Smith’s Rent-A-Car

I went to rent a full sized SUV for my son and family yesterday; the agent told me the vehicle would be back on their lot by today at 2:00 pm. I never received a call from the agent that the people decided to keep the SUV another two days and did a bait and switch job on me. They tried to insist I rent a 12 passenger van. Never will I put my trust in this company again. This is what I call bad business!!!

My favorite spot to rent cars. Been here over a dozen times with only great service. Usually in and out within 10 minutes with my rental. The customer service is really friendly especially Maona, she always has a smile on her face and is always ready to help. She’s great so check this place out and support local business!

If you want to rent a vehicle with a scheduled pick up date; DO NOT USE THIS PLACE!!!
They called us the day of the pick up to tell us they won’t have the vehicle till the next day to two MAYBE. We had scheduled to rent (a month a head of time) a 10 seater van for a trip to LA.
We couldn’t wait a couple days out since everyone had planned on that day! If you only have 1 van, how can you not leave space between the rental dates or have a 2^nd van???
Thank goodness Enterprise came through for us.

Worst rental car place ever! Rude employees that don’t know the meaning of customer service. The lady who answers the phone is rude and unprofessional. They need to learn how to run a business and by looking at the reviews below I’m not the only person who feels this way. I USED to be a long time customer but after my last rental experience I will be going across the street to Enterprise where I know I will be taken care of. Never again will I go back here.

We rented a 12 passenger van to take my daughter and her friends tithe prom. We showed up to pick up the van… the arm rest was missing, it looks like it was spray painted on one side and to put it nicely the van was janky. I even went back in the office and asked if the van was salvaged. We took the van anyways because they didn’t have any other options. Needless, to say we found out that Reverse does not work in the van, check engine light came on and van is now broken down. Ruined the prom for the kids. can’t believe this place can send out these janky vehicles. Save yourself the disappointment and rent elsewhere! I have left several messages with no call back. If I could give zero stars I would have!

Beware!!! Customer service at the front desk, appaulling! After waiting for her to get through quickly shuffling calls she began my check in. They did not have the compact I reserved so I had to take the mid size which was a corolla small enough to be a compact car! I told them it would be an early drop off the girl says «yeah, its ok. Just drop it and the key and your deposit will be refunded that day. I held my end up and still no deposit. I called 3 times only to be told someone will call back and never dose. Fed up I call and ask for supervisor and get Anell. This chick is rachet! She is talking to me all sassy giving me their internal problems that they keep our credit/​debit cards on file so they charge my MasterCard refund to someones Visa. Now! At this point I have lost all faith in this buisness! Anell continued to yell and debate the mistake that was made. I shut her down and had to walk her through her job. She was unpleasant and left a funky taste in my mouth. She took my card number and hung up. I guess there will be no follow up once again! The worst part she has my card # and they have no security in place to prevent loss to the customer. I am in customer service if she worked for me she would be fired! She is probably hustling that money she seemed mad to be called out! Maybe a credit card it goes unnoticed not on my debit!
Shady employees is shady biz!
Next time I will use KIA and deal with kind approachable and real customer service reps, not burnt out nasty tired ratchet Santa Rosa woman! Who is making big mistakes that she did not catch!!! She is bad for audit! Worst front desk crew to have! NEVER AGAIN!

