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Ace Rent a Car at the Tampa airport blindsided Carla Lemker with a $1,400 repair bill after her last rental. Certain she hadn’t caused any damage to the vehicle, Lemker asked Ace for proof — and then things got really weird.
The Ace Rent a Car branch where she rented the vehicle refused to discuss its accusations with Lemker. However, Rockport Auto Claims, the company processing the claim, showered her with bizarre “evidence.” That documentation proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that Lemker did not damage that rental car.
I’ll get to what Rockport sent in just a moment — but first, a travel warning about Ace Rent a Car.
In my advocacy work, I rarely encounter a company completely uninterested in correcting an easily proven mistake for a customer.
My experience with Ace Rent a Car, from the local agency right up to the corporate office, was that rare encounter. The level of instant hostility and aggressive denials that came from this company was frankly astounding. If Ace is on your radar for an upcoming rental, you might want to rethink that after reading this frustrating tale.
Here’s Lemker’s story. Be forewarned: It’s going to make you mad.
A fateful decision: choosing Ace Rent a Car at the Tampa airport
Last spring, Lemker, who hails from Ohio, made plans to travel to Tampa to visit her dad. It would be a short visit, just two days, but she would need a rental car.
After booking her airfare, Lemker made a decision she would come to deeply regret. In an effort to get the best deal on her rental, she chose the cheapest company: Ace Rent a Car. Looking for the best rate wasn’t a mistake — but not researching the company before booking certainly was.
Had Lemker taken a moment to search “Ace Rent a Car reviews,” she likely would have chosen a different agency.
Sporting a 1 to 1.9-star (out of 5) review across multiple websites such as TripAdvisor, TrustPilot, ConsumerAffairs, and Yelp, Ace at the Tampa airport is nothing if not consistent with its low ratings.
Unfortunately, Lemker never looked at the hundreds of negative reviews of Ace Rent a Car on the Internet — until after it was too late.
Always get a receipt when you return a rental car
Lemker landed at the Tampa International Airport on May 1 and quickly made her way to the Ace counter. This visit was short, so she was eager to get into the rental car and on the road.
She completed the paperwork and headed to the lot. After only a brief glance at the bright red Kia Forte, she tossed her bags inside and was soon on her way.
The next two days passed quickly. Lemker and her dad attended a wedding, but for the most part, the rental vehicle stayed parked. On May 3, Lemker said her goodbyes and drove back to the airport and into the rental return area.
When she pulled into the return lane, there were no employees checking in vehicles.
I turned down the row in the garage to return the car and pulled the car up. I waited for a few minutes and no one came around.
Other people were pulling up and walking away. Since I had to catch a flight back home, I did the same.
Lemker put the Kia’s keys on the dashboard, grabbed her luggage and walked into the terminal. She never looked back and never expected to see the vehicle again.
But she definitely would see that rental car again in the vehicle incident report attached to a $1,400 repair bill.
Rockport Auto Claims: “You damaged an Ace rental car.”
One week after Lemker returned to Ohio, she received a letter from Rockport Auto Claims, a company she’d never heard of before.
When Lemker called the number at the bottom of the letter, the agent told her she’d not only damaged the car but also left it at the wrong agency.
Despite Lemker’s protests that she had returned the car to the same place she had picked it up, the agent insisted otherwise. She said the local Ace branch had found the vehicle abandoned in a nearby Sixt lot.
Related: AI scanner proves Sixt charged customer for damage she didn’t cause
“I thought maybe someone damaged the vehicle after I walked away from it,” Lemker explained. “So I asked *** [Rockport agent] for a report showing what happened to the car.”
The Rockport agent said she was more than happy to send the documentation. But when Lemker received the “evidence” she had no idea what she was looking at.
However, she instantly became convinced that she was being scammed.
Asking Consumer Rescue for help battling the damage claim
I first heard from Lemker’s dad, Bob, in late August. He and his daughter had been battling Ace Rent a Car and Rockport for months — without success.
“I’m looking for someone to help us avoid being scammed by a car rental business at the Tampa airport,” Bob explained. “I looked over my daughter’s rental car when she arrived and when she left and I didn’t see any damage.”
Bob went on to offer theories of what happened to the car after his daughter dropped it off. Of course, this was all secondhand information, and as regular readers know, I can’t mediate cases through a third party. I suggested that he direct his daughter to reach out to Consumer Rescue.
Lemker had taken a different stance on the situation and had decided to ignore it. That is, until Rockport pushed the issue further and sent the $1,400 debt to a collections attorney in late September.
