We stayed at Mont Vernon St Martin from January 30 to February 12, 2017. We were very pleased with the property and the location. I was however very upset with the recommendation that was provided to me by the property manager, Alexendra, for a rental car. I found Izzy Car,
http://www.izzycarsxm.com, to be the worst rental agency that I have ever rented a car from. I have rented cars in St Martin previously as well as all over the world. I was very surprised that she would recommend such a company to her clients, and have to believe that she is getting compensation from the rental agency and putting little regard for the condo renter.
My 1st concern is with the condition and quality of the cars that were rented to me. Izzy Car provided me with a 7 year old car that was in terrible condition. I have a police report that shows the car's age. For the short time that I had the 1st car, the airbag warning light was on throughout the rental. At times I doubted that the car would make it up the various hills that we traveled on. The car was in terrible condition. I didn't expect a brand new car, but 7 years old was well beyond its life as a rental car.
My 2nd concern was that car was then stolen. The car was stolen under very suspicious circumstances Mont Vernon has security cameras on the property. The security person was nice enough to let me view the cameras when I reported that the car was stolen. I have been a police officer for 32 years and feel that the circumstances around the car theft are very suspicious, and from my experience and from those that I spoke with in St Martin, that there is a very good chance that Izzy Car stole the vehicle themselves. I am told that some non reputable rental agencies do this when the rental car is old and is no longer useful to them. They then collect on the insurance and from the customer. I personally had to pay €1250 out of my pocket that will not be reimbursed by my credit card. I don't want to put such a small claim on my insurance and have the rates go up. While I cannot prove that Izzy Car is responsible, the circumstances are very suspicious.
• The car was located in the lower parking lot of Mont Vernon. The thief drove past hundreds of cars before they took this one. The road leading to Mont Vernon is lined with cars that are not watched on video. Cars in much better condition. Why would someone enter a camera monitored property to steal a piece of junk car when there were several that were in better condition and not on camera?
• The thief arrived 5 minutes after the lights at Mont Vernon are scheduled to be turned off. Lights go off at 6:00AM, thief arrived at 6:05AM. Once the lights went off the video became unclear. The thief appears to have known this.
• The thief simply got in the car and within seconds drove off. From my experience as a police officer it would usually take a thief a bit longer to steal a car without keys. It appears that the thief had a key.
The 2nd car provided to me by Izzy Car was in the same condition as the 1st. I don't know how old it was, but it was all dented and rusted. Along with the 1st car provided by Izzy Car, they were the worst cars that I have ever rented in the world.
I cannot prove that Izzy Car stole the vehicle, but the circumstances are very suspicious. Aside from the vehicle being stolen the age and condition of the cars was appalling. This is not my 1st St Martin rental and I have rented much better cars for a similar cost. Do yourself a favor and rent elsewhere. I would walk 100 miles across a desert barefoot before I would rent a car from Izzy Car again.
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