'I trusted you': Former actor blasts car rental 'hooligan' after he's accused of defaulting on payments

Renting a car without making full payments and even wrapping it in a different colour — that's what this former actor has been accused of doing by the company he rented the vehicle from.

In multiple posts on TikTok beginning on Monday (July 24), rental company Stark Bike and Car Rental shared a video of a neon green BMW M3, claiming that it was a repossessed vehicle previously rented by actor-turned-loan broker Mikhail Abdul Razak, better known as Nick Mikhail.

"The person who rented this car is Nick Mikhail and he didn't pay the rent which is due today," Stark's staff alleged.

They further claimed that Mikhail, 44, "always had problems" with rental payments and even wrapped the car in a different colour.

Responding to these allegations, former Suria actor Mikhail shared in an Instagram post on Monday that he had tried to "mind his own business" and let his legal team handle the matter.

"But I have to say something, because I think this is a little too much and too childish," he said, describing Stark as "hooligans" in his post.

Explaining his perspective on the dispute, he said that he had chosen to rent instead of buying a car in Singapore because it's too expensive. He said he's currently working in Malaysia. 

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He said that he approached Stark to rent a vehicle from them earlier this year for a period of one year and was told that the contract was "as normal", he claimed.

Mikhail added: "I trusted you, I did not read the contract — come on guys, when we sign contracts, we don't read every single fine print."

He said that he was unaware of a clause that requires him to pay the full sum of his year-long contract, $27,000, if he should break it.

Mikhail said he only rented the car for three months. 

"I did not know of this. If I knew, I wouldn't sign with Stark," Mikhail said in his Instagram post, also sharing that he assumed only his deposit would be forfeit if he returned his car early.

He also added: "I didn't read the contract and now you're using the contract against me — I feel I was cheated, I feel I was tricked into signing it." 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by @nickmikhailrazak

Once blue, now green

Stark shared in separate TikTok posts that they have the contract that wasn't just signed, but also has Mikhail's thumbprint that acknowledges he has read through and understood the contract.

Additionally, Stark claimed that they have never charged him any late fees at all.

They only decided to repossess the vehicle after they were blocked from "any communication" with Mikhail following a message from him that he wanted to return the car.

Stark claimed that Mikhail allegedly said that his passport was being held for investigation in Malaysia, so he got a friend to drive the car to Stark that day, just as rent was due.

"We told him that in the first place nobody else should be driving the car as the insurance doesn't cover that, and also that this breaks the lease," Stark wrote on TikTok in a later post, also on Monday.

When the repossessed the vehicle, Stark was shocked to find the car — once blue — now green; they had told Mikhail that changing car wraps would be done "at his own risk" and that he needed to return the car in the same condition it was received.

In Instagram Story posts today, Mikhail addressed the situation once more, stating that Stark may sue him "for legal settlement for returning the car early", and that he'll "give that to them".

However, he claimed that he intends to sue for "defamation, renting without proper insurance and contesting against contract terms".

"If you want to be social media gangsters, then you can do what gangsters do," He added. "I'm here waiting."

Speaking with AsiaOne, a spokesperson from Stark said: "We are doing what is necessary for the public because we don't want him to do the same thing to another rental company. 

"You can be an influencer, but the rules are the rules."

They also alleged that they have evidence that disproves some of Mikhail's claims.

Not the first time?

When it comes to rentals, Mikhail has had problems in the past as well — in September 2015, a car he rented from online classifieds site Gumtree Singapore was impounded by Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) for investigations in a drug-related case.

This was after he had reportedly made late payments on multiple occasions before admitting that he had sublet the car out — and that the car had gone missing.

In March this year, he pleaded guilty to one charge of advertising illegal e-cigarettes and six counts of either selling or offering to sell them. He was fined $13,000 then.

AsiaOne has reached out to Mikhail for comment.

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khooyihang@asiaone.com

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