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I returned the Kia to the same place I picked it up, and the sign for the row said Ace, and it wasn’t damaged. This is a complete scam, but I’m sure I’m stuck because I have no proof that I did not damage the car.
Carla Lemker
But I do not have any pictures to prove any of this, so there may not be anything I can do. I literally never even had the car in reverse, and I would have known if someone had hit me. The vehicle was safe overnight at my dad’s house.
Can Consumer Rescue help?
What is in that package of evidence from Rockport?
As Lemker explained her predicament, it was clear that she didn’t have anything to support her contention that she hadn’t damaged the rental car.
She had not photographed the car’s condition before or after the rental. Even worse, Lemker had dropped the vehicle off without getting a receipt. As a result she had left herself extremely vulnerable to get slapped with a variety of additional fees.
But I hoped the evidence packet Rockport had sent her might contain some detail I could use to defend Lemker.
It definitely did hold a smoking gun in this case — one that not even Lemker or her dad had noticed.
First, the Rockport agent had forwarded a ton of documentation to Lemker, including a variety of damage claims against other car rental customers. Those documents included the personal details of strangers who are also being pursued by Rockport. Information like names, home address, phone numbers and driver’s license numbers were all forwarded to Lemker.
Of course, that gross breach of consumer privacy didn’t prove Lemker’s case, but it certainly suggested a sloppy investigation.
What did prove Lemker’s case was contained in the incident report pertaining to the Kia Forte.
The repair estimate for that vehicle was created on April 29… two days before Lemker’s rental began.
Asking Ace Rent a Car to correct this “mistake”
Now that I had found the smoking gun to prove Lemker hadn’t caused this damage, the hard part of the case was over.
At least that’s what I thought. In reality, the most difficult part was just beginning.
Ace Rent a Car is not a company I’ve dealt with previously, so I first needed to locate a contact with whom I could share my findings. At that point, I still believed this case would be easy to fix. I figured I could start right at the Tampa airport location.
I dialed the number listed for Ace Rent a Car in the Tampa airport directory (813) 636-8999. A man answered, and I asked for the manager’s contact information. Immediately, the man’s tone turned hostile.
Me: I’m a consumer reporter and I have one of your customers here who has been mistakenly charged for damage to a vehicle.
Ace person: NO, I’m not talking to you.
Me: Well, I would like to speak to the manager of this location so I can share proof that there’s been an error.
Ace person: I said I don’t talk to reporters. Contact Rockport Auto Claims. They handle all this.
Me: But your location filed the claim and sent it to Rockport so I hoped to clear this up at the source.
Ace: Have a nice day. (Click).
I assume this must have been the manager and he had not even a little bit of interest in correcting a problem for one of his customers.
Related: Help! Hertz wants me to repair a rental car that I never drove!
Searching for someone at Ace who cares about a company mistake
Fact: Ace Rent a Car is not associated with Avis.
Although the search results for “who owns Ace Rent a Car” will suggest it’s under the Avis brand, that is incorrect. Hoping to escalate this case to the corporate level, I reached out to our always helpful Avis executive. He quickly confirmed that Ace has no affiliation with ABG (Avis Budget Group).
So my hunt for a corporate contact continued. All over the Internet, I found websites with incorrect phone numbers for Ace. But, finally, I found what I was looking for.
Fact: Ace Rent a Car corporate phone number is 1-844-874-3966
When I reached someone at Ace’s corporate office, I again assumed this case was about to be resolved. What I got instead was another round of hostility and indifference.
Me: Hi, I’m a consumer reporter. Can you tell me who is in charge of your public relations or corporate communications?
Ace person: We don’t have a department like that here so there’s no one for you to talk to.
Me: Well, I’m trying to find someone at the corporate level who can review evidence that shows Ace charged a customer $1,400 for pre-existing damage.
Ace person: There is no one. This is the corporate office, but there is no department like that.
Me: You mean, ever? So if Ace Rent a Car mistakenly bills a customer for damage they didn’t cause, there is no one who can correct the error?
Ace: Our customer service handled the case correctly, I assure you.
Me: What?! How can you assure me of that when I haven’t even given you the customer’s name yet? You didn’t even ask me for that information. I have evidence in front of me that I would like to share with you. It proves that Ace is asking a customer to repair dents and scratches on a rental car —damage that Ace documented a few days before this customer’s rental. Do you want to see these documents?
Ace: (clearly irritated) What is the name of the customer?
Me: Carla Lemker. Do you need the incident report number?
Ace: No, I don’t. Please hold.
