Car rental rates / extra fees (shenanigans)?

[Sandi Bo]

Anyone noticing extra charges they weren't expecting on car rentals.

This is the 2nd time, I let it go last time. But I will be following up on this one.

I always rent using costco. The amount charged has always been the same as quoted. Til now... I have an extra $32.96 charged. It seems to be for extra gas and tax on the gas (+ a couple extra dollars). We topped off the tank blocks before turning the car in :-( This is with Budget. I'll be going back through my rentals, there was a similar scenario earlier this year and I let it go. These extra charges (for nothing, really) seem scandalish to me!

 

[jp10558]

I will say, so often I find that "the cheap option" up front ends up somehow costing about as much as "the regular option" once I'm done. With my recent National rental in Las Vegas I was charged exactly what I agreed to on checkout - basically I decided to pre-pay for gas at a lower rate and I didn't have to worry about it. Granted, I still probably "bought" an extra half a tank, but $3.70 vs $5.10 a gallon and not having to worry about it was worth it to me. And if I was billed like you it would have evened out anyway.

 

[RX8]

We also use Costco for ask our rentals. My last experience with Avis mirrored yours. It started when I picked up the car. It smelled bad and was as dirty as a car could be. Those issues didn’t bother me too much because it was a one day rental to the airport (but I wanted to ensure they were aware so I didn’t get charged their exorbitant cleaning fee). The contract reflected a full tank of gas but the actual fuel level was slightly over 1/2 tank. Back in to the counter I went. The representative seemed annoyed with me for my concerns. He downplayed the first two issues by stating that all older Malibu’s smelled bad and that the car wash was broken. Another employee vouched for the true level of fuel. The representative gave me lip service by stating he would give a $10 discount and that he corrected the fuel level in the system, both apparently lies.

I drove to the airport and dropped off the car. There was no one to check in the car, which is normal for this airport. I expected to get an email receipt which I did while I was I waiting at the gate. To my surprise there was an added charge of close to $40. There was also no $10 discount. I immediately called and for the next hour I had to deal with this issue. They required me to fill out an online form. In the end, they refunded the overcharge which I was told was because I didn’t return the car with a full tank. They did not give me the promised $10 discount. I will never use that shady location again (which happened to be in a Walmart).

Wanted to add a story about another rental overcharge that may have been your issue. I had topped off the fuel before returning and was still charged a fee for more gas. Apparently, the rental company, which I believe was Budget, used a onboarding monitoring system to check fuel level. Apparently, their system showed it had 16.6 gallons at the time of rental and was returned with 16.2 gallons, or something like that. They immediately dropped the charge when I complained. The actual fuel level on the dash was over the full mark. That seemed scammy to me.

 

[Sandi Bo]

We also use Costco for ask our rentals. My last experience with Avis mirrored yours. It started when I picked up the car. It smelled bad and was as dirty as a car could be. Those issues didn’t bother me too much because it was a one day rental to the airport. The contract reflected a full tank of gas but the actual fuel level was slightly over 1/2 tank. Back in to the counter I went. The representative seemed annoyed with me for my concerns. He downplayed the first two issues by stating that all older Malibu’s smelled bad and that the car wash was broken. Another employee vouched for the true level of fuel. The representative gave me lip service by stating he would give a $10 discount and that he corrected the fuel level in the system, both apparently lies.

I drove to the airport and dropped off the car. There was no one to check in the car, which is normal for this airport. I expected to get an email receipt which I did while I was I waiting at the gate. To my surprise there was an added charge of close to $40. There was also no $10 discount. I immediately called and for the next hour I had to deal with this issue. They required me to fill out an online form. In the end, they refunded the overcharge which I was told was because I didn’t return the car with a full tank. They did not give me the promised $10 discount. I will never use that shady location again (which happened to be in a Walmart).

Wanted to add a story about another rental overcharge that may have been your issue. I had topped off the fuel before returning and was still charged a fee for more gas. Apparently, the rental company, which I believe was Budget, used a onboarding monitoring system to check fuel level. Apparently, their system showed it had 16.6 gallons at the time of rental and was returned with 16.2 gallons, or something like that. They immediately dropped the charge when I complained. The actual fuel level on the dash was over the full mark. That seemed scammy to me.

Yup - seems scammy to me, too! I'll be more diligent in the future, I almost missed this. It has been resolved already - I contacted Costco who contacted Budget. They emailed me, I sent the gas receipt, they issues a credit. This is their response:

Thank you for taking the time to contact Budget. We apologize for the issue you had with a refueling service charge on your rental at LOS ANGELES CA AP.

