christine I.
Don’t rent from Dollar in Novotel UAE — especially if you are a woman travelling alone.
Rented a car from the Novotel Dollar location. The local comprehensive insurance excludes rim and windshield damage which was a surprise to me, so even though I purchased comprehensive coverage, before driving away I took pictures of everything including close ups of rims. At car return the same clerk told me there was a tire rim scratch! I drove carefully and so was confident there was not a scratch that I made. I showed him the picture of the scratch already there at pick up. He said you didn’t tell me at pickup so it’s your fault! I said I didn’t notice it at pickup!! But neither did you and it’s there in a picture! He then proceeded to wave the form where damage is marked in my face saying there’s nothing on it! There was no damage! At this point my little kid started crying. I said I didn’t see you circling or not circling things on your form — you did not show it to me. Then he said you should not be taking pictures and how do I know it’s not a picture you took later! I said when “comprehensive coverage” is not comprehensive, wouldn’t you take pictures??? Also, all the pictures are time stamped and dated in iPhone and I told you I was taking pictures. After a prolonged argument the clerk admitted that the scratch was pre-existing, and the second clerk also said it is not my fault — but they said they may still charge me if more scratches are on car because the car needs a “manual wash”. The car was dusty at drop off but not to an extent where you wouldn’t see damage! So at this point it all started to feel like some kind of a scam where they don’t sign off on car being damage free to claim it was damaged later. I could not stay for the wash because they scared my little kid who was now really freaking out. I was getting scared and upset as well but thankfully the driver who was picking us up spoke the language of the clerk and tried to explain the situation. We walked away and I’m about to call the Dollar company, my credit card company, and the Abu Dhabi tourist authorities. Is this a scam targeting women? I don’t know, but a horrible experience that mats the whole vacation. In conclusion, if you are a man and do decide to roll the dice on this amoral place, take pictures of car at pick up and drop off and good luck to you. If you are a woman please don’t go here at all.



