During our recent trip to Alabama, Brianna and I flew into Nashville (the closest major airport) and rented a car. It wasn’t the cheapest option, but I don’t have a credit card (yuck!), so it was the best we could get. They gave us a Chevy Cobalt. It was definitely the economy model, but it was a smooth ride, and easy on the gas. Instead of having to leave my credit card info, I was told that I’d have to leave a $150 deposit. That didn’t seem like too bad a deal to me…a ten thousand dollar car for a relatively small deposit.
Everything went very smoothly. We returned the car to Nashville with no problems, and I considered the deal complete. I figured that they’d charge me for the $85 I owed, and close the transaction. Unfortunately, they didn’t process the sale until the Tuesday after we got back to KC, AND charged me for the deposit. That made no sense to me whatsoever, so I called customer service for an explanation. The representative was rather confused, as well. Apparently, this wasn’t standard operating procedure. It turns out that the Thrifty Car Rental at the Nashville Airport (BNA) is a franchise location…which has a completely different way of doing business. At that point, I called the BNA franchise directly and spoke to their rep, who explained that they ALWAYS charge for the deposit, but that I should receive it back into my account in three to five business days.
Sadly, I made a large transaction on Wednesday night, and hadn’t accounted for the deposit being taken out of my account…and now I have gone into overdraft. Luckily, the thirty-five dollar fee only put me six dollars and change in the red.
I will never rent from Thrifty at BNA again. Caveat emptor.
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