Be assured that the refueling charge for your rental has been adjusted, and we have credited the amount of $32.95 to your credit card. Please allow three to five business days for processing. A revised receipt can be obtained on the website at www.budget.com then click Get a Receipt.

 

[Shiba]

This is the reason why I now take video and pictures of the gas gauge and of the car upon pick up and return.

 

[Elan]

We recently rented from Avis through Costco. All went as planned, with no surprise charges, but when picking up the car the counter person was very clear that we needed to fill up the car upon return "within 5 miles" of the airport. That's the first time I'd been told that.This was a Ford Escape which presumably gets ~25mpg, so at $3.75/g (CA) infers that 5 miles is roughly 75 cents in fuel, retail.
The other thing that was a first was that this car had over 75k miles. It was newer, clean, and still in good shape, but I've never received a rental with anywhere near that mileage.
Otoh, I don't rent cars that often, so maybe both aspects are now common?

 

[dougp26364]

So far we’ve been charged what the Costco rate has shown. The only extra has been the occasional fee for FF miles attached to the rental (some charge a fee if you want to earn mile) or the inadvertent toll charge in Colorado when I forgot to list tolls as an avoidance when using a GPS program.

I stopped paying for the full tank when picking up the rental. To me that was a challenge to see just how empty I can leave the gas tank when I return the car. I think I calculated it was saving me around $20 at most and wasn’t worth the anxiety of worrying about running out of gas on the way to the airport.

Right now we prefer Alamo as we’ve had decent luck getting in and out quickly with their skip the line feature. I’ve had issues with Budget the past couple of times so we try to avoid using them, even if I have to pay a couple of dollars more. I avoid Hertz like the plague but the other major players have done OK. What I find amusing is there’s really only a couple of major agencies but each owns a couple of brands.

 

[dougp26364]

We recently rented from Avis through Costco. All went as planned, with no surprise charges, but when picking up the car the counter person was very clear that we needed to fill up the car upon return "within 5 miles" of the airport. That's the first time I'd been told that.This was a Ford Escape which presumably gets ~25mpg, so at $3.75/g (CA) infers that 5 miles is roughly 75 cents in fuel, retail.
The other thing that was a first was that this car had over 75k miles. It was newer, clean, and still in good shape, but I've never received a rental with anywhere near that mileage.
Otoh, I don't rent cars that often, so maybe both aspects are now common?

We rent 5 or 6 cars per year. Prior to the pandemic most typically had under 35,000 miles. Post pandemic they seem to typically have around 60,000 miles. The last two rentals have been better with mileage around 20,000.

I suspect agencies sold off a lot of inventory to stay afloat during the pandemic, then kept vehicles around longer because new and used car prices were thru the roof. Now, with used car prices falling, we may see agencies off loading higher mileage rentals before their value plummets in order to maximize profits. I’m sure they have it calculated out where the line is between resale value and keeping the car for rental value minus routine maintenance and necessary mechanical repairs.

 

[dioxide45]

The problem with paying for a full tank of gas at pickup is that even if you leave a gallon in the tank at drop off you are probably adding about $0.30/gallon to the price of gas actually going into the car. Leave it with two gallons? Then the price you paid for the actual gas used is probably about $0.60 higher than if you just bought it yourself. Leave it with a half tank? You paid over $6 a gallon.

They calculate the amount of gas needed based on an empty tank. It is also not based on the tank in the car you rented but rather the average of all the vehicles in that car class or even the largest tank in that car class. Rep buying a full tank of gas at pickup is a huge money maker for the rental car companies. Which usually means a ripoff for the renter. You are paying for convenience.

 

["Roger"]

Don't get me wrong, I think you are being jobbed, but Budget policy is that the tank not only needs to be full but you provide them with a receipt.

 

[dioxide45]

Don't get me wrong, I think you are being jobbed, but Budget policy is that the tank not only needs to be full but you provide them with a receipt.

We rented from Budget at PHX earlier this year and they never requested a receipt. A problem with PHX is that there isn't any gas stations I can find that are all that close to the airport.

 

[dougp26364]

The problem with paying for a full tank of gas at pickup is that even if you leave a gallon in the tank at drop off you are probably adding about $0.30/gallon to the price of gas actually going into the car. Leave it with two gallons? Then the price you paid for the actual gas used is probably about $0.60 higher than if you just bought it yourself. Leave it with a half tank? You paid over $6 a gallon.

