Car rental scams to look out for

by Jamie Rhein on

Whenever I’ve rented a car, I’ve always felt a bit anxious wondering what option to take when it comes to the insurance–or if the price is going to truly be what the information says it will be. Driving off a car lot in something I don’t own is thrilling on one hand, but disconcerting in another. What if something goes wrong?

So far, I haven’t been scammed, but I’ve probably paid for insurance I didn’t need–that loss of use business makes me wary–and I’ve double and triple checked what it is I’m signing up for. In many cases, I’ve been able to work out a better deal like trading up for a roomier car at the same initial rate for a smaller car.

Chris Elliot outlines scams to watch out for in his article “Hell on Wheels: Four Car Rental Scams.” They are scams because they unfairly tip in the car rental companies’ favor if a customer doesn’t pay attention to the fine print. Here are the three that I’ve watched out for myself. For the fourth one, read his article.

1. Refueling- For example, as with happened with us this summer when we rented our car at the Bellingham airport, the car rental person offered us the refueling charge option. At first it seemed like a fair deal, but it only would have been be a fair deal if we brought back the car with an empty tank. In our case, we turned him down and refueled making sure the needle went above the F right before we hit the airport. Elliot says that sometimes car rental companies will charge refueling anyway, even if the tank is full, but the needle is a tad below the F.

2. Doing anything outside of the initial terms of the contract. If you bring a car back early you can pay for a much higher rental feel. If you’ve rented for a week, you have a week rate. One day earlier puts you into the pay by the day category. I’ve always stayed within the original contract so this hasn’t been a problem. Years ago I added an extra week to a car leasing deal in Paris for not much extra money, but that sort of deal may be long gone.

3. Damage to the car. Car rental companies have also been known to charge for the same dent more than once. Technically, if the car is damaged while in your care, your insurance is responsible, unless you have the insurance through the car rental company. Elliot suggests taking pictures of the different sides of the car before you drive it off the lot to prevent the chance you may be charged for something you didn’t do. This fall I had a car rental after a car accident and made sure the guy marked down any ding I saw no matter how small. The car was white which made me feel nervous the whole time I was driving it. I found myself parking far away from other cars whenever possible.

[via CNN.com/travel]

Turning TSA-confiscated scissors into art

by Aaron Hotfelder on

By now, we all know that the TSA has the authority to confiscate obviously dangerous items– fully-gassed chainsaws, butcher’s knives, four-ounce bottles of lotion. But Reason magazine has the story of what happens to some of those items that fall in that ambiguous, in-between area of what is acceptable:

“When it comes to knives and scissors, items with blades shorter than four inches are supposed to be allowed, but individual agents have wide discretion to ban anything they feel might present a safety threat. As a result, there are thousands of ostensibly OK scissors that end up in the TSA equivalent of Gitmo.”

In a courageous act of defiance, or protest (or something), one man fashions those would-be “weapons” into works of art.

“The D.C.-based artist Christopher Locke buys confiscated scissors that belong in the “grey area between what should be allowed on the plane, and what wasn’t allowed” and re­fashions them into strangely disquieting spiders and bugs, viewable online at heartlessmachine.com.”

Check out Locke’s gallery of scissor-spiders here.

TSA at Newark receives praise

by Jamie Rhein on

On December 24th, when I was at the airport in Columbus to send my mother off on Continental Airlines for a trip to see my brother in Manhattan, I heard a few announcements over the loud speaker. One was from an airline about an article of clothing left on the plane. Would the person who left it please return to the gate? Then there was an announcement about a cell phone left in the bin at security.

With travel having a hectic quality about it, leaving belongings behind is common. I hoped whoever was being beckoned heard the come hither notices and thought how nice it was that an effort was being made to reunite people with their belongings even though the loss was due to passenger error. I’ve had my own left behind incidences. Most ended happily.

According to Jaunted, TSA in Newark gets kudos for making more effort than all TSAs to make sure people hook up once more with whatever they’ve left behind. One person left a $30,000 Rolex watch. Can you imagine forgetting such a thing? I’d be sad if my Swatch watch with the butterfly on it that I bought in Hsinchu, Taiwan went missing. Come to think of it, where is that thing? The laundry room. I need this TSA in my house.

There are four people with Newark’s TSA who spend their work days helping to make the reunions happen. Most people never get their stuff back because most don’t go looking. If you ever leave anything behind, go find it. Maybe you’ll get lucky. If you’re in Newark, chances are you will. There is also a chance that Newark’s TSA methods will be implemented elsewhere since it’s been successful. Hmm, if 15% is successful and they have the best system, just think about the stockpile of stuff at airports.

New American passports can (maybe) trigger bombs

by Neil Woodburn on

The new American passports are supposed to be state of the art, but there is some danger that lurks within: the RFID chip.

We reported a few months ago about the “radio frequency identification” chips which are embedded within the new passports and loaded with digital information about the passport holder–mainly the same information found on the identification page. The concern with this chip is that it can broadcast this information to the wrong person.

According to an LA Times article by Jane Engle, the government claims the chip can only be read at a distance of 4 inches when the passport is opened. Others, however, claim that this range can be greatly increased with the proper equipment, thus turning American tourists into a walking radio station broadcasting personal information. One expert even claims that the signal can be used to detect an American passing by and set off a bomb, as illustrated by a YouTube video found here (although this is apparently a very improbable scenario).

Scared? You can always disable the chip using a very simple and primitive method described here. But of course, we here at Gadling would never condone such an action.

Travelers Aid stations help out weary passengers

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Most of my trips through airports go smoothly, but, without fail, I’ll always spot a fellow traveler who is upset for one reason or another. Canceled flights, lost luggage, missed connections, weather delays– these are unfortunately, though inevitably, what all of us must deal with at one time or another. When it’s not me, rather than feeling sympathy for the unlucky victim, I find myself thinking, “Thank God that’s not me.”

Some people are more altruistic than your humble correspondent. Most people. (All people?) This Christmas, hundreds of volunteers will work in airports across the country to make some of our flight-related problems a little more bearable. The volunteers are members of Travelers Aid International, a non-profit, social service institution that has been around since 1851 (when there were significantly fewer problems in airports).

They will be operating booths in 24 airports around the country, performing a wide range of services for distraught passengers. Quoted in a New York Times article, one volunteer said, “It can be as mundane as, ‘Where is the restroom’ or ‘Where can I go smoke a cigarette?’ … But it can also be, ‘My mom was supposed to be on the plane from Peru and I can’t find out whether she was on it.’ And the airlines won’t tell people. But if I go to the airline counter, they may tell me because I have on the Travelers Aid badge.”

She added, “I love people. I have a ball out there.”

Full story here.