Rent-A-Wreck

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Bring your own lug nuts? Two lug nuts on a front wheel?? No jack or tire tools in the trunk?? Sounds like a plan! How do these jerks stay in business? The "junk yard dog" who answers the phone claims he has no cars available, and claims he's all booked up. Apparently, that's because the one or two that start are out on the road?? Every time I have driven by this business , the yard seems to be full of 'demolition derby' cars-- (go figure)-- Don't rent a wreck at your own risk or waste your money. Rent a car that safe to drive even if it costs a few bucks more. Don't be "jacked around" by these lug nuts.

We recently rented a minivan from Rent a Wreck Bangor to take our son to college. We had 12 hours of driving followed by a 8 hour ferry ride and another 2 hours' drive to get there (and then a return trip) The ferry had been reserved almost 2 months in advance. We drove 6 hours the first day without any problems. On day two, we noticed that the vehicle was making a noise when my husband accelerated. As we drove, the noise became more noticeable, but we couldn't stop - we were booked on the ferry that evening and had to get there. We made it and spent the night crossing to Newfoundland.



At 8am next morning we were back on the road - we had to get to our destination, unpack my son's belongings and be back at the ferry terminal by 9pm. About halfway to our destination, what had started as a noise when we accelerated had mushroomed into a constant loud noise and a vibrating steering wheel. We pulled over into a small parking area alongside the highway. My husband checked the tires. The front driver's side wheel was missing two lug nuts - rusty stubs were all that were remained. The other lug nuts were so loose he could have spun them off with his fingers. He checked the back of the vehicle. No tire iron, no jack, no spare - nothing. My son went over to one of the two other vehicles parked in the lot and asked if they had a tire iron. Thankfully, they did and loaned it to us. We tightened up the three remaining lug nuts and got back on the road, got my son to school and got back to the ferry terminal that evening, on time.



We made it back to Bangor, and when my husband returned the vehicle he was quite upset. The franchise owner flat out told him that all the lug nuts were in place when the vehicle left the lot the day we rented it! He then stated that they'd recently replaced the tires on the van, and if there was an issue, it would be the fault of the garage that they hired to do the work, and not his responsibility! (A bit contradictory?) He also told my husband that we should have called - how could he do anything if he didn't know something was wrong?



-We were in Canada - the '24-hour emergency number' is only good in the U.S.

-This happened over the Labor Day weekend - the Bangor location was closed.

-We were sent off in a vehicle that had no jack, spare or tire iron - according to Rent a Wreck corporate these should have been in the vehicle.

-We were rented a vehicle that was not roadworthy. Contrary to what the franchise owner stated, there is no way that two properly tightened lug nuts spontaneously sheared off while we were traveling - and from the rusty condition that the posts were in, it was evident they'd been that way for a while. Plus, the other three nuts were never tightened properly.



What could have happened at any time is that the three remaining nuts could have snapped or popped off from the increased force that was being placed on them, and the wheel would have fallen off the vehicle. In fact, given the increasing noise and wheel vibration, it was just a matter of time before that happened. If this took place when we were traveling at 60+ miles per hour, we could have lost control, gone off the road or into oncoming traffic and been seriously injured, or killed.



In my experience, this owner does not care about the safety or the lives of his customers, based on the condition that this vehicle was rented out in. It should not have been put on the road. My question is, who but the franchise owner should be ultimately responsible for ensuring that the vehicles he rents out are roadworthy? If the owner states he isn't, I guess it becomes a case of 'rent at your own peril', which is, unfortunately, exactly what we did. I did take photos of the vehicle and the wheel.