They calculate the amount of gas needed based on an empty tank. It is also not based on the tank in the car you rented but rather the average of all the vehicles in that car class or even the largest tank in that car class. Rep buying a full tank of gas at pickup is a huge money maker for the rental car companies. Which usually means a ripoff for the renter. You are paying for convenience.

Thus why I was always trying to return the car on fumes. Return the car with an ounce of gas remaining? Challenge accepted! Unfortunately the savings wasn’t worth the anxiety.

 

[moonstone]

Don't get me wrong, I think you are being jobbed, but Budget policy is that the tank not only needs to be full but you provide them with a receipt.

We had a Tampa (not the airport) Budget agent ask us for a gas receipt when we turned in our rental last December. DH had filled up 2-3 blocks from the drop off place but since we had just got gas as we were approaching town, it only cost $2.-3.00 to top it up (past where it clicks off). The woman said $2.-3 wouldn't fill the tank so she was going to charge us. Since we keep all receipts for credit card purchases I was able to show her the other gas receipt for just prior to that fill-up. I also had taken a photo of the dash with all the lights and mileage numbers lit up when we parked the car. You could clearly see the needle on the gas gage overtop of the "F". She removed the charge!

We had our home vehicle insurance company (that has a rider for rental cars) send us something we could print off and carry with us to show what coverage our policy had for rental cars. Years ago we had an agent (cant remember what company) who wouldn't believe that we had the extra coverage or that it met their requirements, and wanted us to pay for their coverage.


~Diane

 

[PigsDad]

Thus why I was always trying to return the car on fumes. Return the car with an ounce of gas remaining? Challenge accepted! Unfortunately the savings wasn’t worth the anxiety.

There are many times where I don't come close to even using one tank of gas during my rental, so it would never be advantageous to pre-pay for gas in those cases. And almost all other times, I really don't know how many miles or how much gas I am going to be using, so unless I stop and put in a single gallon at a time and drive again until its empty, I never see how pre-paying makes any sense. The only case where it makes sense is if you are planning to not fill it up before returning and have them fuel it for you, IMO.

Kurt

 

[emeryjre]

Car Rental Companies have become very aggressive adding on fees at the time of rental
They bonus employees based on addons
Some companies have agents push harder than others
In my experience, Budget and Avis are the most aggressive
Alamo the least
I have the AMEX additional rental insurance that provides 100K damage coverage for $17.95 for the duration of the rental period up to a maximum of 30 days
It is offered by AMEX
It is an extra and requires signing up for it one time
It requires using an AMEX card at the time of rental
Very nice since it covers charges for lost rental revenue in the event of an accident to rental car
Credit Cards have generally dropped the lost rental revenue coverage

 

[Superchief]

We also use Costco for ask our rentals. My last experience with Avis mirrored yours. It started when I picked up the car. It smelled bad and was as dirty as a car could be. Those issues didn’t bother me too much because it was a one day rental to the airport (but I wanted to ensure they were aware so I didn’t get charged their exorbitant cleaning fee). The contract reflected a full tank of gas but the actual fuel level was slightly over 1/2 tank. Back in to the counter I went. The representative seemed annoyed with me for my concerns. He downplayed the first two issues by stating that all older Malibu’s smelled bad and that the car wash was broken. Another employee vouched for the true level of fuel. The representative gave me lip service by stating he would give a $10 discount and that he corrected the fuel level in the system, both apparently lies.

I drove to the airport and dropped off the car. There was no one to check in the car, which is normal for this airport. I expected to get an email receipt which I did while I was I waiting at the gate. To my surprise there was an added charge of close to $40. There was also no $10 discount. I immediately called and for the next hour I had to deal with this issue. They required me to fill out an online form. In the end, they refunded the overcharge which I was told was because I didn’t return the car with a full tank. They did not give me the promised $10 discount. I will never use that shady location again (which happened to be in a Walmart).

Wanted to add a story about another rental overcharge that may have been your issue. I had topped off the fuel before returning and was still charged a fee for more gas. Apparently, the rental company, which I believe was Budget, used a onboarding monitoring system to check fuel level. Apparently, their system showed it had 16.6 gallons at the time of rental and was returned with 16.2 gallons, or something like that. They immediately dropped the charge when I complained. The actual fuel level on the dash was over the full mark. That seemed scammy to me.

