GPS Keeping Tabs On Car Rentals...(Yikes...)

[SoCalDem]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/06/eveningnews/main604461.shtml

GPS Keeping Tabs On Car Rentals

SAN MATEO, Calif., Mar. 6, 2004



“He just slipped me the bill and said you were charged and additional $1,400. . .It does feel as though you’ve been spied on.”
Ron Lee



(CBS) Travelers renting a car from a California company called Pay Less might well expect to pay less. Ron Lee, however, paid more — a whole lot more.

“At the very end he just slipped me the bill and said you were charged an additional $1,400,” says Lee.

The car was supposed to cost $150.00 with free unlimited mileage. Instead, the company charged Lee a dollar a mile.

Ron Less tells CBS News Correspondent John Blackstone that the total went from $150 to more than $1700. Pay Less said Lee was charged extra because he violated the contract by taking the car out of California — fine print he missed when he signed the car out.

snip.....

[stevedeshazer]

1. What's next?

A GPS chip in your ass?

Bye, bye privacy.

This is another scary line from the article:

Within ten years, the GPS industry predicts, every car on the road is likely to be equipped with a tracking device.

Pretty sure my 85 Honda doesn't have one. It's lasted almost 20 years. This may put a premium on older cars in the future. Unless states mandate GPS installation on older vehicles such as many areas have regarding emissions control.

[Occulus]

19. Check out RFID chips.

MUCH scarier stuff than GPS.

[MikeG]

31. GPS Jammers.

[RC]

2. That should have been in the verbal when he got the car.

"...he violated the contract by taking the car out of California"

[rocktivity]

14. Right, RC--I've never heard of a car rental co. keeping THAT a secret.

When I lived in New York City and downtown Jersey City, I rented at least once a month. Once I was told I could only drive in NY (no problem because I was going to anyway). A couple of times I was told I could only drive in NY, NJ and CT (ditto). And once I was asked if I might be driving outside of NY or NJ (I was allowed to, but they needed to know because it required a different kind of insurance). The point is, of course, that each time I was TOLD. An honest car rental company would have verbally informed the driver that he was subject to GPS tracking, that he could not take the car out of state, and what the penalty would be if he did.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Muddleoftheroad]

22. Probably was

Every time I've rented a car, they've asked me that.

[shanti]

28. that's just it

they ASKED you if you were planning to take the car out of the state. of course, if someone is planning to, but wanted to keep it on the downlow, they will say no. what they SHOULD have told him was the penalty for doing so...."IF you take the car out of california, yada yada".

[Muddleoftheroad]

29. Signing a contract

When you do so, you should read it first.

[lastknowngood]

3. They also have computers in the new cars which monitor your

speed as well as getting ready to put gps in all cars. A convince that will allow the government to track your every move and upload info about your speed and such to fine you. Sounds like fun not!

[SoCalDem]

4. And there will be a law against "disabling" them

That is a given..

It's a brave new world indeed :(

BUT.. it will be sold to us as a "safety" feature in case you are carjacked.. People are afraid of their own shadows, so they will say.. "Thank you, master"..and accept it

[drthais]

5. oh god

this is why I think 'OnStar' in new autos
is the work of Satan

so what if you get a flat tire?
I'd rather change it myself
than have the Govt know where the hell I am!

[shanti]

24. the ultimate 'big brother'

sucks too...

[CoonDawg]

6. Nothing new here.

I read in a Motor Trend article that the govt. would like to make computer driven highways where the whole control is taken from the driver. Bad idea.

Also, I know that the US govt. has been screaming for "black boxes" in commercial vehicles. As a driver, I find this way too intrusive a move for the govt. to make. It's one more way that the federal govt. has a plan to run our lives.

Ern

[mike1963]

8. Ya got that right Ern! Welcome to DU!

:D

[bearfan454]

23. Welcome to DU

Now you can get the REAL news.

[shanti]

25. actually

that would be kind of cool. i've often thought of that myself. i could drive from sacramento to los angeles in the comfort of my own car and not even need to touch the steering wheel, brake, or accelerator.

[SoCalDem]

27. There was a prototype of that very thing

at the 1939 world's fair in Chicago.. The highways of the future...

