Trailer rental

[RomTon]

Hello. I just want to ask if there are any chances of success. I rented a car trailer for a month. The rental agreement, of course, stated my responsibility for any damage. In the first week I had to change three wheels, then while driving I lost a ramp that, by law, should not have fallen out of its place. I made the ramp myself because the owner refused to give me another one in exchange. On the third week, the spring broke and I returned the trailer back to get another one. However, the owner refused to provide another trailer. He charged another $800 from my debit card and blamed me for breaking the jack. The jack on the trailer was in the same condition as when we received the trailer. Unfortunately, I only saw bad reviews about this company after returning the trailer.
I would like to know the opinion of respected professionals, whether there is a chance of winning this case in a small court.

 

[quincy]

Hello. I just want to ask if there are any chances of success. I rented a car trailer for a month. The rental agreement, of course, stated my responsibility for any damage. In the first week I had to change three wheels, then while driving I lost a ramp that, by law, should not have fallen out of its place. I made the ramp myself because the owner refused to give me another one in exchange. On the third week, the spring broke and I returned the trailer back to get another one. However, the owner refused to provide another trailer. He charged another $800 from my debit card and blamed me for breaking the jack. The jack on the trailer was in the same condition as when we received the trailer. Unfortunately, I only saw bad reviews about this company after returning the trailer.
I would like to know the opinion of respected professionals, whether there is a chance of winning this case in a small court.

You could try to get the charge refunded by suing the rental company but, if the rental agreement you signed stated you were responsible for all damage, I don’t know if you have much of a chance of being successful.

It is generally better to read company reviews before you do business with the company rather than after you have signed a contract with the company.

I suggest you go over the rental agreement, and the facts of your experience with the trailer, with an attorney in your area. A legal aid clinic should be able to do this personal review for you at low or no cost.

 

[christian_342]

Here are some aspects that could support your case:

1. The excessive wear on the tires indicates that the trailer may have been in poor condition from the start, which might not be your responsibility.
2. The fact that the ramp fell off while you were driving suggests a potential oversight or negligence on the part of the rental company in ensuring the equipment's safety.
3. Regarding the broken spring, while it could be considered normal wear and tear, its occurrence should be assessed in the context of the trailer's overall condition.
4. If the rental company refused to provide a replacement trailer or charged you for a broken jack despite usability concerns, this could strengthen your argument, especially if the trailer was rendered unusable.

These are factors worth considering as you evaluate your situation.

 

[quincy]

RomTon, is this the same trailer you used for your cross-country trek to retrieve and transport your disabled company vehicle?

 

[zddoodah]

Depends primarily on the terms of your rental agreement and the laws of the unidentified state where this happened.

 

[quincy]

Depends primarily on the terms of your rental agreement and the laws of the unidentified state where this happened.

RomTon lives in Texas but RomTon had to retrieve one of his company’s vehicles from New York after one of his employees was involved in an accident there. During the tow of the vehicle through Ohio, RomTon was ticketed for a DOT violation.

Although the vehicle RomTon was driving was a personal vehicle and the trailer used for transporting the company truck was a rental, the truck on the trailer was a company truck and labeled as such.

That is the gist of RonTon’s posting history although anyone can read previous threads and posts by clicking on a poster’s name, clicking on the poster’s name in the box that appears and reading the history on the poster’s profile page.

 

[Bali Hai Again]

Sounds like the junk rental trailer was used to transport the wrecked truck. My advice for OP is to watch the weather next time and take a southerly route and avoid I-86 through western NY and I-90 through Cleveland that time of year. Lake effect snow storms are pretty regular there. People from the south are not usually prepared for that kind of driving.

 

[quincy]

To potentially combat the signed rental agreement’s provision that states renter is responsible for all damages, RomTon will need to show (among other things) that the trailer was not misused and/or abused by him over the course of the rental period.

An overweight load, an uneven load, under inflated tires, high speeds, temperature changes … all can affect a trailer and the trailer’s parts.

The trailer might have been in poor condition to begin with but whether RomTon can demonstrate this is a question mark.

 

[RomTon]

You could try to get the charge refunded by suing the rental company but, if the rental agreement you signed stated you were responsible for all damage, I don’t know if you have much of a chance of being successful.

It is generally better to read company reviews before you do business with the company rather than after you have signed a contract with the company.

I suggest you go over the rental agreement, and the facts of your experience with the trailer, with an attorney in your area. A legal aid clinic should be able to do this personal review for you at low or no cost.

