Never underestimate a car rental company's drive to make an extra buck. Amy Villa did when she rented a car from Alamo in Columbus, Ohio, recently, and she ended up paying twice as much as she expected.
Villa's flight was delayed, so she phoned Alamo to let the company know about the holdup. A representative assured Villa that her reservation and rate would be honored, ''because I would be arriving within 24 hours of my original reservation,'' she says.
When she finally touched down in Columbus, an Alamo agent handed her the paperwork. ''The contract and the price was essentially double what I was quoted, going from $268 to more than $400. And that's for one day less,'' says Villa. ``Alamo never told me that the rate would go up.''
Welcome to the tricky new world of rental cars. Unable to raise their rates or impose significant cancellation penalties on their customers, rental companies have always relied on fees and surcharges to eke out a profit. But they are doing so now with more creativity and zeal, leaving customers like Villa swearing they'll never rent again.
It doesn't have to be that way. Here are four of the latest car-rental scams -- and how to avoid them:
• Rules are meant to be enforced: The biggest car rental scam is technically no scam at all. Car rental companies are just enforcing existing rules more strictly than ever. In Villa's case, what Alamo did was perfectly legal -- and at the same time, completely wrong.
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