Anyone else experienced the gas gauge scam?
Car rental companies are among the most inventive in the travel industry when it comes to fees and surcharges designed to line their pockets. But just when you thought you had heard it all, along comes a new scam.
Reader Penny McLain brought this one to my attention. Let’s call it the gas gauge rip-off.
On two separate occasions with two different car rental companies, she had returned her rental with a completely full tank of gas.
“Both times, the attendants had supposedly checked the gas gauge — we saw them do it,” she wrote. “And although we knew the tank was full, we were issued a receipt that reflected a big charge for gas.”
Good thing she had kept the gas receipt and checked the print-out handed to her by the attendant before leaving the returns area.
“Once brought to the attention of the attendants at the respective agencies’ counter, the ‘mistake’ was rectified,” says McLain. “But for the most part, no apology or explanation was forthcoming.”
Quite the contrary. At one agency, the attendant who had checked the gas gauge just laughed at her.
“So much for customer service,” she says.
McLain believes most renters are in a hurry to get to their flight and probably don’t bother to check their bill until they get home — if they do at all. Her advice is to read the receipt carefully before catching your flight home.
And I would add one other piece of advice. When you fill the tank, ask for a receipt and keep it. It might save you some serious bucks if it ever comes to a dispute.
It’s no secret that car rental companies are trying to make money any way they can. It is also true that fuel-purchase options are a lucrative business.
But misrepresenting the gas gauge on a receipt? C’mon.
Has anyone else experienced the gas gauge scam? If so, with which car rental agency? How did you resolve the dispute?
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36 Responses to “Anyone else experienced the gas gauge scam?”
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Yes, we had the same experience with Europcar in Marseilles last October. We were leaving the city after a week of travel and filled the tank to the brim on the way to the airport. Unfortunately we paid cash for the diesel without a receipt. When we arrived at the airport, the rental agents were busy and we ended up just having them sign our rental receipt and we caught our flight. A month later we received a bill for 30 liters of fuel at $1.75 euros per liter (we paid $1.05). The charge was assessed a full week after we returned the car. We complained to AAA Travel who booked the rental for us and they went back to Europcar. They were informed that if we didn’t have a receipt for the fuel we were out of luck. We then turned to our credit card company and had the charge pulled. Europcar then sent us a letter stating that if we didn’t pay the amount immediately we would be put on their “bad list”. I didn’t really care because I doubt I’ll ever rent from them again anyway, but my attorney wife sent them a letter explaining why we pulled the charge and offering notarized affidavits from all six people in the car. That’s the last we heard, but we may be on the Blacklist!
Once, as I was leaving with a rental car, I caught a clerk marking me down as wanting the car rental outfit to fill the tank on return. Ever since, I’ve been religious about taking pictures of the fuel gauge and any damage to the car, before and after, with time/date stamps. Of course, I look over my final bill very carefully, but it’s common practice for rental companies to ding you afterward for things it “discovers” later. This is why I also save my fuel receipts for at least six months afterward, to head off any later claims on my credit card statement. I’ve never had any problems with getting charged for anything after the fact.
One car rental place doesn’t always give you a car with a full tank, and that really makes me nervous. I usually end up putting more gas in the car than I started with. Maybe they do that on purpose, because others do likewise? With the price of gas these days, I could be giving up as much as $12 additional for the free gas they get from me.
This scam is nothing new. Experienced it myself in 2000 in Dubuque Iowa. Car was rented by a colleague for the week. We were told we could not buy the tank at checkout because “gas was too expensive”.
So, we had to re-fill the tank at 3 AM within a mile of the airport. Tank returned absolutely full. Company charged big fuel refill charge anyway.
Luckily, there were two people in the car, but unluckily my colleague didn’t check the receipt at the airport before we left. He disputed the charge on the telephone with them when we returned and it was found. Car company didn’t want to remove charge until I got on the line and told them I was present also and could PROVE tank was filled on return. They then RELUCTENTLY removed the charge. So, its good advice to keep receipt, get a witness, and challenge bill on site if possible.
