One Huge Mistake People Make When Renting Cars

MULTIZ321 · Jun 28, 2015

One Huge Mistake People Make When Renting Cars - by Kim Komando/ The Kim Komando Show/ Programming/ Tech/ Fox New/ foxnew.com

"There are plenty of reasons to rent a car, from leaving an unreliable car behind on a vacation to getting around a business trip. There is a real hidden danger when renting a car that you may not even realize. And this one action on your part could put you and your family at substantial risk..."

Richard

Luanne · Jun 28, 2015

I have never connected my phone to a rental car. And I guess now, I never will.

DaveNV · Jun 28, 2015

I've done it, and found other people's accounts connected from previous rentals (usually it's only the one previous renter.) But without their phone in the car to connect to, access to their data isn't possible. It wouldn't hurt to forceably delete your own phone data from the car, but I don't think things are as dire as this article indicates.

Dave

Tia · Jun 28, 2015

One of my cars has the Bluetooth and still haven't set it up, so chances are 0 going to do it on a rental, but interesting none the less.

dioxide45 · Jun 28, 2015

Perhaps business travelers do this, but I certainly don't on our leisure travel.

sjsharkie · Jun 28, 2015

I connect my phone all the time and I work in information security.

I don't allow my call lists to be loaded into the car. Yes, the car will technically have the calls I did make while driving, but it's not a big deal to me. I do unpair my phone before leaving, and even this is not foolproof.

But honestly, it's all about the information you are leaving behind. If someone wants to access the 20 places my family went while on vacation, be my guest. Even while on business I'm not going to any super secret client meetings. Frankly, my life isn't that interesting.

Sorry, mom, if you get a call from the next guy that rents the car I just rented.

-ryan

dundey · Jul 20, 2015

sjsharkie said:
I connect my phone all the time and I work in information security.

I don't allow my call lists to be loaded into the car. Yes, the car will technically have the calls I did make while driving, but it's not a big deal to me. I do unpair my phone before leaving, and even this is not foolproof.

But honestly, it's all about the information you are leaving behind. If someone wants to access the 20 places my family went while on vacation, be my guest. Even while on business I'm not going to any super secret client meetings. Frankly, my life isn't that interesting.

Sorry, mom, if you get a call from the next guy that rents the car I just rented.

-ryan

Exactly, this was a waste of time article. Even if you do not unpair your phone, the call logs will not be there. Only the ability to pair it later. No issues at all.

VegasBella · Jul 20, 2015

BMWguynw said:
I've done it, and found other people's accounts connected from previous rentals (usually it's only the one previous renter.) But without their phone in the car to connect to, access to their data isn't possible. It wouldn't hurt to forceably delete your own phone data from the car, but I don't think things are as dire as this article indicates.

Dave

Agreed. We bought a car and the previous owner hadn't deleted their info. It was simply a bit annoying at first until we deleted it. There wasn't enough info there to invade her privacy.

One Huge Mistake People Make When Renting Cars

MULTIZ321

Luanne

TUG Review Crew: Expert

DaveNV

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Tia

dioxide45

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sjsharkie

dundey

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VegasBella