Driver loses $3,000 deposit after car rental company accuses him of speeding

A man who had rented a luxury car was shocked when he found out that the rental company had forfeited his deposit, accusing him of speeding.

The Facebook user, who goes by the name Chris Walker, made a post on Wednesday (July 16) claiming that he was "scammed" of his $3,000 car rental deposit by the company. He transferred that amount on July 11. 

He added that he had shared his post as a warning to others.

According to the man, the dealer had used a GPS tracking history on the car to prove that he was going over 100km/h but there was no official record of any traffic offence. 

He had accepted the claim that he was speeding as he admitted it was "easy to exceed the speed limit when overtaking", the disgruntled customer wrote.

In the comments, he explained that the car rental contract did state that his deposit would be forfeited if he speeds, but he said he did not read the fine print.

"I'm okay to lose the money due to my negligence to read through. But just don't want others to fall for this scam," the man wrote.

Dealer's Carousell account fairly new

He added, however, that the contract was not valid as the NRIC number on it, supposedly his, was wrong.

It can be seen from the screenshots posted of the man's conversation with the dealer that the deposit was to be returned within two to three hours of returning the car, but he did not receive anything even after over eight hours.

The man posted pictures of the rental car in question, a Maserati GrandTurismo, which he said was last seen on Monday at an HDB car park in Serangoon North Ave 4.

A screenshot of the car rental dealer's Carousell account, which lists a similar car, albeit black in colour, for rental at $78 per day, was also included in the post.

A check on Carousell found that the account had only been created 13 days ago and has no reviews despite having four luxury cars listed for rent, including a Mercedes CLA 200 AMG Line for $70 a day and a Porsche 718 Cayman for $120 a day.

Checks by AsiaOne show that these prices are significantly lower than the rental rates for similar luxury cars offered by other companies.

AsiaOne tried to contact the car rental company through its listed number but calls were unanswered. 

Not the only victim

One netizen commented on the man's post that he had lost $1,200 in a similar fashion and had even gone to the police for help, but there was no resolution.

Another commenter also wrote about his friend's experience which was exactly the same, down to the car model and license plate number. The only difference was that the colour of the car had been blue at the time.

The Facebook user then said in the comments that he had spoken to another alleged victim, and they intend to file a police report.

Some netizens advised the man to reconsider going to the police, as it might result in him having to face consequences for his supposed speeding.

However, the man stood by his decision and repeated that he did not wish for others to face the same situation.

“This is why I posted here and made a police report,” he said.

AsiaOne has reached out to the Facebook user for more information.

ALSO READ: 'I trusted you': Former actor blasts car rental 'hooligan' after he's accused of defaulting on payments

bhavya.rawat@asiaone.com