Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# do not hire a car from this company Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Fiji
careena2 15:58 UTC 16 Oct 2007 | Hi We are just back from Fiji and had booked a car from True Blue car hire and were promised from Raj, the owner, "02 Corolla ac ps pw auto, and Im sure you wont be dissapointed" lol. On arrival we were offered an old bomb not sure what it was because all the badges were missing, maybe a Datsun 91 model, 4 bald tyres and both rear tyres were flat, but he said it was only flat because of the extra weight there (me!) It was just waiting to break down. When we asked about the car we had booked, he couldnt find one! |
raro 17:10 UTC 16 Oct 2007 | Sounds like a horrible introduction to Fiji. Did you rent one from someone else?? Maybe they should change their name from "True Blue" to "True Boo"! | 1
mandja 07:30 UTC 17 Oct 2007 | Unless you have a personal recommendation, Ive found that its often best in strange countries to stick to the majors, even though it may cost a little more. | 2
mandja 07:30 UTC 17 Oct 2007 | I didnt mean that Fiji is a "strange country", just that it may be unfamiliar to you. | 3
careena2 11:59 UTC 17 Oct 2007 | Yes Raro, we ended up hiring from Europecar, which was only about $4 a day dearer then True Blue! The rest of the trip was great. | 4
mandja 12:04 UTC 17 Oct 2007 | I rest my case | 5
oldpro 13:52 UTC 17 Oct 2007 | Yes, I think that the correct warning here should not be specifically with respect to 'True Blue'. The warning concerns the risks in grabbing at what look like good deals from unknown sources, without being there yourself to check what you're buying/renting. I'm not defending 'True Blue' as such. However, it is very common practice around the world for small, private businesses to say or do anything to get the customer in the door, and then see what they can get away with. It's done with locals and foreigners alike. It is not necessarily a scam or dishonesty. It is as often as not only opportunism, normal business practices of small-scale entrepreneurs. | 6
careena2 16:36 UTC 17 Oct 2007 | thanks all for your responses, #6 yes you are right, but we like to give the local people an opportunity, unfortunatly it doesnt always work,we dont usually book, usually wait till we arrive, but as it was nsw school holidays(we dont have kids) thought it may be a bit busy, maybe nothing available, but there was plenty there anyway. cheers | 7