A condition lawmaker is asking Charleston airport officials to examine the practices of automobile rental companies following he was billed much more than $21,000 for motor vehicle problems he said he by no means triggered.
“If there was that substantially harm, I would’ve had to have a flatbed truck to provide it back,” S.C. Rep. Wendell Gilliard of Charleston claimed April 21, when he tackled the Charleston County Aviation Authority about the incident.
An airport camera recording confirmed Gilliard returned the Lincoln MKZ in what he known as “mint issue” in January, and an Avis Finances Team worker then took the car or truck out for what the legislator known as “a pleasure trip” that resulted in damages.
Rep. Wendell Gilliard, D-Charleston, is in search of improvements to rental car companies’ restrictions soon after an incident at Charleston Worldwide Airport. File/Brad Nettles/Personnel
Due to the fact Gilliard was the final recorded driver of the vehicle when it was returned, he been given the invoice for the wrecked motor vehicle a couple weeks later.
“I just about went mad,” he claimed. “I was so irate.”
He at some point received it straightened out, but not prior to staying harassed to shell out up or risk his credit score score remaining adversely afflicted.
“It was like preventing a lion,” Gilliard reported.
Just after reviewing the video proof, the New Jersey-centered rental auto organization fired the worker.
“Avis Spending budget Group terminated the employment of the personnel responsible and has apologized to Rep. Gilliard for the billing mistake,” a rental vehicle spokeswoman advised The Post and Courier.
“We have reviewed the unconventional and one of a kind conditions that led to this error and our procedures, and have carried out a review of process improvements to prevent a very similar oversight in the future,” the company agent reported.
The rental vehicle business did not say if the former staff would have to fork out for the damages.
Gilliard is not the only one who was caught up in remaining charged by the rental automobile organization to shell out for damages that the renter was not dependable for.
Whitney Borreson dropped off an Avis rental at the airport on Jan. 24, three days ahead of Gilliard’s incident. She reported it was cost-free of damage, but she later been given a monthly bill for approximately $2,800.
Borreson, who did not communicate at the meeting, stated in an e mail that she disputed the declare and it was dismissed.
Gilliard wishes the Aviation Authority to critique problems promises made by rental auto organizations running at the airport for the earlier five yrs.
“If you are renting out area to scammers, I am hoping there is something with disciplinary action,” he explained. “If we never do a little something now, the scamming and ripoffs will go on.”
The airport board thanked Gilliard for his remarks but did not comment on his ask for publicly.
“We make it a apply to comply with point out regulation and look at rental motor vehicle and licensing agreements and will decide our authority to look into the subject,” airport CEO Elliott Summey said immediately after the assembly.
Even though Gilliard is the public encounter of what he thinks could be a more substantial difficulty, he emphasized his request is about preserving the general public.
Gilliard has taken measures a move even more.
As a lawmaker, he has filed a invoice that necessitates rental automobile corporations to doc by means of video clip recordings the condition of a automobile when it is rented and returned. The invoice also calls for all signed documents and online video recordings to be kept on file for at the very least three several years.
He has also called for the Condition Law Enforcement Division to examine vehicle rental corporations.