Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Empire Rent-A-Car's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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Empire Rent-A-Car has 10 locations, listed below.

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  Empire Rent-A-Car

  3831 43rd St Long Island City, NY 11101-1537

• 

  Empire Rent-A-Car

  1850 Imperial Avenue N New Hyde Pk, NY 11040-4009

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  Empire Rent-A-Car

  1985 Bruckner Bvd Bronx, NY 10472-6548

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  Empire Rent-A-Car

  15-02 131st Street College Point, NY 11356-2423

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  Empire Rent-A-Car

  602 E Fordham Rd Bronx, NY 10458

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/01/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Accident occured 10/2/2023. I purchased the rental car companies insurance policy. I will not get my accident report until 30 days. They are telling me they are sending my claim to collections tomorrow on 11/2/2023 even though I explained i will not get my accident report until end of the month. They are not working with me even though I paid for their insurance. This company is committing a big time fraud.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/01/2023

  To Whom It May ************************ vehicle was rented by ***********************, ************* was listed as an additional driver. On October 2nd, 2023, ************* returned the vehicle with damages to the entire right side of the vehicle. See attached pictures. ************* stated that the vehicle was hit while parked which clearly was a false statement. When a customer is involved in accident as part of the terms of the rental contract, they must file a police report. The renter did not file a police report. 

  ************* is trying to file a police report over a month post-accident which would not be accepted. She then changed her statement that the vehicle was hit while parked to that she was driving the rental vehicle when the damages occurred.  I have attached the terms and conditions which are printed on the rental agreement jacket. The renter breached the terms and conditions of the contract therefore the insurance is **** and void and the customer is responsible for the damages to the vehicle. See attached repair invoice. Feel free to contact the undersigned if you have any further questions. 

  Regards,

  **********************;

  Claims Department 

  *********************

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/02/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************
  
  
  
   
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/28/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  This business is claiming that I did damage to a rental van that never happened during my time of renting the vehicle. 7k worth of damages they are trying to scam me for.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/29/2023

  To Whom It May *********************************** rented a vehicle on September 11, 2023, from our ************* location in Long Island. He returned the vehicle on September 18, 2023, at our ******* location in the Bronx after hours before the office was open. Our company takes pictures of the vehicles before they leave on rent and when they returned. 

  The vehicle was returned with damages to the roof, the rear light ripped off as well as the backup camera. The before and after date stamped pictures have been provided to the customer. Regardless of the proof shown to **************, he has denied that he caused the damages. He has been calling and emailing the staff with derogatory comments and statements. He has gone on our live chat calling the company employees names that I will not mention. Let's just say that they are not words that should be uttered by an educated individual. He has gone on a smear campaign online against our company. 

  I am attaching the before picture of the rear of the van and the after picture of the rear of the van as proof. The pictures are date stamped so that the customer cannot dispute the damages. As you can see in the picture dated September 11, 2023, the camera and rear light are attached. On the picture dated September 18, 2023, the light and camera are ripped off. It is standard practice to check the roof when said damage occurs. 

  This complaint is being filed in retaliation because a claim was filed against ************** insurance company for the damages to our vehicle. ************** has been informed that he is not allowed to contact the staff via email or phone however he continues to harass staff verbally on a daily basis. I hope this will resolve the matter at hand. If you require additional proof, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

  Regards,

  ***********************

   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/16/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  12/03/2021, This company is very seedy and fra*ds. I paid $495.81 to rent the ****** for a day. I was told that the car cost $150 a day to rent and another $150.00 for car ins*rance. Whole time I drove the car I tho*ght I had ins*rance. My stepda*ghter read the paper and seen that the employee lied and tricked me into signing a collision damage waiver which isnt ins*rance. This is why a small broken mirror all of a s*dden led to $4000 worth of damage and other add on damage that doesnt add *p to what Im seeing in the pict*re. This company go by 3 different names call bathgate car leasing, Bronx rent a car and empire rental. This company also have 3 different addresses which is ************************************************** and ********************************************************************************. I rented from the Bronx location so Im conf*sed to why so many different names and addresses. I ret*rned the vehicle the next day a little late and was charged $174.63 which i felt was $24 over priced of what I p*rchased. I was s*ppose to ret*rn the vehicle at 1pm b*t I didnt know how to read the time they had on the contract that says time d*e is ***** I ret*rned it aro*nd 2p.m. I felt that they co*ldve charged way less being that I wasnt 24 ho*rs late. The ****** mirror has broken b*t Im being charged/s*ed for $4000 on a j*dgment ssI proof income. They saying that the roof, b*mper, door and the whole van is broke b*t theres no proof of that beca*se it never happened. Empire or Bronx car rental is p*tting all these imaginary damages on me to get extra money o*t of me. Have I wo*ldve known that I didnt have ins*rance I wo*ldnt have never rented at that company. This company have many 1 star reviews beca*se of they dishonesty and treatment of they c*stomers. ****** trick * into signing a contract then **** * o*t the office to distract * from reading the contract then hope * crash knowing * have no ins*rance so they can s*e * for enormo*s amo*nts of money. Please dont waste yo*r time and money.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/30/2022

  We have been in business since 1970.  We are not seedy or fraudulent, as the customer states.  ********** on ************ that the customer rented from is just one of our locations.  Our main office is in *************, Long Island.  The name of our company is Empire Rent a Car.  The picture she furnished showing "Bronx Rent a Car" or "Bathgate Rent a Car" is not a name that we use.  That could have been generated by ******* not us.  We do not force anybody to take insurance if they have coverage either by their credit card or their own car insurance.  The base price of the vehicle does not include insurance.  She took the insurance, which was $69.95, not $150 as stated in her complaint.  Vehicles are rented on a 24 hour basis.   Again, she acknowledged such when signing the contract.  She initialed taking the insurance. When the customer returned the vehicle, it has damages on it.  Our claims department reached out to her, and it seems that someone else who was not listed on the contract drove the vehicle at the time of the incident.  ************* coverage does not carry over to a driver not listed on the vehicle.  She was in violation of the contract and no police report was obtained.  Our claims department explained all of this to her and she didn't want to hear anything about it, so we had no choice but to put this matter into suit for the full value of the damage.  ************* coverage was null and void once another person drove the vehicle and no police report was obtained.  We are more than happy to work things out with the renter if she would call our claims department.  Please see attached repair invoice for the damages, along with photographs depicting the damage.  It was not solely a mirror as the customer stated.  The whole passenger side of the vehicle was damaged and needed to be repaired.  Our office takes before and after pictures of all vehicles so there is document proof of any and all damages before the rental begins and once the vehicle returns.  Everything this customer has said in the complaint is false.  By no means was there any trickery or deceit.  Unfortunately you can't satisfy everyone.  Look at all of our positive reviews and that speaks for itself.