Workers from Transtur in Camagüey have lodged a complaint regarding alleged irregularities and duplicate charges during the rental of a vehicle in that province, according to a Facebook post by journalist José L. Tan Estrada.
The case involves a woman who traveled from the United States to Cuba to visit her nine-year-old daughter, who is suffering from a complicated case of hepatitis.
Before leaving, the woman hired and paid from the U.S. for a vehicle rental for 10 days at a rate of 75 dollars per day, which, according to the report, included car insurance and an additional driver.
Upon arriving at the Camagüey airport, however, they demanded that he pay 250 dollars again for the vehicle insurance, despite the fact that the complainants assert that this service was already covered. They also charged him an additional 30 dollars for the driver, who had also been previously contracted.
The situation escalated when, on the due date for the return, the woman was outside the province and contacted the agency located at Jayama, corner of La Rafelita, to inform them that she would return the car a day later.
According to the whistleblowing workers, an official identified as Saavedra, noted as the Deputy Director of Operations at Transtur, called her to inform that, in addition to losing the 250 dollars from the insurance, she would have to pay 500 additional dollars for that one day of delay.
The duplicate charges and the disproportionate penalty are joined by a third complaint: the contract stipulated 20 liters of gasoline per day for the 10 days of rental, but the fuel was only provided for three of those days, with the rest not being supplied.
Transtur employees who leaked the case are demanding transparency. "Why was an insurance charge applied again that, according to the complaint, had already been paid? What is the basis for charging 500 dollars for just one additional day? And what happened to the fuel included in the rental?" Tan Estrada asked in his post.
The official site of Transtur states that the rental price includes liability coverage, but does not cover a security deposit, fuel, airport pickup fees, or additional drivers, which leaves room for discrepancies between what is paid through external platforms and what is required upon picking up the vehicle in Cuba.
This case is not isolated. In August, a rental car ran out of gas upon leaving the airport, and in July another incident was reported where a car was supposed to arrive with 35 liters of fuel and arrived with 18.
In May, Cubans arriving from Miami reported service failures in car rentals, with waits of five hours or more than 12 hours at airports, unhonored reservations, and vehicles in poor condition.
So far, Transtur has not issued any public response regarding the reported irregularities in Camagüey.
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