Payless Car Rental
2
Wow, where do I start? Well first, we obviously didn't read these reviews before reserving with Payless - BIG mistake. The first little hint of things to come came while waiting for the Payless shuttle at LAX. A Payless bus did eventually materialize, but only after about 20 minutes of waiting, during which time there were literally DOZENS of shuttles from Avis, Hertz, Dollar, Enterprise, et al, that passed us by. When we arrived at the rental place, we noted that there was no one manning the counter. Finally, someone appeared, but we still spent about 30 minutes in line (with only one customer ahead of us). It's a very... slow... operation - if you're in a hurry, you're in trouble. We were glad when all was squared away and we were able to head to the lot for our car, a minivan. Okay, how to describe this van. Hmmm. For starters, it had been keyed around the entire perimeter of the car. Upon closer inspection, we discovered a HUGE wad of gum stuck to one of the windows. There also appeared to be remnants of paint on the windows and body of the car. But the best was yet to come... the interior of this thing was beyond belief. My teenagers joked that it looked as though someone had been abducted and murdered in it. There were bizarre splatters on the ceiling and walls, dark, greasy fingerprints all over the visors (and, ominously, on the interior of the back gate, suggestive of someone trying to claw their way out of the car), there was... something (easily removed with a baby wipe) covering the steering wheel, and assorted stains over EVERY seat and upholstered surface. "Guess that stain" became a little pastime: Was it vomit? Blood? Something worse? A combo-platter of bodily exuviates? After checking out the only other minivans on the lot, we realized that all were equally disgusting and decided to take the car. My kids refused to sit on the seats, so we bought a roll of duct tape and taped over every stain. Once on the road, we discovered that the cup holders were filled with cigarette ashes and that there was garbage stuffed under the seats. Clearly, this thing had passed from one sucker to the next (us!) without ANY - and I mean ANY - maintenance or cleaning at all. Later discoveries: the front and back tires were mismatched, causing the van to "shudder" at high speeds, the center console was loose, the carpet in the front was coming up, the key sometimes stuck in the ignition, and the brakes gave off a strong burning odor. Oh, and it only had half a tank of gas. To it's credit, it didn't strand us anywhere, but that's about all I can say for it. When we returned the car (also at LAX), my husband commented to the employee giving it the once over, that it was the filthiest car he'd ever rented. "You got a complaint, take it to the manager," was the oh-so-helpful reply. After reading the other comments here, we will be scrutinizing our bill and, of course, NEVER renting from Payless again. Consider yourself warned!