The WORST customer service I’ve ever encountered at a rental company. I’ve actually been a client of theirs for several years & I loved them at first! I loved supporting the «little guy» in a big business world, but time & time again for the last year, I’ve been disappointed in increments until this last straw. I have rented a certain vehicle for the explicit use of my business. Several times I’ve been promised the van to find that it wasn’t available when I went to rent it & a replacement was given. Fine. I realize things come up in an imperfect world. I rented the van once more for a business trip to Vegas. Before I left, I noted that the back tire was low & I let them know. They said that it was normal air pressure. After a long business trip in Vegas I went to leave the hotel & came to find that the tire had gone flat. This was not what I wanted to see before a 9 Hour Driveback home at 4pm in the afternoon. When I called Smith’s to see if they could call AAA to come out & help me they said just to find a tire company around & they would help me get it fixed. There was no tire company around. I had to take it to a gas station & hire a mechanic to come help me. I was never reimbursed. The last time I rented this same van was just a month ago. It was the last straw with Smith’s rental car. I picked up the van on Thursday afternoon, because I was going to be leaving at 3 AM Friday morning for an LA business trip. I had to be in LA at 9 AM for check-​in. At 3 AM when I went outside to start the vehicle, I found that I had no front lights, back lights or dash lights. I panicked. When I picked up the rental van on Thursday nobody told me that the lights weren’t working & since I had picked it up in the daytime I had no reason to check the lights. The rental company didn’t open until 8 AM, but that would be too late as I had to be in LA at 9 AM. The only thing that worked were the brake lights & the high-​beams, but only by me holding the high-​beams. Since I had invested $ 1500 for the expo that I was supposed to be at, I decided the only thing to do was to just leave & pray that I didn’t get pulled over. It was too much $ to lose. No other rental companies were open at that time and while I know I shouldn’t have driven, I was not in the position to lose the $ 1500 I’d paid to participate in the expo. I prayed to make it safely to LA. I called Smiths twice before leaving; 3AM & about 3:15 AM. I left very detailed voice messages. Nobody called me back that day. I called the next day. All I got was voicemail. I asked to speak to Jim the owner & he never called me back. I told him that I felt I wasn’t safe & had to cancel all of my business meetings at night in downtown LA because I couldn’t drive the vehicle that I’d rented. I ended up renting a hotel 1 extra night because I wasn’t able to drive the vehicle back after the expo due to it being dark out. Each night I had to drive the van 20 miles to my hotel room in the dark on the freeway. Frightening. The hotel cost me $ 135 extra Over my budget. When I drove the vehicle back to Smith’s rental car I told them that I wanted a full refund because I’d been such a good client over the years & because this wasn’t the first time that I’d been disappointed by their service & vehicles. The new staff lady actually laughed at me & told me «that’s not going to happen». I tried to speak to Jim for the next 3 days without a single call back from him. After 1 week from returning from my business trip I demanded to speak to somebody that could help me. They refunded half of my money back which negated the whole process. I have been a client of theirs for nearly 4 years. As a business owner I feel it’s my responsibility to make my clients happy so they keep coming back to me & to fix any & all situations that might occur due to my business. Smith’s rental company didn’t do that for me. I have been renting from them for several years at least once a month. I have had many times where they did not have a van ready for me or the wrong van ready for me but I always went with the flow. I have always brought the van back with a full tank of gas more so than what I left with. I have always supported them in leu of going to a bigger company, but when they couldn’t accommodate me on the one time that I felt was reasonable, I was furious. I felt like our business relationship had been squashed. I asked them why they had not done a check of the vehicle before I took it on such a long haul and The lady at the desk told me, «if it was unsafe you shouldn’t have driven it that’s your fault». I felt cornered because there was no other rental car company open at 3 AM in our area. I felt that since I paid full price in advance that I should’ve had a vehicle that was reliable and worked. I felt that they should have at least apologized for giving me a vehicle that wasn’t appropriate to drive. I will rent one more time from them for an upcoming business trip and then my relationship with them is over.

Wish I had been renting a car to go on a fabulous drive, but alas… a uHaul truck — to move a piano no less! Great customer service — really nice staff. Will be my go-​to for rental cars and heaven forbid… uHauls.

Looking for a Diaper Scented high milage rental car but don’t mind paying more than Hertz or Avis? Do non-​functional rear view mirrors, shaking suspension and steering wheel wobble put you in that «Driving Exhilaration» kind of mood? Than look no further than the friendly family at Smith’s. They are happy to charge you $ 69 for the finest «ready for auction» vehicles on the lot.
After expressing concern before leaving the lot about the over 120,000 miles on the car and requesting a lower milage version since I was driving through the mountains and back, I was told that the newer cars cost more and that I shouldn’t worry as their cars were all very well maintained. As my tow truck pulled away, I fantasized about chasing after it to catch a ride to a real business. After 4 hours of mountain roads on wasted suspension, baby poop scented air conditioning and a shaking steering wheel, I returned the car and told the manager again about the poor condition of the car (now being washed outside by her 12 year old daughter) and how miserable the cars condition was. She apologised and told me that the car was «ready to be junked or got to auction anyway»… Wow… I kindly asked for a refund, but was told only her manager can do that, and he would have to get back to me in a few days… He did not, even though I left my contact info.
There is no excuse for leaving a polite, understanding customer feeling cheated. There is also no excuse for underage child labor in a business that requires attention to customers safety. If this company is still in business by the time you read this, I humbly suggest you avoid placing your trust in them.
They get one star since they offered me a 5% discount if I would rate them on Unilocal.Money well spent!

My experience here was terrible from the beginning. We rented a non-​smoking car, which was just «repossessed» according to the sales rep… The car reeked of stale cigarette smoke and was attempted to be covered up by some gross strawberry odor eliminator, which resulted in the vehicle smelling like hot strawberry syrup laced with stale smoke. Not a pleasant odor to be traveling in for 700 miles.
Secondly, the contract was written to return the vehicle by 4pm on a Sunday. I showed up at 3pm, to find it had been closed at 2pm. So i was forced to come back and return it the next day. However, i was not charged for the extra day, but it was a time and sanity inconvenience. So, when i went to return the car and told the man there were no drop off instructions on the contract, the website, and no signage at the facility. He got pissed and we parted ways agreeing that we would never do business with each other again.

BEWARE! The manager has trained his employees to take advantage of customers. I have rented cars from at least 6 other companies and have never felt more taken advantage of in my life. Be sure to ask as many questions as possible including mileage restrictions, cash only deposit, etc. This company will attempt to have you sign their contract without going over all the fine print & restrictions. The car had so many issues, my fiancée and I were scared for our lives while driving due to the faulty alignment. If I had the option of leaving negative stars on this review I would. Please do yourself a favor and rent from another company.

