Ben Bennani, AA Car Rental (Costa Mesa, Calif.)
Since I rent to teens 18 years and over, 90 percent of my rental cars come back trashed with leftover food, cigarette butts and soda bottles.
Cleaning fee: $10 for cars, $15 for minivans. The cleaning fee is on the walk-around form they sign.
Matthew Holowinski, Greenberg Rent a Car (Norridge, Ill.)
When I was an agency operator, the biggest cleaning nightmare was dog hair, though I’ve had cases of used diapers left in the car and kids’ vomit on the back seat. The worst mess outside of the car is when the customer drives through fresh black pavement.
At Greenberg, I have problems with customers smoking in the vehicles. One hint is to avoid car models with fabric on the doors close to the arm rest. Customers have a tendency to hold cigarettes in their hands and burn the upholstery on the doors. The best bet is to have tough plastic material on the doors. I also avoid beige interiors.
Cleaning fee: I charge customers the same as a detail at the local car wash ($75), but sometimes it’s hard to collect. Recently I put a note on the contract that I will charge for cleaning, but it is hard to argue with a customer when in his judgment the car is not that messy and he’s had it for a few months.
Mike Dabish, Rent a Ride USA (Detroit, Mich.)
The worst thing to clean out of a car is blood. It just doesn’t come out. If the stain doesn’t come out I’ll find new seats from a salvage yard.
I was spending hundreds of dollars a week on cleaning supplies from a major distributor until I went to a dollar store and I stumbled across the best cleaning products for cheap:
Rim and tire cleaner, 32 ounces - $1 (I used to pay $12 for a 64-oz jug)
Glass cleaner, 67 ounces - $1 (paid $4)
All-purpose cleaner for interior, 32 ounces - $1 (paid $12 for 64 ounce jug)
Cleaning fee: $25. The cleaning fee is stated in our terms and conditions, though we also put it on a sticker on the rental agreement and have the customer initial it at the time of rental. This makes them think twice about bringing the car back dirty.
Neil Rivel, Dollar Rent a Car (N.J.)
Give me a blood-soaked car from a gang fight any day compared to a cooler leaking fish water. To get the blood out, we’ve used a lot of baking powder to absorb what we could, and we’ve gone so far as replacing the carpet. Cleaning blood is easy if it’s leather. With cloth seats, just get new ones. Duct tape works to remove dog hair.
Once we opened the center console of one of our cars and an elderly gentleman had used it as a urinal! The manager freaked out; the wash guy wouldn’t go near the car. We called the customer and told him to come back and get it cleaned out.
We’ve found a 14-passenger van filled with cat food in every section. I informed the customer that I was going to charge an additional $100 for the cleaning of the van. I offered them the keys back and about two hours later they came back with a clean vehicle. But at that point they were past due! Poor chap. No, I wasn’t cold-hearted, though it was tempting.
Cleaning fee: up to $75. We stamp our rental folders to warn customers at our locations that have the biggest problems. And, yes, they do complain.