Cheapest car rental?

[wwguy]

We are actually looking into the same thing. We are staying at buddy dive and their truck with CDW Plus Insurance is $549.50 for the week. This seems really high?

That's really high. We're getting ready to leave for our 10th consecutive Christmas and New Year holiday on Bonaire. During the high season I've never paid more than $40/day without insurance or $52/day with CDW from, usually from Telerin.

Hmmm, good point.

This is the Matrix from Buddy Dive...

My question to her was-

So, if someone breaks into our car we are still liable for $565?

She said she needed to get back to me on that one.

Looking at that image if there's a claim you're on the hook for the deductible in all scenarios. Theoretically, nobody will ever break into your truck though, because you won't ever leave it locked.

Multiple emails have gone unanswered

Yeah, she's like that sometimes. I'm not sure why, but it doesn't seem to be hurting her reputation to the point she's losing business. But then again the car rental gig is a side hustle for both her and Jacinto, which may be why she doesn't feel much urgency around it. But they've both been super-responsive whenever we've contacted them for help while on the island. For the past few years if she doesn't respond to email within a couple of days I chase her down on Facebook or WhatsApp.

 

[divezonescuba]

Telerin / Poppy is not a real vehicle rental company.

It is a brokerage where off island car owners or people needing cash put their car in rental. This means that there are no consistent rental vehicles. Sometimes you might get a new Toyota hilux and the next trip you will get a piece of junk with 100,000 island miles, that won’t consistently start because the rfid chip is malfunctioning. The vehicle may still have the owners possessions in it. They may also ask you to turn in whatever vehicle you are currently using in the middle of your rental because they need to give it an emergency oil change when they really need to give it back to the owner or to someone else.

Because they operate in this manner, maintenance and support is also inconsistent. If your car malfunctions, you may be stranded. Happened to me twice. Once at the salt pier and another time at Buddy Dive. They may not be be able to get you because they don’t have any more vehicles and they may not replace malfunctioning vehicles because they don’t have any more. That was the last straw for me.

It can be a great deal, if you are willing to put up with some potential problems. We used to use them, but now do not because of these issues.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Telerin / Poppy is not a real vehicle rental company.

Telerin/Poppy is the only rental car company that takes American Express. It's the Amex primary insurance deal that prompts many of us to use Telerin. That's real to me.

It is a brokerage where off island car owners or people needing cash put their car in rental. This means that there are no consistent rental vehicles. Sometimes you might get a new Toyota hilux and the next trip you will get a piece of junk with 100,000 island miles, that won’t consistently start because the rfid chip is malfunctioning. The vehicle may still have the owners possessions in it.

I was not aware of that. It might explain why in something like six rentals with Telerin, typically renting two trucks among our group, we have never gotten that brand-new Hilux like those from AB that we eyed enviously. We've always gotten a well-worn vehicle. Nevertheless, the price has always been good. I may be mistaken, but I think she even gives a discount for repeat customers. With the ability to use the Amex $25 primary insurance (per rental period), I am not aware of a rental company that would cost less.

They may also ask you to turn in whatever vehicle you are currently using in the middle of your rental because they need to give it an emergency oil change when they really need to give it back to the owner or to someone else.

Because they operate in this manner, maintenance and support is also inconsistent. If your car malfunctions, you may be stranded. Happened to me twice. Once at the salt pier and another time at Buddy Dive. They may not be be able to get you because they don’t have any more vehicles and they may not replace malfunctioning vehicles because they don’t have any more. That was the last straw for me.

We used to use them, but now do not because of these issues.

I don't want to get into a battle of data points, with people chiming in as to whether or not they ever had any difficulty with Telerin, but our group been satisfied for something like six rentals, usually two trucks rented per trip. Never found anyone's possessions in it or any other indication that the truck is not Telerin's. And the one time we called Poppy's mobile phone late at night, she had a service guy out to us in minutes.

As the saying goes, your mileage may vary.

 

[wwguy]

Telerin / Poppy is not a real vehicle rental company.

It is a brokerage where off island car owners or people needing cash put their car in rental. This means that there are no consistent rental vehicles. Sometimes you might get a new Toyota hilux and the next trip you will get a piece of junk with 100,000 island miles, that won’t consistently start because the rfid chip is malfunctioning. The vehicle may still have the owners possessions in it. They may also ask you to turn in whatever vehicle you are currently using in the middle of your rental because they need to give it an emergency oil change when they really need to give it back to the owner or to someone else.

Because they operate in this manner, maintenance and support is also inconsistent. If your car malfunctions, you may be stranded. Happened to me twice. Once at the salt pier and another time at Buddy Dive. They may not be be able to get you because they don’t have any more vehicles and they may not replace malfunctioning vehicles because they don’t have any more. That was the last straw for me.

We used to use them, but now do not because of these issues.

I'm not saying your wrong because I don't know for 100% sure, I don't know you, and I don't remember interacting with you previously here... so I can't imagine a scenario where you'd be motivated to make something like this up.

