Sherman's via Yes Tourism

[Andreas Kasner]

Made a reservation for an "Old Model" Jeep (= Suzuki Samurai Soft Top) with Sherman's through Yes Tourism for a two-week-period in September/October 2004.

Reason for the Jeep was we find it - though not really needed - most suitable for the road conditions on the island, and it's really fun driving without the Soft Top.

Reason for choosing Sherman's was that they offered the best rate for the Jeep (if taken as a package with unlimited CDW).

Confirmation of the reservation was provided by Yes Tourism within two days (suppose would have been less, but a weekend was involved), our questions answered promptly.

Sherman's staff waited at the airport outside the baggage claim, rental and CDW agreement was prepared exactly to specification. Staff demonstrated the vehicle and gave us a road map. Vehicle was reliable, clean and in good condition both optical and regarding maintenance. Brand new tyres. The only thing was the ignition had problems twice when it was very humid, but that could be fixed by simply restarting the car.

Return of the car was also without any problem.

Overall both Yes Tourism and Sherman's to be recommended.

(We rented with Rollock's, also Old Model Jeep, in 2003. Reliability and accuracy of service were comparable, but the car was in much worse condition).

Andreas

[Richard]

We rented from Sherman's direct for all three trips.

1st trip I got ill (nothing Tobago related) and had to cancel hire while there, just lost deposit.

2nd soft top jeep - great fun even if they do tell you to leave roof up. Used on tour with guide, 4WD used.

3rd Terios - wanted A/C for baby. permanent 4WD. Took arial off under low branch. Needed to unlink diff once in some soft ground we were turning around in. Also took trip up river (unintended) - gave lift to someone who turned out to be a "guide" and "guided" us up a river bed. Even after we gave him some money and drove out he wanted to show us more sights. Some people really don't take no for an answer.

Anyway very friendly people to hire car from.

[Louise Richards]

Hi I just thought I 'd shed a bit of light on to another side of Shermans car rental. We rented a car from them during our trip in August but after about a week we could here a loud noise coming from the rear of the car. Afew days later, the rear bumper fell off in the middle of the road. FortunatelY, we weren't too far away from our villa so I was able to carry it back. I rang Shermans immediately to tell them what had happened but the "gentleman" that I spoke to was quite rude on the phone. About an hour later, the "gentleman, a woman and another young man arrived at our villa. They were very abrupt and insisted that we had damaged the vehicle and that we must pay for the repair. The asked us for $150. Myself and my partner were outraged at his accusation and got into quite a disagreement with them. They agreed to leave us another car for the duration of the holiday and we thought that was the last of it. When the woman met us at the airport to collect the 2nd car, her manner was still extremey abrupt and quite sarcastic. She still insisted that we pay for the repair, which had now gone up to $250. Again, we refused and pointed out that it wasn't our fault and that we had signed an insurance document to cover us for accidental damage anyway. We then walked away. A couple of weeks after arriving home, my partner recieved his credit card statment which shown a transaction to Shermans for $250!! BE WARNED!!

[Shermans Auto Rental]

Mrs Louise Richards Posted on Tue Nov 09, 2004 8:00 pm, subject: Shermans car hire the following.
Joined: 17 May 2004
Posts: 18
Location: Derby, England

Hi I just thought I 'd shed a bit of light on to another side of Shermans car rental. We rented a car from them during our trip in August but after about a week we could here a loud noise coming from the rear of the car. Afew days later, the rear bumper fell off in the middle of the road. Fortunately, we weren't too far away from our villa so I was able to carry it back. I rang Shermans immediately to tell them what had happened but the "gentleman" that I spoke to was quite rude on the phone. About an hour later, the "gentleman, a woman and another young man arrived at our villa. They were very abrupt and insisted that we had damaged the vehicle and that we must pay for the repair. The asked us for $150. Myself and my partner were outraged at his accusation and got into quite a disagreement with them. They agreed to leave us another car for the duration of the holiday and we thought that was the last of it. When the woman met us at the airport to collect the 2nd car, her manner was still extremey abrupt and quite sarcastic. She still insisted that we pay for the repair, which had now gone up to $250. Again, we refused and pointed out that it wasn't our fault and that we had signed an insurance document to cover us for accidental damage anyway. We then walked away. A couple of weeks after arriving home, my partner recieved his credit card statment which shown a transaction to Shermans for $250!! BE WARNED!!

