Car rental manager spends 45 minutes chasing after customer who incurred $5K in damages
A sales manager at a car rental company apparently found himself chasing after a customer who racked up a $5,000 repair bill after returning a car with visible dents and a side view mirror hanging off.
MV Auto sales manager Darren Ang shared a video about the incident on July 27 on the @mcwell.mvauto TikTok account.
Speaking to Stomp, the 39-year-old said that one of their rental cars was involved in an accident on July 19 along Cairnhill Circle, and that the customer arrived at their office in Bartley at around 9.30am the next day to return the car.
While the damage amounted to $5,000, Ang said the customer was given the option to pay $450 per month over a 12-month period, with the extra $400 charged as an “additional fee”.
However, Ang claimed that the customer refused to sign the repayment plan, saying he did not have the money to pay the bill.
At around 2.45pm, he said the customer left the building to have lunch, with Ang following behind.
Follows customer around on foot
In the video, Ang pans the camera to a man in a green shirt and shorts, walking along a pavement, saying that he was “tailing him everywhere he goes”.
While walking, he says that the man had put illegal tints on the car, removed the dashboard camera, and gotten into an accident.
Ang proceeds to call the police while walking, filming the man and saying he had “no responsibility at all”.
“Why so difficult? You got into an accident, you pay the excess,” he says to athe man’s back. “I’m talking to you, bro. You think you can just run away from responsibility?”
Later, Ang runs after the man as the latter breaks into a sprint barefoot, while holding his slippers in one hand.
“We did not manage to catch him as he decided to go all jungle warfare and ran into the bushes at the back of the building,” Ang told Stomp.
Car rental manager urges customer to contact company
The video cuts to a clip of Ang back at the workshop, zooming in to the car fender which has a visible dent. A brown stain marrs the side of the car, and its side view mirror is shattered and taped back onto the vehicle.
“This is not worth your time, not worth my time. I spent the whole bl**dy morning all the way with you. We spent a good five hours together. Just because you were pondering your life,” Ang says, urging the customer to contact the company.
He adds that they were “not even asking (him) to pay it now”, but were merely requesting that he make payment of the first installment by the following month.
Company open to negotiation
Despite the 45-minute chase, Ang said the company was “open for negotiation”.
He also explained that the customer was charged $2,500 as an excess fee — the amount a renter is liable to pay when a rental car is damaged — as stated in the company’s terms and conditions.
Another $2,500 was added to cover the cost of damage to the vehicle and the fact that it could not be used for a week while insurance claims were processed.
Ang added that the car, a BMW luxury hatchback, is typically rented at $100 a day.
As the driver was between 23 and 26 years old, he was initially required to pay an additional $1,500, but Ang waived the fee.
Netizens suggest $5,000 bill is ‘expensive’
The video garnered over 85,000 views and mixed reactions in the comments section.
Some netizens commented that the $5,000 bill was “expensive”, while another suggested the amount was “considered average for a rental company”.
“Respect you bro for even trying to help him with an installment plan. Some rental companies would have taken advantage of the situation,” another netizen chimed in.
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