From Highway 1 to the Grand Canyon Eastward

The car was handed over to us without any inspection. During the 41-day rental period, we had to return to the store twice due to vehicle malfunctions. The waiting time at the store was several hours, and the replacement vehicles were progressively older. The staff at the store had a very bad attitude!

The staff at the store had an extremely poor attitude. Their communication was very unclear, and they blamed the customers. They aggressively pushed services that were completely unnecessary, and their attitude worsened when customers refused. We are Chinese students studying in the USA, and the staff assumed that we would return to China after returning the car. This presumptive attitude made us extremely uncomfortable. Why should we be expected to return to China? Is it because you want us to leave and not stay in the USA? We suspect racial discrimination. Terrible service!

A very good experience!

About picking up the car. I rented from Dollar. The car was in good condition, but they secretly changed my Jeep Compass to a Nissan Rogue. After I complained, they switched it back. There was also an issue with hidden fees. They tried to make me buy liability insurance, claiming it was mandatory and illegal not to have it. This was totally false. Before going to California, I called my insurance company to check if my U.S. car insurance would cover the rental, and they confirmed it would. Dollar insisted I buy their insurance. I told them I had coverage and asked for it to be transferred, but they said it wasn't possible. The great thing about this rental service is that their SMS service told me that any mandatory charges had to be in writing. So, I asked the employee to write down and sign what insurance I needed to buy, and he backed off, saying it was optional. This guy was Indian, and his tactics had been reported by other customers. When dealing with him, stand firm and demand everything in writing with his signature; he'll give up on trying to overcharge you.

We initially chose Dollar because they had the lowest prices, likely due to a big promotional event. This made the place quite crowded, and we had to wait almost two hours in line for our turn. The representative who assisted us was a Chinese-speaking person, which made us feel at ease, but he was very persuasive in selling additional services. Although we had already purchased comprehensive insurance that included roadside assistance when we booked from home, the clerk mentioned that the assistance might only cover towing for 5-10 miles. This made it hard to decide on the spot, and for an additional $7 per day, we decided to purchase it. He also sold us a full-tank gas option, saying it would be convenient to return the car with an empty tank since gas prices in California were high. Perhaps due to the long wait and feeling hungry, we ended up buying this service too, adding another $89 to our bill. In hindsight, it wasn't really necessary, as we had to carefully plan our refueling to take advantage of this offer. When it was time to choose a car, most of the options were gone because of the crowd, and we couldn't get the Chevrolet Suburban LS SUV we wanted. We spent another half hour in the parking lot and eventually settled for a Nissan SUV. We had six people and a lot of luggage, so we had to fold down one of the rear seats to fit our 28-inch suitcase. Returning the car was similar; with our additional shopping bags, we had to fold down the third row completely to fit two 28-inch suitcases, two 24-inch suitcases, and one 20-inch suitcase, plus several large backpacks. It was a bit crowded with two adults and two children in the second row, but fortunately, the hotel was close to the airport drop-off point.