he had no vehicles. I could try again the following day but as I needed transport to get from the airport to my motel for that night and to head north the following day at 6 am, I was forced to trawl the airport car rental counters, finally coming away with a minivan (for only two of us) for $175 more than my original quote from Rent-A-Wreck. Several days later, I did find out that they had called my home (we do not have cell phones) and let my mother know that a car had come back later that night but it was too late. I emailed Rent-A-Wreck to complain about their unreliability when we returned from holiday, but several weeks have gone by and there has been no response.

Rent-A-Wreck - our worst car rental experience!

We do not own a car by choice and have been renting cars from various companies over the last 10 years and have never experienced this low level of customer service before.

We rented a car from September 19, 2008 to September 23, 2008 to attend a wedding 700km east of Vancouver BC. On the day of scheduled return, the car suddenly broke down on the on-ramp to the I-5 in Burlington WA, at 3:30PM. It appeared to have an electrical problem, originating at the battery. We found the clamp to one terminals was loose and the connection extremely dirty. Attempts to troubleshoot the problem were unsuccessful and we phoned the representative at the franchise. He offered absolutely no help and had no suggestions what we should do. We arranged for a tow truck and got the car towed to a service facility. The great staff at the Bavarian Autohaus in Burlington were an example for outstanding customer service and worked past closing time but were not able to fix the car. They dropped us and our luggage off at a nearby motel and we phoned our respective employers to notify about our unscheduled day off. The Autohaus staff picked us up again the next morning at 10:30 and the car was ready to go. We drove back to Delta to return the car. The franchise only covered the cost of towing and the car repair. Adding insult to injury, they offered to wave the charge for the extra day we used the car!

As a result of the breakdown, we incurred considerable additional cost for motel, meals and 2 lost days at work. As well, we experienced the stress and anxiety of going through the ordeal. Rent-A-Wreck made no effort whatsoever to acknowledge or compensate us for this in any way. As a result, we are extremely upset and disappointed with Rent-A-Wreck and plan never to rent from them again. I am posting this complaint to prevent future customers from having a similar experience with Rent-A-Wreck.