Ayudar, por favor

October 6, 2007 8:03 AM

Could someone please translate my email to Spain from English into Spanish?

I sent the following email out last week and have not gotten a reply, so I thought I'd try sending it in Spanish. Thanks!

Hello,

I rented a car through Alamo for Tenerife from 14 Sept to 29 Sept., reservation
#. There was damage to the car when it was towed in Santa Cruz the
night of 28 Sept. I returned the car to Tenerife North airport at 6:15 on 29
Sept. The CICAR counter was not open at that time, so I left a note with my
return documents explaining the damage and included a copy of the police form I
received when I picked up the car from the police depository. I would like to
know the status of the charges for this rental, and whether I will be charged
for the damage.

With regards,
Nathanial Hornblower

posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér to Writing & Language (8 answers total)

Have you tried contacting their int'l customer service? The Alamo site specifically says:

"For questions relating to a past reservation or rental experience outside of the U.S. or Canada, please complete and submit the form provided."
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:24 AM on October 6, 2007

A quien corresponda:

Arrendé un auto a través de Alamo para Tenerife desde el 14 de septiembre hasta el 29 del mismo mes, reservación N°. Regresé el auto al aeropuerto de Tenerife Norte a las 6:15 del 29 de septiembre. La ventanilla de CICAR no estaba abierta a esa hora por lo que dejé una nota con mis documentos de regreso explicando el daño e incluí una copia del formulario policial que recibí cuando recogí el auto del corral policial. Me gustaría saber el estado de los cobros por el arriendo, y si seré cobrado por el daño.

Atentamente,
Nathaniel Hornblower

posted by Memo at 8:26 AM on October 6, 2007

Oops, I missed a part.

There was damage to the car when it was towed in Santa Cruz the
night of 28 Sept.

El auto resultó dañado cuando fue remolcado en Santa Cruz la noche del 28 de septiembre.

And Alquilé sounds much better than Arrendé, I guess that I got confused as around here the latter is the one used.

So it would end like this:

A quien corresponda:

Alquilé un auto a través de Alamo para Tenerife desde el 14 de septiembre hasta el 29 del mismo mes, reservación N°. El auto resultó dañado cuando fue remolcado en Santa Cruz la noche del 28 de septiembre. Regresé el auto al aeropuerto de Tenerife Norte a las 6:15 del 29 de septiembre. La ventanilla de CICAR no estaba abierta a esa hora por lo que dejé una nota con mis documentos de regreso explicando el daño e incluí una copia del formulario policial que recibí cuando recogí el auto del corral policial. Me gustaría saber el estado de los cobros por el arriendo, y si seré cobrado por el daño.

Atentamente,
Nathaniel Hornblower

posted by Memo at 8:30 AM on October 6, 2007

Goodnews, I called the Alamo International customer service and they said I needed to call their Spain office directly. The car was actually rented through a company called CICAR, so I thought I'd try contacting them directly first. But I'll certainly try the form you found on their site. Thanks!
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 8:37 AM on October 6, 2007

Alright. Have you tried calling the Spanish office via telephone then? I'd be amazed if they couldn't provide customer service in English.

Basically, as cool as the hispanophone efforts here are, I don't really see how taking this into a language you don't speak wouldn't complicate matters needlessly.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:45 AM on October 6, 2007

Goodnews, I speak and can understand it a little bit (especially if it's written), but had some issues in Santa Cruz because I didn't speak enough of it, so I thought I'd be courteous and try communicating in their language as well as mine. And really, all I want to know is if I'll be charged for the damage. If I am, I don't see trying to fight the charges from the US. If I don't get a response in the next week or so, I'll probably try calling at that point. Was also trying to avoid a transatlantic call too!
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 8:50 AM on October 6, 2007

Please pay no attention to nintendo's fairly ridiculous answer: Santa Cruz becomes Papá Noel Cruz? As in, Father Christmas Cruz? "I left it on the counter" becomes "a la izquierda" (izquierda is left as in left-handed)? And I've never heard of "Hola hola." Granted, I'm only in Spanish 201 at university, but still...
posted by notswedish at 10:22 AM on October 6, 2007

Looks like Nintendo's answer came straight from Google translations (and has now been deleted from the thread). But yeah, the Papa Noel Cruz was a red flag for me too.
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 11:52 AM on October 6, 2007