Alaska Auto Rental in Fairbanks, Alaska

I would avoid this company at all costs!!! My worst rental and customer experience so far. Car they gave me didn't feel safe during the winter. They sell additional collision coverage, but it doesn't seem to work at all - after an accident with another car (and it was another car driver's fault) they started suing me in full amount of money + bunch of fees, losses etc. Since winter driving is pretty dangerous and after an accident with fault of another person they tried to get all the money from their clients (who wherein bought collision damage waiver they offered) - I would beware of this company. About cars and prices: I rented their car because I thought it would be safe and reasonable priced. I paid more than $100 per day for "Subcompact car" + additional coverage, fees etc. Although they equipped the vehicle with ice scraper, I found myself sliding on the roads. I don't know a lot about winter tires, but I think locals told me they wouldn't drive this car during the winter. One of them let me try their own car (on an empty area) and I felt a huge difference, it felt way safer, it almost didn't slide (I don't understand why, if rental car had winter tires). About customer service: We got in an accident, and since it wasn't our fault, we filled reports and went back home after our trip. Everything looked ok so far, Fairbanks was beautiful and we enjoyed our trip to Alaska. After about 4 months I got a letter saying they started suing me in full. I bought their collision damage waiver, and still lawsuit was about full amount of money. They didn't even contact me before suing. Then I had a hard time to figure out what's going on. I called company many times but they seemed not knowing and not caring about it. Claim department (Peter) didn't answer, but then I called office again and initially they told me to call him again, but when I said something like "lawsuit has a deadline for answer" they just gave the phone to him (or they did something else but next I heard was Peter's voice). He wasn't able to explain what it is either. It took a couple more calls to find this case. My impression from these calls is "they don't care". I think during one call they even pretended that signal is bad and just ignored me for a minute, and then kept talking (not a big problem, just a very rude thing to do). Total: Although they didn't spoil our vacation in this lovely town, now I feel harassed. Now I get calls and even my wife gets emails saying that I owe money. Alaska Auto Rental seems like didn't even try to contact me before suing and didn't know what's going on when I contacted them. They just started suing me 4 month after the accident! I don't understand why they sell this collision coverage. I don't understand why they try to get money from their clients instead of the person who actually caused the damage. I feel like I was (and still being) treated unfair. There are another ways to find a good winter car in Fairbanks and I won't be surprised if they end up cheaper safer and with better customer service altogether then Alaska Auto Rental. You can get a lot of great experience in Fairbanks, but Alaska Auto Rental can add some regrets later.

Great service. They are really helpful considering time and conditions for pickup and dropping off the car.