Fri, Apr 23, 2010, The New Paper
By Lester Ho and Danson Chong
SOME people like their rental cars so much, they do not want to return it. In one case, a customer even attached fake licence plates to his rented Toyota Vios to mask its identity.
A check with six rental car companies here showed that it is not uncommon to encounter customers who do not return their rented cars.
They said they each have five to 10 such cases every year.
The manager of a rental car company, who gave his name only as Mr Wong, told The New Paper that a customer rented a Vios for $70 a day on April 9.
The 41-year-old, who was supposed to return it after three days, called to ask for a one-day extension. But he did not return the car when the time was up. He also did not answer calls from Mr Wong, who then mobilised his staff to keep a lookout for the missing grey car. Some of them came across the car at a Sultan Place carpark last Wednesday.
Mr Wong, 32, said: “We saw someone who looked a lot like him (the customer), but we did not approach the car then.”
What threw them off was that the number plates were different. But they suspected it was the right car as it had similar scratches.
A staff member showing the fake and original license plate.
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That same day, Mr Wong’s company lost a BMW 5 Series after a customer failed to return it.
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Mr Wong agreed to rent out the car(BMW) for $800, with a deposit of $500, but only under the condition that the car be returned by 8pm that day.
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Mr Wong: “Losing a car is a major inconvenience for us.”
“Firstly, we still have to pay for the instalment of the car. Secondly, we’re not getting any income which can be generated by renting out that car to a paying customer. Thirdly, there’s someone out there using the car for free.”
$2,000 reward
That is why one rental car company is offering a $2,000 reward for information on one of its cars, a Toyota Axio. It placed a newspaper notice on Friday.
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Mr Jeffrey Ee, 54, the general manager of Alpine Car Rental, said the car had been stolen while it was rented to a customer on a long-term contract basis.
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Mr Ee: “The police told me the car didn’t even go under any ERP gantries. Usually, if hirers don’t return the car to us, we can try to track them down from the summons. But this time there’s been nothing.”
Mr Ee claims his loss is about $30,000.
“The customer would have to take some responsibility, but it’s unlikely we’re going to recover the full cost,”
“If there’s no news I’ll put up another notice this week. I’ll gladly pay the $2,000 to get my car back.”
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Tags: fake licence plate, stolen, vehicle lost
