Last Updated on August 31, 2023 by David
Honesty > Fear. Every time.
I’m currently on my way to Vancouver from Seattle for a wedding. I’m also writing this on the car we just rented from Hertz. No I’m not driving. The wife is. I wanted a chance to write my thoughts down before I arrive at the food-coma-land that is British Columbia.
Have you ever been offered a loss-damage waiver (LDW), or a liability coverage policy, or a personal accident insurance policy when renting a car? Of course you have. If not, let me explain. It’s the car rental company’s way of saying “Please pay up to 50% the daily rate of your car every day so we can cover you for things mostly our of your control like rocks that decide to crack your windshield. Oh yeah, we don’t really tell you but your existing insurance covers you for all this already but we’d still like your money.”
You’re a car rental. You’re in the business of lending cars to strangers who pay you for that service. Unless I’m treating your rental car like Walter White, things like rock chips, door scratches, and accidental encounters with tree branches are simply the cost of doing business. Adding fuel to fire is how customer service representatives are trained to deliver this type of up-sell. The agent I spoke to today attempted at convincing me, reasoning with me, guilting me, and scaring me into purchasing an LDW. In that order. Clearly the words “no thank you” don’t mean much.
“How much is your standard deductible? $1000? I wouldn’t want to pay that if I were you.”
“Imagine getting your stuff stolen and having to repair a window while you’re on vacation. I wouldn’t want to deal with that.”
“If I were you I’d buy it just for the peace of mind for my family.”
Seriously… Hertz, if you ever read this, please consider retraining some of your staff. You can’t make this stuff up.
Some good did come of this, however. The customer service representative next to my rep came by while my guy went to get the keys and said:
“Don’t worry about it sir, the ‘LDW’ is just for an extra peace of mind. I never buy it myself since your current insurance should cover you already. Have a safe trip.”
Which brings me to my point — fear should never be a strategy. In fact, it’s not a strategy at all. It’s a scheme, a scam, a way of working with customers that directly takes advantage of their trust. It shuts people down and the only reason you’ll make a sale is because they’ve fallen for your scam. Good luck with customer loyalty once the smoke clears.
Honesty however, is a strategy. It requires very little training and we’re all naturally pretty good at it. Honesty breeds trust even if it doesn’t serve you well at any given moment.
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