I found myself in a bind trying to rent a car in the SeaTac area, as nobody would rent out a car to someone with no credit card and a negligible credit score. That's what you get for trying to rent out a car on a Sunday, I guess.
Either way, the agent at one of the rental agencies who turned me down got in touch with an off-site place, Everyone Rents-A-Car, who said that they might be able to help me. For some reason, they couldn't pick me up from the airport. I had to take a cab there myself. I don't know, maybe I should have smelled a rat then, but I REALLY needed a car and I was out of options.
Second, the office for the rental agency was in a strip mall, and the office itself looked like a small home office. The woman who attended to me - very friendly - told me that the total charge for my one-day rental was $69.99. Fair enough, I've paid more for a similar length of time.
The car wasn't great, but it did its job and functioned well enough. Returned it without incident.
Until I looked at my bank statement and saw a withdrawal of $250. I called the office back, and was told that any number of charges that I had signed up for - and yes, my initials are right there next to everything - had accumulated to $250. This includes the $66.99 being for having the car for two calendar days (even though I returned it within 24 hours), insurance, even the shuttle ride back to the airport (which cost $30).
So yes, had I been more careful, I would have foreseen this coming. At the time, I desperately needed a car (and the car did its job). But hell, I could have just done a two-day rental from Enterprise and saved myself over $150.
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