That said, we've rented from Telerin for 20 weeks between 2010 and 2015 and have never encountered anything like what you describe. Our trucks have always been well-used but functional 2WD Toyota Hilux pickups. We've had the same repeat truck on several trips. All have shown signs of heavy diver use and none looked like they were anyone's personal vehicle. (However, we have found our own DFB paperwork from previous trips still in the repeat trucks.) I also can't imagine why anyone would ever offer their personal vehicles up to the abuse that visiting divers dish out.

I've also read countless positive reviews, threads, and trip reports about Telerin over the past 15 years here, on BonaireTalk, and in the TripAdvisor Bonaire sub-forum. Again this is the first I've ever read about anything like this. Can you provide some more info about how you know this to be true? I'm sure I'm not the only one interested. I'm not accusing you of making this up. But you do appear to be a statistical outlier with this view.

We've got two trucks reserved for a 3-week trip coming up shortly over the holidays. I'll look forward to examining them a little more closely and reporting back. I'm also going to ask Poppy about this to see what she has to say.

Here's one truck that we had for several trips over the course of a couple of years:

 

[DustyC]

Avis also takes AMEX. But if you use AMEX'S insurance, they take a $650 deposit

 

[divezonescuba]

I have rented from Telerin a number of times. Four trips ago, both I and friends of mine rented from Telerin. They received a Toyota high lux and I received a junker with over 100k miles and an intermittently functioning rfid chip system. It seemed odd that this would be the case. This was before I knew that these were personal vehicles.

My friends began claiming that the vehicles were personally owned. I asked how they knew this was the case. They then proceeded to show me the extensive collection of country music tapes inside their vehicle. There have also been things in their vehicles that I have rented, but I attributed it to poor cleaning between rentals, not the owners property. I think I have used around six different Telerin vehicles, each being a different model.

Since there may be some doubt here, feel free to look through the following emails.

Here are a few of the communications that I sent them in just one day. In all cases their response is “LET ME SEE WHAT I CAN DO IN THE MORNING”.

 

[divezonescuba]

Here is some about wanting the vehicle back in the middle of the trip. Note these are different instances.

 

[wwguy]

Thanks for the email shots. Not sure about your other rental periods but the examples you gave occurred on the busiest holiday of the year during the highest tourism season of the year. It's also worth mentioning again that Poppy and Jacinto both have full-time jobs in operations at the airport, which is also crazy busy on a Sunday New Year holiday. Frankly, I think you were fortunate to get the reply you did.

Yes, I know that's not how we do business and provide customer service for car rentals in the USA. But this is Bonaire and I'm pretty sure that you chose Telerin knowing full well that they were a low-cost, low-overhead, budget operation operating a small fleet of well-used vehicles. If you didn't, then whoever pointed you at Telerin didn't give you the full story why you were getting such a low rate compared to Hertz and Avis etc. You get what you pay for and all that.

Regarding the personal vehicles being rented out: Based on the timing of your rental, I'll concede that it's possible that Poppy solicited vehicles from friends to fill the demand for rental vehicles during the peak holiday period. But I also know from firsthand experience that Poppy and Jacinto have both temporarily surrendered their personal vehicles to me in the past. This twice when we arrived on Saturday during holidays and the outgoing divers weren't leaving until Sunday morning, and once when our truck required a minor repair during our stay. Never once have they asked us to return or swap a truck mid-stay.

All of our winter holidays trips over the past 10 years have been 3 weeks over Christmas and New Years, so I've seen the high-season craziness and I get it. Poppy has always gone above and beyond to accommodate her customers. That's why we keep going back... for her infamous convenience and customer service, rather than the quality of her fleet etc.

I can tell you with confidence that Telerin is a "real rental company". Because I've paid real money to a real business for a real vehicle. My Amex account recognizes them similarly, which is why my Amex Premium Car Rental Insurance kicks in automatically when I rent from Telerin.

Sorry, you had an unpleasant experience with Telerin. Not sure why you kept going back for more after you decided you didn't like it though.

 

[divezonescuba]

Actually, I started using Telerin because at the time, they were the only rental agency that accepted American Express, not because of any low cost perception.

It wasn’t until the last two rentals that there were serious issues.

My biggest problem with them is that they told me that they would pick me up when I was stranded and they didn’t. When I called them the third and fourth times that one day, they just let the calls go to voice mail. Basically, they lied to me about picking me up. Fortunately, I was able to get that vehicle to start after a number of hours trying.

I forgot to mention the time they wanted us to exchange trucks over at the airport, only they didn’t leave the keys in the truck like they said they would. Or the time they left a truck that needed a code to start, but they forgot to tell us the code. We wasted time dealing with Telerin poor service nearly every day of that trip. Sounds kind of inconvenient to me.

A lot of people get the impression they are getting good service when they never have a problem. When you get bad service when there is a problem, the bad service was always there, you just didn’t get the opportunity to realize it.

I thought Telerin was great too, until I had multiple problems.

Inoperative vehicles, poor maintenance, pot luck, vehicle changes in the middle of a trip, stranded, waiting to be picked up, being lied to, no thank you.

 

[wwguy]

Fair enough. Thank you for your objective and civil perspective on your negative experiences with them. I hope I don't find myself in a similar situation going forward. But I'm already committed to them again for this trip, so we'll see what happens.