We could sure use it now ..:(

[BiggJawn]

32. And if your OnStar monitor heard something seditious...

The car would just drive it'self to Arschloch's "Re-Education Center" and you'd find that none of the controls worked.

Almost as scary as having the pilot come on "Ladies and Gennelmen, this is your Captain...Do you know Jesus?"

[truthisfreedom]

17. all the more reason to buy and drive vintage, collectible cars.

and stay off the grid.

[freeforall]

7. Very glad to acknowledge that

I bus it everywhere, walk, or ride a bike. For longer trips, there's always the Greyhound.

What's with these f***ing spies in our lives?

[FeebMaster]

9. So what's the problem?

The guy rented a car and violated a contract he signed.

I love all the responses above mine with people talking about GPS in new cars. What does all that have to do with this story exactly? The guy rented a car. He signed a contract. Doesn't the rental company have the right to protect their investment?

[buycitgo]

10. what are you, a lawyrer?

you'd need to rent the car an extra day to read/interpret all the fine print in one of those contracts

when's the last time you read one all the way through?

no way they'll be able to sustain a dollar/mile charge if he disputes the charges

why don't you represent him?

sue for PandS

that is, if you can pry yourself away from that ambulance bumper long enough to file

[FeebMaster]

11. Only an idiot signs a contract

without reading it.

And no, I'm not a lawyer, but I certainly know better than to sign my name to something I haven't read.

[RC]

12. So, you are saying you are going to take the 20 minutes or so

and a magnifying glass and read for comprehension the whole contract? I somehow don't think so.

[FeebMaster]

13. I doubt the contract was a book.

It was probably a few pages long, at most. I would certainly read it before signing.

[rocktivity]

15. According to the article

...Altogether the contract is three pages long, with so much fine print that it’s best to have a pair of glasses and plenty of time.

...Lee drove from San Francisco to Las Vegas, then to Los Angeles and back home...

I have NEVER seen a car rental contract that was more than one page long, and the rental agent ALWAYS explained each part of it to me. But why WOULDN'T you ensure that your customers know that your cars cannot be driven out of state? Because GPS gives you the perfect price-gouging scam? Or because you don't want people taking their business elsewhere, as Mr. Lee surely would have done if he had been told up front? I think he has an excellent case for consumer fraud.

:headbang:
rocknation

[FeebMaster]

16. The man signed the contract

and is bound by the terms regardless of whether he read it or not.

[Occulus]

20. Precisely the reason why

I insist upon reading ALL of the fine print, right then and there... preferably while a line forms behind me. And no, nobody gets to go next while I read.

If they're going to present me with a contract that long, I'm damn well going to make it bloody inconvienient for them and everyone else. I hope I cost them business.

Of course, afterward I reward them with a verbal push to call their congressman if they don't like what just happened. It usually strikes a chord.

[daleo]

18. I guess he has to pay, having signed the contract

But I am sure the company will lose more in bad publicity than the extra money is worth to them. I know I wouldn't rent from a company that kept that salient fact from me (yeah, nailing someone on the small print is legal but it doesn't exactly get you repeat business).

[TexasProgresive]

21. GPS rental car redux

This incident is a repeat of a case in Connecticut a few years ago. The rental company charged a man quite a lot of money for speeding while driving in NY state. I forget the details but somehow it ended up badly for the rental company.

GPS and I suppose RFID (is that cell phone locater?) are the tip of the iceberg for a controlled society. The technology is put in place for reasons that are innocent on the face but then are put to sinister purposes. Southwestern Bell put GPS on their technicians trucks for reasons of efficient dispatch and safety-managers then proceeded to discipline techs for being out of route or speeding. On-Star and other like systems have a built-in cell phone which have been misused by the FBI to bug conversations in the car. It won't be long and we will be caught up with Orwell's "1984." Soon I imagine that currency will have security devices implanted that will track the use of cash. Welcome to a brave new world.

[shanti]

26. it's already been done....RFID

'Soon I imagine that currency will have security devices implanted that will track the use of cash.'

[number6]

30. I saw that, what will conservatives think when Government

does it, will they wake up to Bushes police state ???