Beware of Car Rental in St Marteen

[HCKMBA]

This past week there were 5 cruise ships in port and taxi's were hard to locate so we decided to rent a vehicle for the day. Nov 27th.

 

The only independent renter to have one vehicle left was Sun Coastal. Other legacy offices were all sold out.

 

Sun Coastal said they had one vehicle left so we took it. While completing the paperwork, this lady booked a second vehicle for $ 100 less for another customer. We were not offered the less expensive vehicle that appeared out of thin air.

 

We also purchased the waiver of deductible for insurance but the lady never mention a $800 deductible.

 

The icing on the cake was that when we returned the vehicle they noticed a small rubber piece behind the lower bumper cover was ripped. We did not hit anything on the road and since we did not catch this small defect when renting the vehicle, we were stuck. I said this slight damage was incurred by the party that had rented the vehicle prior to us.

 

They informed us of the large deductible and charged us $200. Had to swallow since we were in a different country and needed to get back to ship.

 

I would rate them as very low on the their business practices.

 

Beware !!!

[navybankerteacher]

If you rent from a local outfit, you take chances. Best bet is to reserve in advance with Hertz or Avis - and pay with an American Express card which you have programmed to cover deductible.

[Karysa]

This past week there were 5 cruise ships in port and taxi's were hard to locate so we decided to rent a vehicle for the day. Nov 27th.

 

The only independent renter to have one vehicle left was Sun Coastal. Other legacy offices were all sold out.

 

Sun Coastal said they had one vehicle left so we took it. While completing the paperwork, this lady booked a second vehicle for $ 100 less for another customer. We were not offered the less expensive vehicle that appeared out of thin air.

 

We also purchased the waiver of deductible for insurance but the lady never mention a $800 deductible.

 

The icing on the cake was that when we returned the vehicle they noticed a small rubber piece behind the lower bumper cover was ripped. We did not hit anything on the road and since we did not catch this small defect when renting the vehicle, we were stuck. I said this slight damage was incurred by the party that had rented the vehicle prior to us.

 

They informed us of the large deductible and charged us $200. Had to swallow since we were in a different country and needed to get back to ship.

 

I would rate them as very low on the their business practices.

 

Beware !!!

 

 

What did you pay for the vehicle if someone got it for $100 less? I think they saw you coming. The most that we have paid is $94 plus taxes when there were 7 ships in and that was from Hertz.

 

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. Costal gets really great reviews usually so I was surprised when I read your review. Next time you rent a vehicle just walk around the car with the salesperson and snap pictures with your cellphone. This will give you proof that the damage was done before you rented the car.

 

I would certainly write them an e-mail and see if you could get this sorted out. Let them know that you wrote a review on cruisecritic. You might be pleasantly surprised by their answer.

[gtaylor]

What did you pay for the vehicle if someone got it for $100 less? I think they saw you coming. The most that we have paid is $94 plus taxes when there were 7 ships in and that was from Hertz.

 

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. Costal gets really great reviews usually so I was surprised when I read your review. Next time you rent a vehicle just walk around the car with the salesperson and snap pictures with your cellphone. This will give you proof that the damage was done before you rented the car.

 

I would certainly write them an e-mail and see if you could get this sorted out. Let them know that you wrote a review on cruisecritic. You might be pleasantly surprised by their answer.

 

I saw this posted earlier and passed by it because I didn't know anything about 'Sun Coastal' but I think karysa is right that they must be talking about Coastal.

 

I've never rented from them, but they have very good reviews all over the Internet.

 

Good advice about taking the photos and making sure that the rental guys see you do it.

 

The most expensive day rental we've done was like $85 for a 7 passenger mini-van. To pay $100 more than any other vehicle offered is just crazy.

 

I've never heard of St Maarten running short of taxis. If anything the complaint on the island is that there are far too many taxi licenses issued. We've been on-island when there were 6 ships in port, and taxis seemed to be readily available.

 

gary

[gtaylor]

Too late to edit, but I took a look and both the Port of St. Maarten and the local newspaper report that there were only three ships on November 27.

 

Norwegian Sun, Celebrity Reflection and the Westerdam.

 

gary

[Keith1010]

If you rent from a local outfit, you take chances. Best bet is to reserve in advance with Hertz or Avis - and pay with an American Express card which you have programmed to cover deductible.

 

Excellent advice.

 

Keith

[navybankerteacher]

Too late to edit, but I took a look and both the Port of St. Maarten and the local newspaper report that there were only three ships on November 27.

 

Norwegian Sun, Celebrity Reflection and the Westerdam.

 

gary

 

This information, on top of the statement that OP paid $100 MORE than another renter for one day, makes me doubt the whole story.

[Karysa]

This keeps getting curiouser and curiouser.

[Fouremco]

This information, on top of the statement that OP paid $100 MORE than another renter for one day, makes me doubt the whole story.

As Coastal rates vary from $45 to $162, this is one of the few "facts" in this story that could be plausible.

[MIcruiser99]

I did an internet search for rental cars and came upon a site that was posting scams that car rental agencies in St. Martin were pulling on people and there was post after post of similar stories - usually some small damage was found and a large amount was charged to the credit card.

 

So, while this story seems suspect, I have read this in a different arena so it may happen.