Sunday, August 17, 2008

Don't rent a car from Budget

Brian and I went down to rent a minivan this morning (so that we could haul a bunch of furniture back from Ikea). When we got there, they told us we couldn't rent a car with just a credit card and a photo ID -- we also needed a power bill showing we lived at the address on our ID's. Gee, thanks for failing to mention this when I made my reservation over the phone. They also informed us that the policy applied only to locals. Had we flashed an Oklahoma ID, we would've gotten out of there without a hitch.

So the lady asks, "Is there anyone at your house who can fax a copy of your power bill?" We were like, "Yeah, we'll have our home secretary get right on that.". What the heck is that? We would've loved to have walked away, but we had to get on the road and all the other rental places had huge lines.

They ended up accepting our car insurance card as proof, but only after a huge rigamarole involving three separate bonehead clerks. One attempted to justify the policy by explaining that locals are.transients. He tried to prove his point by asking Brian whether he was born and raised in Vegas. Unfortunately for the guy, Brian answered yes to both. So pretty much all he succeeded in doing was offending us even further. I was livid and went off on the guy. Am I missing something, or is this policy totally f'in lame? They are totally getting a nasty-gram from me.

5 comments:

Shawna said...

uh sounds like a wierd policy to me...I have never been asked that question EVER rentint a car..usually, they just want to make sure you have enough $$ on your credit card for the deposit if something were to go wrong.

If I had to guess...since you just moved, when they tried to match your "billing address" to your card, it didn't match because of the recent move? Maybe?,,,,,

Cladeedah said...

I would understand that. But they kept calling it their "local's policy" and didn't say anything about the card address. Just that locals have to show powerbills because they're Vegas scum.

Bethany said...

How is it possible that a person with a Nevada driver's license showing a Vegas address is more "transient" than a tourist? At least be glad that your husband's name isn't Jose Sanchez, cuz that would have been enough evidence for them to ask for more info. I would have loved to see the look on the clerk's face when Brian told him that he was born and raised in Vegas. priceless.

Did you get all your Ikea treasure?

Christina, Jack and Kevin Reese/Barnum said...

That's irritating!!!

Unknown said...

You know, I didn't think of the billing address thing... if they had actually checked it, they would have had a legitimate reason not to rent me a car. My license has our new address on it, and the card still bills to the old address.