Nice clean van! Easy pick up! Easy drop off! Fair prices! Would definitely rent a van again!!!

My wife and I rented a cargo van for the day to transport a piece of furniture we had purchased. The service was first-​rate and friendly. The price was the lowest around. The van was in good shape and worked well for us. We recommend them.

Excellent service at rock bottom prices.
I had excellent service both booking, picking up and handing back the car.
I researched renting a van, and ended up paying only $ 59 compared to U Haul, Avis and Entreprise who all wanted around 150 $ once you factor in milage, that was included up to 300 with Smith’s
Car was fine, and certainly better shape than the break down waiting to happen I got from U Haul the last time I rented with them.
I would go local again next time.

I find it funny that Lisa decides to write a reply to my Unilocal almost a year after the fact L-​OH-​L! Her response was:
Comment from Lisa W. of Smith’s Rent-​A-​Car
Business Owner 6÷25÷2013 This customer had rented from us once before in which she got a discount that was not approved by management. When she came to rent again, she wanted the same discount. Our customers all pay the same price and we do not provide special discounts for no reason. We do provide discounts for AAA members and schools. We have since had our employees input detail explanations in the computer when they alter any of our prices. Read less
She wrote this as if I had asked for a discount… it was her daughter/employee’s mistake and I ended up taking the hit for it. NOT COOL and VERY unprofessional! Of course I am going to ask for the same rate on the EXACT same vehicle I had rented ONE week before this. Oh and I had rented from them not once before as Lisa stated, but several times and I have not been back since this incident. I sent in a complaint to the BBB requesting a refund soon after and I was informed by the BBB that she ignored all attempts to reach her from them. Lisa you seriously need to learn some customer service, just because you own a business does not give you the right to treat people poorly! I still remember how irate you became and how you raised your voice at me. Perhaps it was in your daughters defense which I can understand, but shouldn’t all personal feelings be left at the door? I still would love my refund but I know that is wishful thinking because you seem to be completely about profit without caring of the outcome. Shame on you! If I could give zero stars I would but I am forced to select at least one star… a very undeserving star!

Very nice and helpful staff. Quick and efficient! Our business has had an account with them for years so we’ve had great experience every time, definitely recommend them.

I was seriously disappointed. They have the best price for a passenger van in the area no doubt ($ 129+tax 11ppl), but I guess you get what you pay for!
IN SHORT:
Frat Boy behind their counter was very rude. They don’t offer full insurance. The van was a bit worn and NONE of the power locks worked. No special instructions for dropping the vehicle off while they were closed for a holiday (no key drop box?). Would never use these guys again.
DETAILS:
I had said I wanted full coverage insurance when making my booking. I was told it was $ 24 a day. We arrived to pick up the vehicle, only to be told that Smith’s doesn’t offer liability insurance, and you MUST provide your own. WTF? Shouldn’t they have mentioned that when we made the reservation and asked for full insurance? «I didn’t make your reservation» Frat Boy says nonchalantly.
We decided to buy what insurance we could and proceed with the reservation, and Frat Boy demanded our liability insurance company name, policy number and expiration date. My driver didn’t have that info with him (as we were supposed to be purchasing full insurance after all!)… Policy # and expiry date are totally NONSTANDARD DEMAND FOR A RENTAL CAR AGENCY!
While my driver was outside on the phone with his wife trying to track down the insurance info, I asked Frat Boy how they can ask for something unusual like that and not even bother to tell people on the phone to bring their insurance cards…
His clever response? «Well, my boss made this reservation, and I can’t tell him what to do.»
Wow — super professional! Blame your boss and don’t take any responsibility for your company’s shotty customer service.
I could go on, but suffice to say their professionalism and customer service lacked in every way possible.
The passenger van itself looked alright on the outside. It ran fine. Wasn’t vacuumed inside when we got it. Power locks didn’t work. Was happy to return it and be done with Smith’s. Never again.

I wanted to rent a 15 passenger van for a birthday party I was having to go wine tasting in Napa. Since I don’t live in santa rosa, I wanted to do all of the reservations over the phone which included getting insurance information faxed, drivers license copies, etc.
I booked a van from this company 2 weeks in advance because I wanted to make sure that everything would go smoothly the day of the event. I was communicating with Lisa throughout the process. I give them 3 stars because of her. I knew that she was doing all she could to help me finalize the process.
The reason this place does not get the full 5 stars is because in our last phone conversation, the day before the event, Lisa informs me that the vehicle is no longer available due to necessary repairs from the damage done from the person before me. Now I have 15 people, an all day event planned with deposits set, no transportation, and one day to find a place who will rent a 15 passenger van to me.
Lisa was apologetic and offered to rent a 12 passenger van to me for $ 109 instead of the usual $ 129, but what was I going to do… strap 3 people to the roof? I thanked her and frantically began a search for a van at a different place.