I rented a silver 2016 Jeep Cherokee from Alamo Rent A Car on March 14, when I flew in to Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia. I returned the vehicle on March 28.
A couple of weeks later, I received a letter in the mail from Alamo stating that I had done $3, 192.02 worth of damage to their vehicle. They included pages and pages of fictitious damages to the vehicle, including structural damage, broken lights, etc. They even included some photos of a silver vehicle that was smashed in. I was dumbfounded! I couldn't figure out why they were sending that to me because I did not damage their vehicle. At first I thought it was a mistake. I was extremely upset for two days. So then I started thinking that maybe it wasn't a mistake at all; maybe it was a scam. So I Googled the phrase "Alamo damage scam, " and bingo! I found many, many websites recounting hundreds of stories of consumers who had the exact same experience with Alamo and also Enterprise; evidently the two companies are owned by the same parent company.
I sent a letter to the Alamo rep who was calling me, emailing me and sending letters to me in the mail. I told him I did not damage the vehicle, and I told him I didn't know which vehicle he was referring to and where he got those photos, but they were not of the vehicle I rented. He replied, saying they would review my dispute with the renting location and get back to me. Not surprisingly, he responded a few days later saying I am indeed responsible for the "damages."
I didn't damage the vehicle, and I don't see why I or my insurance company should pay money to a company that is trying to get money out of me fraudulently. This damage scam is evidently the company's modus operandi. There are countless conversation threads online on which hundreds of consumers have recounted similar experiences.
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