Car hire in Estero, Florida

Quick, friendly. Great price.

Stay away! I booked a midsize SUV, when we got to the counter they had us in a small SUV for the same price. When we pressed for the car we originally booked we were told the price was almost double. They also have a bunch of hidden fees. Do not pay for insurance when you book online. We spent about an hour haggling with them for pricing and hidden fees, terrible experience. We canceled our reservation on the spot, walked away from the counter and did not rent with Fox. Also, they are not inside the airport, but provide a shuttle to their location.

First off, their “airport” location is a really a 5-minute shuttlebus ride off the grounds. Not a dealbreaker but in hindsight being banished offsite is symbolic of their minor league acumen. I will say the jovial shuttlebus operators are the only positive in this horror show of a story. Looking back at the check-in process, I realize some flags were raised even at this acquaintance phase. The lady at the desk was pleasant enough, perhaps due to some ingrained yet pervasive southern charm required when working a customer-facing job in the shithole that is the state of Florida. I had traveled for a family gathering, unconcerned about flashing wealth and therefore content with my reservation for an economy-sized car. “Oh no” the check-in lady says with a passive aggressive tone, “you’re much too large for a car that sized.” She had point - at 6’4” I am both blessed to be good at retrieving things from shelves yet cursed to likely die an earlier death than my average-sized counterparts. “No thanks”, I say, thinking to myself that if Florida is the land of short men overcompensating in lifted look-at-me trucks, I shall be their antithesis! However, this anthropomorphization of stiffing an overworked server after post-church brunch refused my declination and persisted. So I inquired, “how much” to humor her feeble attempts, knowing full well I didn’t care as I was only driving an hour each way to my final destination in the four days I would be here. However, her fishing trip to extract as much money from me as possible proved fruitful when she uttered the magic words, “would you like to purchase extra insurance”? Having been burned twice with returning rental cars damaged through no fault of my own, I gladly accepted the quote of “twenty dollars extra” which included the free upgrade she had previously tried so hard to upsell me seconds earlier. Note: this was the first mistruth. It was not “twenty dollars extra” it was twenty dollars extra PER DAY. I was handed the keys to a Nissan SUV and immediately my dreams of extending my 38-inch inseam from a Kia Sportage or similar and being the envy of all the short men in F750s in the Publix parking lot were dashed. In closing, the second shady business practice came into view. I was told that I was getting the car with a full tank a gas, and I didn’t have to return it full. I was pre-charged the cost of a full tank at Fox’s set pricepoint, and if I do decide to fill it before return, this amount would be refunded. I went to the parking lot to locate the noble steed that would accompany me for the next four days. What I found was a nag not fit for dog food. It was dinged, scraped, dented, and even emitted a curious odor from inside the cab. It all made sense now. This must be their go-to for suckers that wave the liability for vehicle damage. A car so beat-up if they rented it without the added insurance, it would take hours documenting the damage on the vehicle diagram on the rental agreement. It wasn’t until I had just left their lot that I realized I had about 5/6 of a tank of gas. Not enough to turn around and complain, but certainly not full. Four days later… I returned the vehicle, perhaps conditioned to habitually do so - with a full tank of gas. Seeing the shuttle in the lot with other outbound travelers boarding, I must of have looked in a hurry some 1.5 hours before my flight, as the women in the lot processing the drop-offs, said “if you’re trying to catch the shuttle, just grab your luggage, give me the keys, and we will email you your receipt.” “Thanks”, I said, and that’s exactly what I did. Curiously, when I received my emailed receipt the following day, the scope of their fraudulent practices came into my view. The receipt stated that I had returned the car THAT MORNING. Here I am, 900 miles from Ft. Myers, with a receipt saying I returned the car minutes earlier. Either I had a broken the laws of physics, I had a homunculus that spent an extra day eating grouper, or they were trying to pull a fast one over ol’ Bill. So I did what any person slowly questioning their own sanity would do – I called Customer Service! They were nice enough I guess, typically over compartmentalized and neutered, but nice. They explained their records showed I returned the car per the receipt. When I inquired about the pre-paid gas refund not appearing on the receipt, they told me their records showed I dropped it off with “half a tank”. WFT?? While on the phone, I provided both my boarding pass and receipt for gas at an nearby gas station. Unfortunately, nothing could be done at that moment as it would need to be escalated. I was told that if my issue was adjudicated in my favor, I would see a refund in my account in a few days. It took one more phone call to customer service four days later for that to happen. The moral of the story is: if FL is the America’s shithole, Fox Rent A Car Ft Myers is the bloody stool that apogees the mound and tickles your backside when you sit down in the dark.