Call Kurtis: His Driving Record's Clean, So Why Did A Rental Company Blacklist Him?
RANCHO CORDOVA (CBS13) - While on vacation in Long Beach, Rancho Cordova resident Tony Schollar tried to rent a car, but the car rental company turned him away.
Schollar was shocked and did not understand why he was not permitted to rent a car.
"Never got into an accident, never gotten tickets," he said.
Schollar says Enterprise Rent A Car blacklisted him.
"'Sorry we can't rent you a car, you're on our do-not-rent list,'" recalled Schollar.
He says Enterprise told him it's because he shared an address with a former roommate who owed them money. Schollar says the agent at the counter told him, "There's nothing we can do; you're just a liability.
Michael Becraft with rental car website Autoslash says individual rental car companies actually have do-not-rent lists.
"Corporations usually have very good evidence for putting someone onto this list," said Becraft.
He says people can get blacklisted for things like unpaid balances, a bad driving record, being belligerent with customer service and committing a crime in a rental car.
Becraft says, "That type of driver creates a lot of risk for the rental car company."
He says that he's never heard of a case like Schollar's, someone who was blacklisted just for sharing an address.
Schollar thinks it's not fair and it wasn't his responsibility.
"I'm guilty by association," he said, "I'm not a criminal; I didn't do anything bad."
We reached out to Enterprise which would not talk specifics about Schollar's case. After we got involved it said, "They have resolved the situation," and he's no longer blacklisted.
Becraft says the do-not-rent list this list is not shared industry-wide, it's kept by individual companies. But beware, he says many of these companies are under an umbrella company. For example,
Enterprise Rental Car also owns Alamo and National. Avis and Budget are a part of the same corporation.