We at Sherman’s Auto Rental would just like to make certain facts clear with regards Miss Louise Richards statement.

Mr Nathan Richards rented a vehicle on the 12th of August 2004 for a period of two (2) weeks. Mr Nathan Richards did not opt for the CDW (Collision Damage Waiver Insurance) which would cover the vehicle against any damages. I asked him to take a look at the vehicle to ensure that everything was alright. They agreed that all was perfect with the vehicle.

After nine (9) days Miss Louise Richards called me to informed that the Bumper had literally dropped off. I went about one hour thereafter and gave her another car, informing her that she had to pay for the Bumper since it was damaged. The guy from the garage along with myself agreed that they had bounced the Bumper. That was the reason why it fell off. In our years of Business we have never had a bumper fall off all at once. When I met them at the Airport I explained to them that because they did not have the CDW they had to pay for the repairs of the Bumper and they gave me the keys and walked away, stating ‘do what ever you want! We are not paying’.

We only charge them $200 USD which is $1200 TTD roughly $120 pounds. It is not the custom of Sherman’s Auto Rental to charge customers for damages if they take out the CDW. Neither is it our policy to carry out dishonest business practices. All was done according to procedure and the agreement signed by Mr Nathan Richards.

The normal procedure in this case, if all the facts stated are correct would be to take the receipt from the CDW claim to your credit card company or bank to receive a refund from us, if Mr Nathan Richards had the receipt for the CDW.

We have a receipt for Mr Nathan Richards – The Credit Card Slip which states only the total rental for the vehicle and charges of $200 USD for damages, not including the CDW. If you would like a copy you can write us at shermans@trinidad.net for a copy of receipt.

Regards,
Camella Rampersad,
Sherman’s Auto Rental
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[Cornelia Montgomery]

I'm curious about the term "bouncing the bumper"? What does that mean?

[Jane H]

Hi Cornelia

Surely you've seen some of the man-eating potholes on Tobagan roads (almost as bad as the Oxfordshire/Gloucestershire borders!!)?

Perhaps that's where the term comes from?

Jane

[Cornelia Montgomery]

Yes, I have seen those potholes. In fact, I remember clearly that last February, there was an amazingly deep pothole along Claude Noel highway maybe one-half mile from Pennysavers. What sticks in my memory is that there was a work crew not far away working on something else. I was tempted to stop and borrow a shovel to fill in the pothole. I just kept wondering how many drivers had injured their tires on that pothole. Also, in that week's issue of the Tobago News (which I read faithfully), there was a report that a pothole-filling machine had been bought at great expense. Where I live, workers still go out with shovels, sometimes, to fill potholes.
In Tobago, we always buy the full insurance, even though we're probably covered somewhat by our credit card. Paying through the nose just reduces our anxiety level. On the other hand, we do not rent a car for every day of our stay, as we might if the price/worry weren't so great. But I've been driving at home for many, many years on all sorts of roads and I've never lost a bumper. You'd think there'd be evidence of a colllision or something.Was the bumper reattached improperly after a previous accident?
However, we did have a flat tire in Tobago; while the company we rented the car from responded quickly, we were accused of running over something sharp -- like what? The tires were bald.

[Jane H]

We were lucky - the jeep equivalent we rented from the car hire place at Grafton Beach looked like a tank, drove like a tank - but also had the tyre equivalents of a tank, so even when we took the wrong road and ended up driving over the most awful tracks in the interior they survived intact. (Not my map reading that time - I was just driving!)

However - like you, we also took full insurance - for peace of mind!

