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

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...

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.

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

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

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

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.

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