Stranded - what would you do?

[Flashback]

After the dodginess of the ordeal we had picking up our car from Budget in Enfidha, Tunisia - today things have gotten even better, the 'check engine' light has come on.

The hotel here and I have tried getting through (location is closed now) but the brief call we had, all they said was no it's fine, but if they want they can drop the car back to Sousse (2 hour drive from here). Now, in my experience the 'check engine' light is pretty serious and the engine was stalling a bit today. The fuel indicator doesn't work either, we've driven 220km so far and it's still showing as full.

Especially so when this dodgy agent for Budget has rented a car that is far older than what they're allowed, it has 128,000km on the odometer. It's definitely more than 3 years old. One of the guys at the hotel spoke to a friend of his who runs a car rental agency and said they're not allowed to rent older than that, if they do, they have to have special paperwork. He had a look through and confirmed the paperwork did not exist...... so if we get pulled over by the Police (there are checkpoints on the road here all over the place) we're going to be in a spot of both.

So I guess I'm curious as to what you would do?

Drive the 2 hours back to Sousse, which the car might not even make and end up stranded on the side of the road.

Force them to send a new car out (good luck) and tow the broken one? BTW, I've spoken with Budget and they said there is no road side assistance here.

Rent another one? What do we do with the broken car though, as we're still responsible till they get it back.

Some further context and history on the shambles this has been, when we tried to pick it up... it was only through some kind person at the airport (who called 3 different phone numbers trying to find someone) that we could even pickup the car, Budget didn't even have a booth/office there. The guy then demanded the deposit in cash, saying they don't take card - obviously not true and in breach of their corporate policies. After 15 minutes of arguing, eventually he relented and a card machine magically appeared (which worked absolutely fine, too, funnily enough). The car was old, beaten up, rusted hub caps, just under 1/4 tank of fuel in there etc.

Remind me again, why do we both renting with reputable firms? Ah.........

 

[Amanad78]

Ìf you have 2 drivers (?), I would rent a car from the friend at the hotel, drive both cars to Sousse, have lunch in Sousse/explore, then drive back in the 1 car.
Hopefully get a refund from Budget in Sousse. If not, claw back from your credit card provider when you return home. Take pics of the condition of the car, faults etc.
Good luck, hope it works out.

 

[Flashback]

Ìf you have 2 drivers (?), I would rent a car from the friend at the hotel, drive both cars to Sousse, have lunch in Sousse/explore, then drive back in the 1 car.
Hopefully get a refund from Budget in Sousse. If not, claw back from your credit card provider when you return home. Take pics of the condition of the car, faults etc.
Good luck, hope it works out.

Mrs FB hasn't driven in over 10 years so probably not an option unfortunately!

 

[Quickstatus]

One of my cars has had a check engine light for 5 years.

 

[drron]

And our rental in Spain had that come up. Still able to drive 1000Km after. But we did check in person with the agency and it was a new car.

 

[Flashback]

And our rental in Spain had that come up. Still able to drive 1000Km after. But we did check in person with the agency and it was a new car.

I wish this was new, it's a bucket of bolts and has 128k on the clock. Not what you expect from a company like that. It's why I paid extra rather than going for an unnamed local company! Lesson learned I suppose... Give the locals a try.

I hope Corporate gives them a wrap on the knuckles for breaching their rules, but unlikely.

 

[Pushka]

We had the Check Engine light come on just before Christmas. Was still drivable. First generic service place couldnt see the issue but warned it could be the catalytic converter, as the light usually meant there was something wrong with gas emission. We did drive it for perhaps another week until we could book into a VW service centre where the converter was replaced and it's all good now. The risk is that it could suddenly lose all acceleration but as I said we drove it for some time (a week or so) without having it fixed.

 

[drron]

Budget is owned by Avis. i personally would never rent from them. part of the reason apart from cost that I don't use Avis any more.
I had a problem with budget whilst working in Tasmania. they billed me instead of the agent I worked for. Actually reached the manager for Budget by email who replied if i kept complaining he would ban me from ever getting a Budget rental and that would mean no Avis vehicles as well. eventually an apology but I have instituted that ban anyway.

 

[tgh]

A no win situation , if you ignore the light, the car may die and they will blame you.
Probably worth doing some simple checks.. oil water etc..
In that part of the world it is likely to be dirty fuel and will require a filter change and a flush.
If there is another hire option nearby I would probably dump the car and tell them to come and get it.. let the insurers fight out who pays

 

[Kerrodt]

I would be reaching out to the Budget Head Office/European or Regional Office or whatever there is that exists in the organisation a few levels above the people who gave you this lemon of a car. I am suspicious about the credibility of the person who rented you the car and I'd suspect that you are at the end of a scam (rent you a bomb of a car that Mr X owns - rather than Budget as owner - charge you in cash, pocket the cash, use Budget paperwork that never enters the Budget system, ignore complaints and make threats when the hapless renter complains that their car is malfunctioning.).

Use social media (twitter, facebook) and take pictures of what you have - especially the age of the car - and tag these guys and tell them that you want a response.