I had a similar experience with Avis. I topped off the gas at an airport gas station less than a mile from Avis dropoff point and was charged $25 for gas and refuel fee. It turned out their record showed that the return level was .2 gallons less than what their records showed at checkout. I called and the fee was refunded, but I now only use Avis when their Costco rate is much lower than other options. I've also noticed that Avis often has nobody to check in your car at Phoenix and some other airport locations. I've had better recent experiences with Alamo.

 

[Superchief]

We rented from Budget at PHX earlier this year and they never requested a receipt. A problem with PHX is that there isn't any gas stations I can find that are all that close to the airport.

Finding open gas stations near the Phoenix airport rental car facilities is always a problem. I found a station on Google maps that I planned to use, but it was closed when I got there. I had to backtrack to another station in a rough area the had much higher prices and couldn't get a receipt at the pump. Luckily, I had filled up the tank the previous day at Costco, and wasn't asked for the receipt when I checked in the car. I'm glad that the light rail from rental facilities to the airport is now running because previously it could take an hour to get the bus to my terminal.

 

[dougp26364]

Finding open gas stations near the Phoenix airport rental car facilities is always a problem. I found a station on Google maps that I planned to use, but it was closed when I got there. I had to backtrack to another station in a rough area the had much higher prices and couldn't get a receipt at the pump. Luckily, I had filled up the tank the previous day at Costco, and wasn't asked for the receipt when I checked in the car. I'm glad that the light rail from rental facilities to the airport is now running because previously it could take an hour to get the bus to my terminal.

We had a similar issue in Salt Lake City several years ago. I had such an issue finding an open station I nearly opted to bite the bullet and pay the fee for dropping off tank less than full

 

[dioxide45]

Thus why I was always trying to return the car on fumes. Return the car with an ounce of gas remaining? Challenge accepted! Unfortunately the savings wasn’t worth the anxiety.

But what is fumes? If the car says there are still 20 miles of gas, that is about a gallon.

 

[easyrider]

We mostly have good luck renting cars through Costco for trips in the lower 48 States and sometimes Hawaii. The only problem we really had with a Costco reservation was at the airport in Newark. They were good at taking the reservation but not so good at keeping a car for us.

Bill

 

[Blues]

We also rent cars almost exclusively through Costco Travel. Had an interesting, and unexpected. experience in renting one-way from St Louis to Memphis.

St Louis - Terrible. My brother was dropping us off, and couldn't get into the rental lot! Totally secured. He had to drop us off on the sidewalk, and we squeezed through a gate, over gravel, and 100 yards across to the rental counter, pulling our suitcases. Then they tried to fob off a lower class of car to us. We got that corrected and were on our way.

Memphis - after traveling several days seeing other relatives and spending a few days in Nashville, we ended up at our hotel in Memphis. I had specified a drop-off at an Avis location just 3 blocks from our hotel (Peabody). Unfortunately, I had missed the fact that the location closed at noon. At 11:58, I had no time to fill up, so I showed up to the rental car location with 1/2 tank of gas. I explained my predicament to the agent, a very nice middle-aged lady who was there with her son. I offered to gas it up, if she could just keep the location open for an extra 10 minutes. She explained that she had to leave promptly at noon to take her son to his baseball game. I said OK, I guess I'll pay the surcharge for filling the tank. At which point, she comped me the gas charge! I was flabbergasted, and expressed great thanks. But she was quickly closing up and getting to her own car.

 

[Vacay0606]

I found out that Avis had a cheaper rate than Costco for Kauai for a Camero convertable rental. I down loaded the Avis app and signed up for Premier. When we got to the rental counter the lady asked if we wanted a Jeep Wrangler instead. My daughter who is with us for this trip booked the Wrangler and I know she paid $150 less then we did. I politely said no. Do you think they would have given me the cheaper rate? I doubt it. So I asked if I could have any color but white because the cars get very dirty from the Kauai red dirt. She said that they only had a white one so I had to accept it. They pulled the white convertable up and they must have just washed it and it still had dirt on the bottom door panels and on the trunk. When I tried putting the top down it wouldn't go. I asked one of the employees and they said that the previous renters had trouble with the top going down to. What the.....So in I go back to the counter and the lady ignored me for awhile and finally she waited on me. I told her the problem and she wanted to know who told me that it was broke. I told her the name of the young man and she said she didn't know him. I pointed to him in the parking lot and she said "Oh". So she gets me another car. They pull up a red shiny Camero convertable with a top that actually worked. If we had pulled away and returned it a day later saying it didn't work, would they have say that we broke it and handed us a bill for repairs?