Jane

[Cornelia Montgomery]

To balance things, I do have a good experience to report. On our second or third trip to Tobago, we were headed to the airport for our flight back home at about 6:30 a.m. Just as we neared Crown Point, a child on a bicycle came out of a side road. My husband, who was driving, veered slightly to the right -- not into the other lane -- to avoid the child. At the same time, a car behind us was attempting to pass us and sheared off the right rearview mirror. Both cars stopped. The other driver, a local because he had an ID on a lanyard around his neck, complained that how could we prove the car had had a rearview mirror on that side in the first place. That mirror had popped off at great velocity into the foliage at the side of the road, and I couldn't find it. The man said he would drive to the rental agency and settle the matter. Well, we thought that would never happen, turned the car in, were told that we would have to pay money for the damage, and headed toward the terminal. We had had a wonderful vacation, and this was a sad way to end it as we were going to be billed for the damage. We were resigned to our financial fate. As it turned up, about 10 minutes before our flight left, the driver who hit us showed up with the car-rental representative. We were absolved of all responsibilty. We were able to go home without a sour taste in our stomachs, and it's one of the reasons we keep returning.

[Andrew Prince]

We used Shermans in January this year. The car was delivered on time to our accommodation and was collected on time from the airport on our departure two weeks later.The vehicle , a Mitsubishi Lancer, was relatively new ,well presented and performed well on numerous forays all over the island. We are booking again with Shermans on our return visit in Jan 2005.
I think the moral of the sad story above is to check the small print and to thouroughly check the car on collection/delivery with a member of the car hire company insisting that they record on the paperwork any damage or faults.If you have a digital camera with you photograph the car.I know after a long flight this is the last thing we think of doing but if you dont book CDW and something happens then you will be charged for the damage and that is the same the world over.

[Louise Richards]

In response to the replies that have been posted, and as a message to Shermans themselves, I would like to point out that Nathan happily signed ALL paperwork that was presented to him, and did not refuse to sign any accident waiver. To do so would be totally foolish and I am surprised that Shermans have even suggested such a thing. When the "possy" of people arrived at our villa to inspect the damaged car, both myself and Nathan asked them about insurance, but this was simply shrugged off and the only response we recieved were merely grunts! We did present the documentation that Nathan had signed to them, which had the insurance information in the top right hand corner, but again this was dismissed as unimportant and irrelevant. On the day of recieving the car, we did look round the car but like most people, we did not inspect it thoroughly. Had we done so, we would have seen the rivets that were holding the bumper on, and the fact that one had split the bumper. Nathan is an experienced and very careful driver and although many Tobagon roads do have pot-holes, at no time, did Nathan "bounce" the car. The comments and accusations made by Shermans are slanderous and unless they find some kind of proof, I strongly suggest that they keep there opinions to themselves! I am pleased that many people have had satisfactory vehicle hire from Shermans, but unfortunately our experience of them is not one I would recommend. We have found the overall attitiude of Shermans to be very insatisfactory, and because of this, I shall continue to tell people about our experience of them, and advise against using them.

[Mark Palmer]

Just to say we have hired a Terios from Shermans via Camella for the past 4 years and have nothing but praise for the service we have recieved. Excellent vehicles at the best rates on the Island. A friendly and helpful face always waiting at the airport on arrival and departure. Couldn't ask for more. Highly reccomended and we are already booked with them for Easter 05.

[Brian Taylor]

just for the record:
bounce is the local term for hit (I bongs ju dong)
a good rental should just fix the tire or change it, flat tires happen even with good tires more often than for example in europe.
if you really damage a tyre in a way, that you hit (one of the very few) curbs for example, they should be able to show you the damage, it just looks different frim the "usual" flat...

hope you all drive safe in the future and bounce as few cars as possible...

steph

[David Watkins]

I rented a car from Sherman's via Yestourism and found that Sherman's were helpful and efficient even to delivering the car early.Only plus points for Sherman'!!
David

[Nina C.]

I agree. We have used Shermans on both visits to Tobago and have hired one of their soft top jeeps for the full two weeks both times. They meet you off the plane and we drop it off at check-in on the way home. I think they also deliver to your hotel/guesthouse. They were very friendly both times and we loved driving the jeep and thought it was the best vehicle to use on the island roads - great fun