BTW - next time, do a walk around and interior inspection of the vehicle and if it isn't up to standard (clearly this one doesn't seem to be) reject it on the spot. Don't drive out thinking it will all be OK.

 

[ZigZagWanderer]

One of my cars has had a check engine light for 5 years.

I had this once. I checked. The engine was definitely there!

 

[ZigZagWanderer]

Budget is owned by Avis. i personally would never rent from them. part of the reason apart from cost that I don't use Avis any more.
I had a problem with budget whilst working in Tasmania. they billed me instead of the agent I worked for. Actually reached the manager for Budget by email who replied if i kept complaining he would ban me from ever getting a Budget rental and that would mean no Avis vehicles as well. eventually an apology but I have instituted that ban anyway.

I refuse to use Avis because two of their staff quite deliberately caused me to 'forget' a package on the passenger seat, quite deliberately bringing me my cap (it was a UK winter) instead of leaving it for me to get from the car.

I realised in the lounge, and phoned Avis. No real response. Emailed too with full details. Response was merely "there was nothing in the car". So quite obviously stolen. Complained, they ignored it.

Lost my custom forever.

 

[MARTINE]

A no win situation , if you ignore the light, the car may die and they will blame you.
Probably worth doing some simple checks.. oil water etc..
In that part of the world it is likely to be dirty fuel and will require a filter change and a flush.
If there is another hire option nearby I would probably dump the car and tell them to come and get it.. let the insurers fight out who pays

I agree
I would tell them it has died and they need to collect it; every company has a policy for this. You have needed to get away early so had to rent another, Then I would put a lock on the credit card you paid with (sounds dodgy as hell) so they dont play games with it. Just make sure hotel guys friend is trustworthy.

 

[Flashback]

Budget is owned by Avis. i personally would never rent from them. part of the reason apart from cost that I don't use Avis any more.
I had a problem with budget whilst working in Tasmania. they billed me instead of the agent I worked for. Actually reached the manager for Budget by email who replied if i kept complaining he would ban me from ever getting a Budget rental and that would mean no Avis vehicles as well. eventually an apology but I have instituted that ban anyway.

Funnily enough also had issues with Avis in Tassie (they wouldn't give us the hybrid we paid for, only a non-hybrid model); minor issue in the grand scheme of things but still an annoyance.

A no win situation , if you ignore the light, the car may die and they will blame you.
Probably worth doing some simple checks.. oil water etc..
In that part of the world it is likely to be dirty fuel and will require a filter change and a flush.
If there is another hire option nearby I would probably dump the car and tell them to come and get it.. let the insurers fight out who pays

Yes, exactly - bit of a no win situation here really. Have checked the oil, water, etc. and all looked OK. At the hotel they had 4 guys come out (they're really trying to help!) who did some checks and also came to the same conclusion, one also has the same model car.

Options are few are far between here which doesn't really help. When I spoke to Corporate I suggested the same too and he said I retained responsibility until it was delivered back to the location I rented from ....

I would be reaching out to the Budget Head Office/European or Regional Office or whatever there is that exists in the organisation a few levels above the people who gave you this lemon of a car. I am suspicious about the credibility of the person who rented you the car and I'd suspect that you are at the end of a scam (rent you a bomb of a car that Mr X owns - rather than Budget as owner - charge you in cash, pocket the cash, use Budget paperwork that never enters the Budget system, ignore complaints and make threats when the hapless renter complains that their car is malfunctioning.).

Use social media (twitter, facebook) and take pictures of what you have - especially the age of the car - and tag these guys and tell them that you want a response.

BTW - next time, do a walk around and interior inspection of the vehicle and if it isn't up to standard (clearly this one doesn't seem to be) reject it on the spot. Don't drive out thinking it will all be OK.

I've already done that, raised a complaint etc. and they "might look into it", "if they decide they need any more information they'll be in touch". Yeah, right! Fob off if I've ever seen one. I might try the Social Media thing after I've left here, don't want to push things too hard and then have this guy make life difficult when I drop it off (assuming we make it ). I did do a walk around (lots of dents, scratches etc. all over; I took a video as you can't really levy any new damage when it's already so battered!), the interior was extremely dirty/not clean etc. Unfortunately rejecting on the spot wasn't an option. Single flight arriving, Budget didn't even have a booth/desk, there wasn't a "row of cars" sitting there.

It was really a take it or leave it situation. You can't get TND (Tunisian Dinar) outside the country and the ForEx booth was also closed/shut. So our option would have been to walk into town (bit of a hike...) or maybe try and plead with a taxi to drop us to a hotel and then get the hotel to pay them/we pay the hotel back. It really is part of the fun of renting in a place like this!

The desolate airport upon arrival.

The scam artist at work (after having already duked it out for 15 minutes re: cash vs card)

Our quality spare tyre (to match the quality ones on the vehicle itself......)

Fuel level on pickup

Engine looks in pretty good nick and well kept, no?

