Saban's Rent-a-Car Dennis Ned Saban, owner, and Al Akhmed, Manager "Stolen" Rent-a-Wreck Scam, courtesy of Saban's Rent-a-Car Phoenix Arizona

I am filing a complaint with Saban’s Rent-a-Car of Phoenix, Arizona for fraudulent activity.

First, let me provide you with some background information on how I came to do business with this company. On March 19, my 2009 Honda Civic was totaled in an accident. My car insurance company, GEICO, provided me with a rental vehicle through Enterprise for thirty days. At that time, rather than purchase a new vehicle, I bought a used car from my sister in South Carolina for $4,000. In the meantime, I switched to renting cars from Saban’s Rent-a-Car, thinking I would save some money. They report that they rent cars for $179 a week or $399 a month.

On July 14, I flew home with the intention of driving my car back, but my mother was re-admitted to the hospital, and so I delayed my return until I was sure she was doing better. This put me too close to the day I was due back at work, though, so I had to fly back and rent a car for one week one last time from Saban’s Rent-a-Car. On July 31, I rented a car from Saban’s for one more week, and $300 was taken from my debit card. I had intended to return the car on August 1, the day of my return flight to my parents’ home. Sometime, though, between 11:00 p.m. on July 31 and 4:00 a.m. on August 1, the rental car "disappeared" from the parking lot in front of my apartment.  

This is where the story gets strange. At first, I thought the car had been stolen. I tried immediately to report the theft to the Mesa Police Department, but the officer who took my call said that Saban’s Rent-a-Car would have to do so, as the company was the owner and had the Vehicle Identification and license plate numbers. This was "standing operating procedure."  When I called Saban’s Rent-a-Car, they refused to report the car as stolen and insisted that I do so. I replied that I did not have the information the police needed. Saban’s then provided it to me. I then called the Mesa Police Department and filed a report (Case number 2009215048714356). Unknown to me at this time, Saban’s, using the debit card number on the rental agreement, took out $1500 from my checking account. I received a voice message (which I have retained) at 2:06 p.m. from Saban’s on August 1 that the car had been “recovered”—supposedly from the “Indian Reservation”—but that it had been “totaled.” I have no independent verification of this.  An additional $1000 was then taken from my checking account. The fact that they took money out twice in one day shows they were on a "fishing expedition" just to see how much they could get. The Mesa Police Department had not even found the vehicle yet, so I knew at this time that Saban’s had a tracking device on the vehicle and knew where it was at all times. If Saban’s did not steal the car themselves, they are certainly making a handsome profit from the loss.  The manager, Al Akhmed, claimed that the amount that had been taken out was based on the “Kelly Blue Book value” of the car. On August 7, I received a call from a GEICO employee, who similarly considered their business practices sleazy.  She had requested a copy of the rental agreement from Saban’s, but the employee with whom she spoke was—in her words—“reluctant” to send the paperwork and then finally admitted that the vehicle was actually on the lot and was, in fact, undamaged, so no report would need to be filed. She stated that the expenses that I incurred had, in fact, been for having rented a different car. Indeed, Saban's has since claimed they were referring to a vehicle I had previously rented when they had said it was undamaged.  I have since done a car fax report on this vehicle, the VIN and license plate number for which are 1FALP52U9VG151171 and 988YMS, respectively. It has junk/salvage titles issued on 10/18/02, 11/26/03, and 06/05/09, and the odometer quit reading accurately in 2003. Even if the car had been totaled, its “trade-in” value would only be $213, according to the Kelly Blue Book Value, assuming the car was in “fair” condition, which it was not. Insurance companies pay the "cash value" for vehicles, which is even less.  If I had had $10,000 in my account, I don't doubt for a second that Saban's would have claimed the vehicle was worth that much and cleaned me out.  Don't trust these guys with your credit or debit cards.  They will rob you blind.