The State Attorney General of the state you rented in would be more than happy to hear the story. Every State has a website and consumer fraud cases can be reparted on line with ease. I’ve had great success getting full refunds from travel companies along with free weekend rentals in the case of the rental car companies.
I had this a number of times, mostly using National and more than once in Orlando (although also in Boston).
My favorite time was in Orlando a few years ago when this happened. I had to take the receipt inside and get the customer service manager to change it. She then questioned my choice of gas stations, estimated the distance from the station to the airport and charged me a fraction of a gallon because “missing gas costs money.” She then promptly left the counter as I was yelling at her and went in the back room. I called National, who my company had a deal with at the time, from the airport and had the charges reversed, but it was among the worst rental experiences I had ever had.
I have found that it usually helps to proactively wave the gas receipt at the attendent when they check the gage. Seems silly, but it saves the few extra minutes it would take to go inside, wait in line and have the situation rectified.
I’ve also noticed a growing trend with all of the major car rental agencies to send many of their cars out “barely” full of gas. Instead of the fuel gauge needle being on the peg, it barely rests on the Full mark. Drive a few miles down the road and there it goes falling toward the 3/4 and 1/2 mark at an alarming rate - sometimes I can’t even make it from the airport lot to my hotel without at least 1/8th of tank disappearing.
At least twice in Orlando, a National employee has insisted the gas gauge did not show a full tank even though I had purchased fuel at the nearest station, even topping off to make sure the tank was completely full.
The first time it happened, I was early enough that I could wait in line to dispute the charge with the agent at the desk. The second time, I was running late and just ate the extra charge for refueling.
That second episode forced me to analyze the situation a bit more rigorously. I was traveling frequently to Orlando at the time but also renting cars from National in several other cities, and the Orlando outlet was the only one giving me trouble.
Then I realized that the floor of the parking garage in the National return area at MCO is on a slope, which can cause a misreading as fuel shifts in the tank. Secondly, not every gauge in every car reads identically: for instance, the needle may not go all the way past “F” even when the tank is absolutely full.
My strategy now is to pay attention to the position of the fuel gauge needle every time I pick up a car. If the gauge does not register absolutely full, I notify the agent who checks me out that I am taking the car with less than a full tank. The agent then notes on my rental record that the car left the lot 7/8 full so there is no argument when I return.
Since I started doing this, I’ve never had another problem with unreliable gas gauge gouging. (I rent almost exclusively from National now and reached Executive Level status last year.)
I now have a new tactic in this on going battle. First I make sure the attendant marks my rental papers with the exact location of the fuel gauge when I rent the car. Then, if I have time, I fill up at the first station after leaving the airport. Often I get as much as 5 gallons of gas at this time. I note the time and mileage of the vehicle on the receipt. Of course, the time is already there, but I write it in big numbers that can easily be read. When I return the vehicle I have my receipt for the original fill up handy along with the receipt for the fuel that I purchased just before turning it in. And, I try not to fill beyond the original gauge reading. Yes, it does sound like a lot of extra work and I’m angry that I am forced to do it to avoid the frequent $10 - $15 overcharge that will occur if I don’t do it.
I had a 2 day rental last week in ORD from the “Not Exactly” folks at Hertz at a base rate of $75.98, plus an additional $123.72 in fuel surcharges. I was running late for my flight to IAH & did not wait for the lot attendant to check me in, but immediately thought of your column when I received the receipt in the mail this week. They quickly removed it when I referenced the $44.82 I charged to my AMEX the same day as the vehicle return date at the I-90 Mobil station 8 miles from O’Hare & were a bit flustered when I mentioned your column.
This happened to me too. Filled up tank before returning and then received a $68 fuel charge on my credit card. I used an express drop-off, but am dismayed to see that they do this even when you do the official check out. I contested the charge but they did ask for a receipt. This is outrageous - $68 is no minor charge!