And that was Ace Rent a Car’s corporate office’s way of hanging up on me.
20 minutes later, I was still on hold listening to elevator music and busying myself with other things while I waited. Then I hung up. It was clear this woman wasn’t coming back to talk with me further.
Asking Rockport Auto Claims to review the evidence
Next, I tracked down Rockport’s CEO, hoping she might take a more reasonable approach.
I have been attempting to reach someone at Ace Rent a Car who can review a claim submitted by the Tampa location. However, I have been met with extreme resistance and downright rude behavior by everyone I have reached at the Tampa location and at the corporate level.
This is quite odd since most reputable companies are more than willing to review evidence and correct mistakes that have impacted their customers. I am also now finding it difficult to reach someone at Rockport who can review the documentation that proves Carla is being billed for damage someone else caused. I’m including the damage estimate below my signature, which appears to show that someone edited the inside of the document to post-date the repair estimate to fit the narrative that Carla is responsible for this damage. HOWEVER, whoever did that seems not to have noticed that every page of the estimate is time-stamped with the actual date of 4/29/25 (two days before her rental). And there are additional problems with this report.
- The timestamps at the top of each page say the rental car was brought in on April 29 at 6:16 p.m. The internal times in the estimate indicate that the car was seen at 6:14 p.m., which aligns with the hourly time stamp at the top of each page.
- There is an incorrect license plate number on the estimate.
- Odometer reading is incorrect. That detail right there would prove when the estimate was created.
- There is an incorrect date in the middle of the repair estimate that conflicts with the timestamp at top. That date proves the estimate was created prior to Carla driving it.
This claim against Carla should be dropped immediately.
Michelle Couch-Friedman, Consumer reporter
Finally, I had found someone who was willing to review the evidence. Rockport’s CEO promised to do her own investigation and get back to me.
And she did.
Good news for this Ace rental car customer: Rockport dismissed the case
A few days later, the CEO of Rockport Auto Claims delivered good news.
Michelle,
Statement from the CEO of Rockport Auto Claims
Thank you for your patience. I have had time to review this claim in its entirety. I apologize for Carla receiving documents that did not belong to her. I have reprimanded the claims rep who was handling this claim. As far as the vehicle being checked in Miami, the estimates are desk reviews. Photos are sent to the appraisal company and they write the estimates for damage.
Clearly, this appraiser was in a hurry and made many mistakes. I have made ACE Rent-A-Car aware of the mistakes.
In the spirit of compromise, we are closing this claim. I will send Carla Lemker a letter to that effect. I have also notified the Attorney handling the (collections) claim to close the case.
Thank you for bringing this to my attention.
Lemker is thrilled to finally be vindicated and expressed her relief on the Consumer Rescue Facebook page:
I have spent 6 months fighting with ACE rental car out of Tampa airport for damages to a rental car that I did not cause, but had no proof that I didn’t. [The debt] was sent to collections. I have literally been harassed by these people and now by collections. My dad kept telling me not to pay. He gave me Consumer Rescue’s information. I wrote to Michelle and sent in the paper trail that I had from ACE and from Rockport, trying to collect for the damages.
Carla Lemker
Michelle immediately found mistakes on their part and also dates that were time-stamped on the appraisal, which was two days before I even rented the car (we didn’t notice it because they put the correct date inside the appraisal). Michelle reached out to them last week and got it settled. Today, I got the letter to confirm that Ace Rent a Car and Rockport Auto Claims are dropping the claim. I still can’t believe it! I will forever be grateful for her. Lessons learned: take pics of the car when you return it, and don’t be so trustworthy! Thank you again.
The bottom line
Carla said it best: When you rent a car, it is critical that you take pictures of it from top to bottom, and inside and out. This photoshoot should be done twice — before you drive the rental car off the lot and again when you return it.
Never assume that every business has the consumer’s best interest at heart. Before using a new company, always do your research. Typing the organization’s name plus the word “reviews” into Google should give you a good idea of whether or not giving the company a try is a good idea.
Remember: Consumer Rescue offers free, printable car rental inspection checklists to help travelers protect themselves from getting hit with false damage claims after a rental.
Of course, if you are already embroiled in a situation that you can’t extricate yourself from, and you need rescued, you know where to find our team. Consumer Rescue’s help is always fast, friendly, and free of charge. (Michelle Couch-Friedman, Your Chief fiasco fixer, 😜founder of Consumer Rescue⛑️🛟)
Reach the Consumer Rescue advocacy team through this button
Before you go: Hit with fake car rental damage charges? Here’s how to make them go away
