Car rental: $8,000 bill after allegedly driving 36,000 km

A woman who rented a car during her three-day stay in Toronto was surprised to be charged $8,000 when the company claimed she traveled 36,000 kilometers, nearly the circumference of the Earth.

CTV News reports that Vancouver native Giovanna Boniface rented a vehicle from Avis when she arrived at Toronto’s Pearson Airport to get her daughter settled in college.

In total, she says she traveled about 300 kilometers between downtown Toronto and Kitchener before heading back to Europe.

Mrs. Boniface paid about $1,000 in advance for the car rental. She noticed a problem when she wanted to verify whether her credit card had been debited.

“That’s when I noticed Avis charged over $8,000,” she told the outlet.

Looking at her receipt, she saw that the rental company had charged 25 cents per kilometer for the 36,482 kilometer run.

“The first thing I wanted to do was go back through security and go to the counter,” she said. “But I wouldn’t have had time to do it because the security lines were so long.”

The trouble was not over as it was almost impossible for Mrs. Boniface to join the hired company. With no answer at the counter in Toronto, a call to the usual number got no further.

“They didn’t seem to understand my problem and I really needed them to get that $8,000 charge removed,” she pointed out.

After trying to cancel the transaction with Visa, which was not possible because the transaction was still pending, Avis informed her a few days later that the additional charges would be refunded once the issue was resolved. It came in the media.

“The most frustrating thing is not being able to reach customer service in a reasonable amount of time,” she said.