I agree
I would tell them it has died and they need to collect it; every company has a policy for this. You have needed to get away early so had to rent another, Then I would put a lock on the credit card you paid with (sounds dodgy as hell) so they dont play games with it. Just make sure hotel guys friend is trustworthy.

Not as simple I don't think when you're dealing with franchised/agency run locations vs corporate and just another headache to have to worry about. Think we're going to have to just take our chances and keep driving and hope it holds out. Going to take the non-toll roads (actually similar time / shorter distance that going the toll road route) because then it means we're constantly driving through towns (better chance of at least there being a garage) so more options if it does conk out. We have a local SIM so that gives us options for phone calls etc. too.

 

[Pushka]

Funnily enough also had issues with Avis in Tassie (they wouldn't give us the hybrid we paid for, only a non-hybrid model); minor issue in the grand scheme of things but still an annoyance.

Yes, exactly - bit of a no win situation here really. Have checked the oil, water, etc. and all looked OK. At the hotel they had 4 guys come out (they're really trying to help!) who did some checks and also came to the same conclusion, one also has the same model car.

Options are few are far between here which doesn't really help. When I spoke to Corporate I suggested the same too and he said I retained responsibility until it was delivered back to the location I rented from ....

I've already done that, raised a complaint etc. and they "might look into it", "if they decide they need any more information they'll be in touch". Yeah, right! Fob off if I've ever seen one. I might try the Social Media thing after I've left here, don't want to push things too hard and then have this guy make life difficult when I drop it off (assuming we make it ). I did do a walk around (lots of dents, scratches etc. all over; I took a video as you can't really levy any new damage when it's already so battered!), the interior was extremely dirty/not clean etc. Unfortunately rejecting on the spot wasn't an option. Single flight arriving, Budget didn't even have a booth/desk, there wasn't a "row of cars" sitting there.

It was really a take it or leave it situation. You can't get TND (Tunisian Dinar) outside the country and the ForEx booth was also closed/shut. So our option would have been to walk into town (bit of a hike...) or maybe try and plead with a taxi to drop us to a hotel and then get the hotel to pay them/we pay the hotel back. It really is part of the fun of renting in a place like this!

The desolate airport upon arrival.
View attachment 314037
The scam artist at work (after having already duked it out for 15 minutes re: cash vs card)
View attachment 314038
Our quality spare tyre (to match the quality ones on the vehicle itself......)
View attachment 314039
Fuel level on pickup
View attachment 314040
Engine looks in pretty good nick and well kept, no?
View attachment 314041

Not as simple I don't think when you're dealing with franchised/agency run locations vs corporate and just another headache to have to worry about. Think we're going to have to just take our chances and keep driving and hope it holds out. Going to take the non-toll roads (actually similar time / shorter distance that going the toll road route) because then it means we're constantly driving through towns (better chance of at least there being a garage) so more options if it does conk out. We have a local SIM so that gives us options for phone calls etc. too.

Looks like our hire car in UK where the oil light came on. We checked, it was completely empty. Filthy engine block too. It wasn't a leak as once we filled it up it stayed full. Likely never seen a service.

 

[Flashback]

Look, don't get me wrong either ... I know that TIA and I should expect such things. But... What really irked me yesterday was being at El Jam and seeing a Budget rented car (they have the logo on the back right of the boot printed/stamped on) and it would have been around 2 years old tops!

Such is part of the fun and this is why we do not these things, to expand and broaden our travel horizons. It's all part of the experience.

I do a lot of work all over Africa so know what to expect, there's no point getting angry and you just have to roll with the punches

 

[Forg]

I had this once. I checked. The engine was definitely there!

Apparently in Skodas they have a Czech Engine Light … also apparently, that’s a condition to look out for.

 

[tgh]

Easy for me to say to say and you are, of course, not zactly a beginner .. but I never arrive anywhere off the beaten track and expect to walk into the wheels.. alway allow a night a taxi and a bed...
I have been messed about something terrible by back yarders / low level franchises...hiding under a multinational badge.
It always happens to me in the middle of the night when the flight is late, the luggage is slow, the rental desk is crowded and short staffed... and the hotel is 50k away….

 

[Flashback]

Easy for me to say to say and you are, of course, not zactly a beginner .. but I never arrive anywhere off the beaten track and expect to walk into the wheels.. alway allow a night a taxi and a bed...
I have been messed about something terrible by back yarders / low level franchises...hiding under a multinational badge.
It always happens to me in the middle of the night when the flight is late, the luggage is slow, the rental desk is crowded and short staffed... and the hotel is 50k away….

Well at least there was a rental desk! Sounds very luxurious

Ours took phone calls to 3 different numbers via a daisy chain approach to get someone who knew how we could collect the car... By then the airport had cleared out. Ghost town indeed.

 

[Quickstatus]

Engine looks in pretty good nick and well kept

there is an engine, so at least that part of the contract is fulfilled. At least Budget/Avis unlike Hertz don't report their customers to the police accusing them of grand theft auto.

it was completely empty.

You seem surprised?. It's actually not unusual. See here