Hi, just wanted to get some opinions here:

Is it now normal for a car rental company to insist on knowing the renter's employment details (employer, occupation, business card) ? As in making it compulsory to provide this info in order to rent a car.

For context, this is for a rental out of Kuching, and its a local company, not one of the big players like Hertz or Avis. And this is a personal rental over a long weekend, not under company name or account.

Last time I rented there was more than 5 years ago and there was no such requirement. I have also rented more recently out of other places like KLIA, Penang and Langkawi without such request.

Wondering if there is any rationale for this requirement

Find other company if u feel uncomfortable.
They shld just require your driving lesen or ic and deposit.

Nope. Ask them fly kite, go rent with someone else.

Yah, unfortunately none of that extra requirement was stated on their website when I booked.

After collecting the deposit, they sent me text messages with the "compulsory information" required to rent the car.
Basically if I don't provide the info, they won't confirm the rental. And they won't refund the deposit either according to their T&Cs.

Nice way to do business...

Post in socmed. Let them die

OK interestingly enough, I texted another 2 small rental companies in Kuching and asked specifically for the info required. Another one also asked for the same info, so either the 2 companies are related or its something specific to the location.

since u already 1 foot in the hole, just put you're CFO of 1MDB cannot?

put any company will do. Cant verify also. Please spread all the info and company and comments on the google view/FB. or can report to authority

for sure they dont have proper license to do renting car business. If u really want to pick fight with them, point this out.

Also, renting a car at sarawak quite funny one. U cannot drive it outside of the district. Example if u rent at kuching, u cannot drive it to mukah, kapit or miri. They will charge extra for that. There is no logic in that.

In Australia, renters who want to rent house have to give their bank statements for landlord to see. Asking for employment detail is no big deal la.

How long are you going to rent and for how much?

they're actively collecting your info for sell

if the rental is already paid, thn what's the point of requesting your employment info for?

House rental is a long term relationship with recurring payment obligations so I can understand the need to check for financial stability.
Here, I'm just trying to rent a car for 4 days, total value of transaction less than Rm500.
If it's the usual procedure for renting from small players, full payment will be made on collection of the car plus the deposit in cash which they will hold until I return the car. I can't see any reason why they would need additional personal info unrelated to the rental

Out of curiosity, report to which authority?

And this company has 4.8 stars on Google, with 200 odd reviews. They told me this requirement is their standard procedure for all rental, and attempted to gaslight me that all their other customers have no problem with it

Cheap

If I am you I will politely decline giving that information. Negotiate and tell them your driving license is good enough

Believe me, I've tried to reason with them. They refuse to negotiate on that point, which is why I have to resort to asking here whether this is even normal.
Telling them that this requirement was not stated upfront before they collected the deposit doesn't even mean anything - it's "don't question our rules" and basically "take it or leave it but we are keeping the deposit"

This post has been edited by jmts: Jun 4 2025, 07:18 PM

Just walk away if you are uncomfortable
Even if you manage to use law to fight them at the end of the day, they can choose not to rent to you

If I am you, I will just give them bogus information

Haha I think that's why they asked for business card also.

Anyway I'm prepared to cut my losses and walk away. Maybe I'll add to their Google review count instead

Your depo is on the line here, just give some fake info lah

Post in socMed, probably others had the same idea but no balls to do

if theres any contract to sign, just crossword what u dont like then send it back to them, chances are they wont even read it and cant fight in coujrt

Sure

Thankfully one of the employers is myself

Sarawak is a very strange foreign land I tell you

in before they asked for your LinkedIn credentials as well

At this point I don't even feel like dealing with them anymore. I've gone ahead and booked with Hertz instead.

If a business can arbitrarily add new and unstated requirements after collecting payment and hold my deposit as ransom, I don't know what other nonsense they might pull during the rental and return of car. I might lose the deposit but I am not letting them earn the rest of the rental from me.

I've always preferred using small rental companies instead of big corporates as I've found them more flexible and customer centric, but I think after this I'll completely reconsider this preference.

So if I’m unemployed or freelance, I can’t rent a car?

write lah u ceo of microsoft

Probably trying to filter out criminals from renting their car. Some companies even ask for Facebook profile to check what kind of person. Good intent wrong method, should ask before deposit, and can't be refunded.

Exactly. This is what I don't understand. Asking only after the non-refundable deposit is placed is just wrong on so many levels.
I even asked what would happen to the deposit if my employment info doesn't meet their standards, and while they are evasive in answering, they referred to their T&C which states all deposits are non refundable

This post has been edited by jmts: Jun 4 2025, 09:49 PM