By Lester Ho and Danson Chong

SOME people like their rental cars so much, they do not want to return it.

In one case, a customer even attached fake licence plates to his rented Toyota Vios to mask its identity.

A check with six rental car companies here showed that it is not uncommon to encounter customers who do not return their rented cars.

They said they each have five to 10 such cases every year.

The manager of a rental car company, who gave his name only as Mr Wong, told The New Paper that a customer rented a Vios for $70 a day on April 9.

The 41-year-old, who was supposed to return it after three days, called to ask for a one-day extension. But he did not return the car when the time was up.

He also did not answer calls from Mr Wong, who then mobilised his staff to keep a lookout for the missing grey car.

Some of them came across the car at a Sultan Place carpark last Wednesday.

Mr Wong, 32, said: "We saw someone who looked a lot like him (the customer), but we did not approach the car then."

What threw them off was that the number plates were different.

But they suspected it was the right car as it had similar scratches.

The man went to a pub across the street. Mr Wong was then able to confirm it was the Vios they were looking for.

He looked at its road tax disc and saw that the correct plate number was stated on it.

When the man came back, Mr Wong and his staff sprang into action and blocked the car.

Mr Wong then called the police.

It turned out that the customer was homeless and had been living in the car for the past five days.

The boot of the car was filled with his clothes and the original licence plates were also in there.

"The customer was very apologetic and he even put our licence plates back on," said Mr Wong.

They did not press charges and do not know whether the police took any action against the man.

That same day, Mr Wong's company lost a BMW 5 Series after a customer failed to return it.

They later found out that the man had rented the car, which has yet to be recovered, using another person's identity.

The customer, who is in his 30s, initially asked to view the BMWs available for rent.

When he was told there were none available, he insisted on getting one as he had to pick up a VIP from the airport.

Out of goodwill, the company decided to rent him the BMW they used as a company car.

A staff member showing the fake and original licence plates.

The man handed over his IC and driver's licence for them to take down his particulars.

Mr Wong said: "There was some resemblance, but the pictures did not match his face fully.

"But he said the pictures were quite old, which was why he looked different now."

Mr Wong agreed to rent out the car for $800, with a deposit of $500, but only under the condition that the car be returned by 8pm that day.

When the car was not back by 8.30pm, Mr Wong decided to call and find out where the customer was.

There was no answer and after several calls the phone was turned off.

"Since we had his address from his IC, we decided to go to his home," said Mr Wong.

There, he was greeted by an elderly couple who told him the person he was looking for was a previous tenant.

Mr Wong managed to reach the former tenant after getting his contact.

But he soon realised he had the wrong person.

The man said he had lost his IC and driver's licence two years ago.

Mr Wong said: "Losing a car is a major inconvenience for us.

"Firstly, we still have to pay for the instalment of the car. Secondly, we're not getting any income which can be generated by renting out that car to a paying customer. Thirdly, there's someone out there using the car for free."

$2,000 reward

That is why one rental car company is offering a $2,000 reward for information on one of its cars, a Toyota Axio. It placed a newspaper notice on Friday.

Mr Jeffrey Ee, 54, the general manager of Alpine Car Rental, said the car had been stolen while it was rented to a customer on a long-term contract basis.

He added: "The car was only 15 months old and the customer had rented it for about six months.

"He lives in Woodlands but travels regularly and would pass the car to his brother, who lives in Sengkang, when he goes overseas."

The New Paper contacted the customer but he declined to comment.

However, an online search on the car plate number revealed several posts on popular forums like MyCarForum and GreenCultureSG.

The posts were made by a netizen who identified himself as the customer's brother.

According to the forum posts, the car was stolen from the multi-storey carpark at Block 441, Fernvale Drive, between 8pm on March 25 and 9am the next day.

But what puzzles Mr Ee is that they have not received any fines or summons since the car was stolen.

He said: "The police told me the car didn't even go under any ERP gantries.

"Usually, if hirers don't return the car to us, we can try to track them down from the summons. But this time there's been nothing."

Mr Ee claims his loss is about $30,000.

"The customer would have to take some responsibility, but it's unlikely we're going to recover the full cost," he said.

Both Mr Ee and his customer have lodged police reports.

A police spokesman confirmed the reports and said investigations are on.

Mr Ee said nobody has come forward with information so far.

"If there's no news I'll put up another notice this week. I'll gladly pay the $2,000 to get my car back."

This article was first published in The New Paper.