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Customers Accuse Budget Licensee in B.C. for Overcharging for Damage Claims

The Better Business Bureau had received almost 70 complaints from customers when CBC News’ Go Public investigative news segment published articles highlighting comments from former employees and customers about possible intentional damage claim ‘rip-offs.’

by Staff
November 21, 2012
2 min to read


According to CBC News’ Go Public investigative news segment, customers and former employees of Budget Rent a Car in British Columbia, a licensee, have accused the rental car company of overcharging for alleged damage to the vehicles.

In almost 70 cases of recent complaints directed to the Better Business Bureau, customers said they were overcharged for items like windshield chips and small scratches. The BBB currently has the company’s rating set at an “F.”

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Former employees then revealed to Go Public that Budget allegedly would not only overcharge for scratches, dents or windshield chips, but the company wouldn’t repair the vehicles until it needed a full replacement.

The licensee location is currently under investigation by the U.S. Budget corporate office. In a response to Auto Rental News, spokesperson for Avis Budget Group Alice Pereira said: “At Avis Budget Group, we hold integrity and responsibility among our core values and we take very seriously any allegations regarding customer service regardless of whether it concerns our corporate locations or, as in this case, an independently owned licensee facility. We can confirm that we are investigating the business practices of our independent licensee in British Columbia, but as we have not completed that investigation we cannot make any further comment about the reported allegations.”

Here are the two articles from CBC News’ Go Public, written by Kathy Tomlinson, in the order they were published:

“Budget Rent a Car accused of bilking customers”

“Ex-employees reveal ripoffs at Budget Rent a Car”

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