Car Rental Firm Accused of Deception

Superior Court Judge Mack P. Lovett issued a temporary restraining order this week against the president of an Oceanside-based car rental agency accused of violating state consumer protection laws by making untrue or misleading statements and using unfair and deceptive business practices.

Rent-A-Car-Cheep, which has offices in San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange counties, and its president, C.J. Lee, were named in a joint suit filed Wednesday by Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp’s consumer law section and the San Diego city attorney’s office.

The suit asks the court to halt the practices and to impose civil penalties of $1 million. The restraining order said any illegal practices must be halted. Neither Lee nor his attorney was available for comment Thursday.

The suit originated from complaints filed with the state consumer protection agency by dissatisfied consumers throughout Southern California who rented cars from the company, said Deputy City Atty. William Newsome III. About 31 affidavits from disgruntled customers were filed with the suit, Newsome said.

The suit also contained statements from four former employees of the company, Newsome said. One of the employees worked at the company’s San Diego agency at 1747 Pacific Highway, he said.

The employees were trained to engage in “bait and switch” tactics to defraud customers, he said. These employees worked for the company for about a week and, once they discovered what the company wanted them to do, “they blew the whistle on them,” Newsome said.

The complaint lists what it calls the company’s unfair and illegal statements such as:

- Advertising that Rent-A-Car-Cheep rented cars for $8 a day with no mileage fee, when, in fact, few cars, if any, cars were available at that rate.

- Charging customers for more gasoline than they used and for more miles than they drove.

- Renting cars that do not comply with state safety requirements.