{"id":1094,"date":"2013-08-13T13:58:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-13T13:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rawtravelblog.com\/?p=1094"},"modified":"2013-10-10T14:58:13","modified_gmt":"2013-10-10T14:58:13","slug":"travel-warning-dollar-rent-a-scammed-in-roatan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rawtravelblog.com\/travel-warning-dollar-rent-a-scammed-in-roatan\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning – Dollar Rent-A-Scammed in Roatan"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE DOLLAR RENT-A-SCAM<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The attempted scam began innocently enough and could have happened to any traveler. I booked a car online using the popular website <\/span>Kayak.com<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/a> as I\u2019ve done dozens, perhaps hundreds of times.. Except this time it was for <\/span>Roatan,<\/span><\/a> the popular island and diving spot just off the coast of Honduras.<\/span><\/p>\n

I had plenty of economically feasible rental car options to choose from, but I chose <\/span>Dollar Rental Car<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/i><\/a>because they are a familiar company I\u2019ve used many times over the years. I figured a brand name company like Dollar would help me avoid any potential headaches from renting in a developing country where I suspected they had few protections for consumers.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Taping<\/a>
Taping in beautiful Roatan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HEY DOLLAR RENTAL CAR\u2026. ARE YOU THERE?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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We arrived to Roatan via a ferry from the mainland in semi rough seas that had about \u00bd the passengers hurling into bags. I was cool, so long as I kept my head down and my eyes off of the other retching passengers.<\/span><\/p>\n

After claiming our luggage and asking several taxi drivers where Dollar Rental Car was located, we were met with another sea, but this time a sea of blank stares that then led to huddled conferences among the taxi drivers. Eventually receiving wildly conflicting information. No one, it seems, had even heard of Dollar Rental Car much less knew the location.<\/span><\/p>\n

I proceeded to call the Roatan telephone # provided for Dollar by KAYAK from my reservation email but to no avail. The phone # was disconnected and no forwarding number was provided. Hmmmm\u2026 more than frustrating this would turn out to be RED FLAG #1. .<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Finally a lone driver stepped forward and claimed to know where Dollar\u2019s rental office was located. Ten minutes later our driver pulls into what is essentially a wooden shack with two small Dollar Rental Car signs haphazardly tacked up to the chain link fence and an even smaller, home printer printed sign tacked or taped to a small shack that apparently served as the Roatan\u2019s Dollar Rental Car. \u201cThis is their office?\u201d I thought.<\/span><\/p>\n

The shack had a very temporary feel to it, especially in comparison to the other rental car companies surrounding it. Suddenly I regretted not booking with another, even an \u201coff brand\u201d rental car company.<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201coffice\u201d interior wasn\u2019t any more appealing, consisting of a couple of folding chairs, a desk and an old computer terminal. But hey, function over form right? Well, the function was a sticking point as well. The lone woman in the office was busy tapping her mobile device and didn\u2019t even look up, much less acknowledge us when we walked into the shack, creating an awkward moment until eventually I broke the silence by asking \u201chello, do you work here?\u201d. That led to an even more awkward grunt that I could not decipher as either \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d, so I waited.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally some young, rotund (not shorthand for someone from Roatan) guy in shorts, an ill-fitting t-shirt and flip flops came into the office and somewhat took charge.<\/span><\/p>\n

I asked if Dollar\u2019s phone # changed or something and he replied that he thought we were coming in by plane not by boat. What this had to do with their telephone # not working I\u2019m not sure, but I was so relieved that they actually had our reservation that I let it slide.<\/span><\/p>\n

CARS RUN ON GAS?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Gas<\/a>
Gas gauge at time of pick up<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The guy proceeded to pull out a boiler plate Dollar Rental Car Contract and filling it out by hand. He then asked me what our rate was. I was further confused. \u201cDon\u2019t you have a record?\u201d I asked as I dig into my bag for my laptop to pull up the reservation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally we both confirmed the rate of $37 U.S. per day and he asked me to sign on the dotted line. There was none of the usual insurance disclaimer or up sells. In fact, there was no mention of insurance at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

This would turn out to be RED FLAG #2,<\/b> but we were late already so I didn\u2019t argue.<\/span><\/p>\n

When his helper pulled the tiny economy car around, we piled our luggage and ourselves in like clowns in a clown car and we were ready to take off when I noted that the fuel was not only on empty, the gauge was sitting on the wrong side of the \u201cE\u201d symbol. Was it broken? We half hoped. Nope! There was just no gas in the car, well, there was enough to pull the car around in the lot form the back to the front, but was there enough to get us where we could gas up? That was the mystery.<\/span><\/p>\n

We all nervously tittered and laughed about possibly running out of gas in Honduras, but I was seriously concerned as we had very real time constraints and something like running out of gas could seriously jeopardize our shoot. Our entire purpose for being in Roatan in the 1st place was to produce for our Honduras episode of Raw Travel (launching Oct. 5th in the U.S.).<\/span><\/p>\n

The guys at Dollar assured me there was a gas station just a couple of miles down the road and that the car would make it there and we did. But not before some very nervous moments and not before filming the thing on our Go Pro camera just for laughs. Who rents a car to a customer on empty? No, not even on empty but past empty? Evidently Dollar Rental Car in Roatan that is who. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present RED FLAG #3.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n