Thank you. I'll write to them.

 

[RomTon]

Here are some aspects that could support your case:

1. The excessive wear on the tires indicates that the trailer may have been in poor condition from the start, which might not be your responsibility.
2. The fact that the ramp fell off while you were driving suggests a potential oversight or negligence on the part of the rental company in ensuring the equipment's safety.
3. Regarding the broken spring, while it could be considered normal wear and tear, its occurrence should be assessed in the context of the trailer's overall condition.
4. If the rental company refused to provide a replacement trailer or charged you for a broken jack despite usability concerns, this could strengthen your argument, especially if the trailer was rendered unusable.

These are factors worth considering as you evaluate your situation.

Here are some aspects that could support your case:

1. The excessive wear on the tires indicates that the trailer may have been in poor condition from the start, which might not be your responsibility.
2. The fact that the ramp fell off while you were driving suggests a potential oversight or negligence on the part of the rental company in ensuring the equipment's safety.
3. Regarding the broken spring, while it could be considered normal wear and tear, its occurrence should be assessed in the context of the trailer's overall condition.
4. If the rental company refused to provide a replacement trailer or charged you for a broken jack despite usability concerns, this could strengthen your argument, especially if the trailer was rendered unusable.

These are factors worth considering as you evaluate your situation.

Thank you. If there is a chance of winning this case, I will sue them. My review can be seen in Yelp by typing ToolRent in the search. Please note that this company only has negative reviews.

 

[RomTon]

RomTon, is this the same trailer you used for your cross-country trek to retrieve and transport your disabled company vehicle?

No, this is a different trailer. That trailer was my own.[/QUOTE]

 

[RomTon]

Depends primarily on the terms of your rental agreement and the laws of the unidentified state where this happened.

I rented this trailer in Dallas Texas. According to the terms of the contract, I am obligated to pay for repairs of any damage. But I don’t have a contract. I asked them to send me the contract but they do not respond.

 

[RomTon]

RomTon lives in Texas but RomTon had to retrieve one of his company’s vehicles from New York after one of his employees was involved in an accident there. During the tow of the vehicle through Ohio, RomTon was ticketed for a DOT violation.

Although the vehicle RomTon was driving was a personal vehicle and the trailer used for transporting the company truck was a rental, the truck on the trailer was a company truck and labeled as such.

That is the gist of RonTon’s posting history although anyone can read previous threads and posts by clicking on a poster’s name, clicking on the poster’s name in the box that appears and reading the history on the poster’s profile page.

That story about transporting my wrecked truck has nothing to do with this story. At the time I rented this trailer, I didn’t even have a transport company.

 

[RomTon]

Sounds like the junk rental trailer was used to transport the wrecked truck. My advice for OP is to watch the weather next time and take a southerly route and avoid I-86 through western NY and I-90 through Cleveland that time of year. Lake effect snow storms are pretty regular there. People from the south are not usually prepared for that kind of driving.

It's like you read my thoughts. I wrote in Puco that instead of traveling safely during the day in good weather, I found myself in a terrible snow storm. But that is another story.

 

[RomTon]

To potentially combat the signed rental agreement’s provision that states renter is responsible for all damages, RomTon will need to show (among other things) that the trailer was not misused and/or abused by him over the course of the rental period.

An overweight load, an uneven load, under inflated tires, high speeds, temperature changes … all can affect a trailer and the trailer’s parts.

The trailer might have been

Yes, most likely the court will ask me to do this. It seems to me that it is almost impossible to prove all this, but there are still some arguments. When asked how the spring could have broken, the owner of the company said that I ran over something and that’s why the spring broke. The wheels were worn out because I was towing a trailer with a faulty spring. Then I asked to show the damage on the rim, but they said that they did not know how the spring broke without damage to the wheel rim. I asked how the ramp could get lost if it was locked in a special pocket, the owner of the company replied that he didn’t know. I left photos of this pocket on Yelp where you can see that the ramp moved while driving and left shiny marks. This ramp have flew out of its pocket somewhere between South Dakota and Nebraska. Thank God that this ramp didn’t hit anyone’s car or kill anyone. You can read a few more details there in my review. The most important part of my review is that I recommended ToolRent LLC stop renting this trailer out because it self-destructs while being towed. Toolrent filed a complaint about my review, but Yelp did not remove my review. The problem here is also that this company produces trailers for sale and all their bumper pull trailers have a similar design error.