I’ve actually had the opposite happen. At a city location for Avis in Berkeley, CA, we rented a car and drove it about 5 miles (we needed it to transport something). When I went to fill it up, I wound up putting about 2 gallons in the tank before I returned the car. When I mentioned it offhand to the agent when returning the car, she issued me a fuel credit which was applied to my final balance (without me even asking her for it).
Just figured I should mention a time when a car rental company actually did the right thing… :-)
What about taking a photo with your cell phone of the gas gauge at the moment you pick the car up and at the moment it is checked to document the gauge readings if they try to claim you didn’t fill it up properly. Also, upon accepting and returning a car, using your cell phone to take pixes of the car front, back, sides, roof, windows, and especially any and all damages can be a good strategy in the event of unwarranted damage claims. Be sure to inform the agents, attendants, etc that you are taking photos for documentation in a friendly way and that might be enough to remove any incentive to go to the effort of trying to run these scams on someone who is obviously paying attention!
About five years ago I had an experience with ADVANTAGE RENT A CAR. I rented a van at the airport and returned it with a tank full of gas. I had the receipt where I filled the tank up.
To my surprise I received a bill of about 30 dollars or so. I knew I had filled up the tank. I backtracked all the miles traveled, average miles per gallon, and how much I had filled up each time. Doing that, what I had filled upon my return coincided with the other figures.
The people at the counter were no help. I then went to the hotel where their office was and talked to the manager. She was nice but of no help. I was going to take it up further. I just did not do it as it was taking too long and too much frustration to get the issue resolved.
I don’t see a counter for them at the airport anymore. I will not rent a car from them and I tell others of my experience.
I have two theories: 1 - They could have done a bait and switch where they took someone else’s vehicle…an employee’s maybe..and filled it up and charged it to me.
2 - This was a personal rental so they may have figured that since it was not a big company I would not have a chance to make an issue of it as it did not represent big revenue to them.
The bad taste in my mouth has not gone away.
Budget in Sacramento tried this one…rented the car for acouple of days, didn’t really use it, put maybe 10-15 miles on it…Checked in and gas gauge had not moved, on Full..check-in dude indiactes a $10.00 gas charge…tells me have to talk with manager…manager says, “Do you have a receipt for the top-off?” Tell him , “No, if that was required, I was never told.” Back and forth…tell him, “If you need more revenue, why don’t you just charge for it instead of defrauding conmsumers.” Finally, he relents, “this time, but in the future…” I tell him, “Are you clinging to some delusion there will be a next time? You really shouldn’t or you are an eternal optimist.”
I have had the experience of renting a mid-size car, going less than 30 miles and putting 5-6 gallons in it before returning the car. A real irritant! I am sure the preceding renter got a large fuel charge. Now I tell the gate agent when the gauge looks less than topped off at the same time as telling about any scratches, marks, etc. It is a pain to have to since it is really a rip off. Capitalism at its most impecunious.
Interesting,
Sad to see so many falling for this common scam. The best advice is to have engine running with odemeter reading lite up and gas guage visible in same picture you take before you get out of car and hand over to clerks. Then simply let them know you have documented both odometer and fuel guage on your cell phone, and I guarantee they won’t even try to rip you off.
Happened to me at Budget in Austin, TX. I filled the tank less than 150 feet from airport entrance. I was billed only $16 and they probably thought I wouldn’t notice. I called, complained and offered to send them my gas receipt. They said they didn’t need to see it because they would believe me this time. BIG GREEDY JERKS.
U-Haul rental does this. I topped up and was charged $40+ extra after I dropped it off. I even watched the attendant check the box that ithe tank was full. I called U-Haul and they said they would look into it and get back to me, but I never heard back. They also don’t provide the vehicle with a full tank. Instead, you have to try to fill it up at the same level you got it at. Awful practice - I will not rent from them again. Unfortunate for them, as I move often for my job and have gotten many of my co-workers to use their competitors now.
I used to work for a major car rental agency and although I hated it and will be the first to tell you all about the scams they can do, the point you are trying to make is absurd. Since when is having the needle “a little below full” full? If you received the car that way then you would make sure they wrote it down as NOT full. You must know from your own experiences with vehicles that it can take a few gallons on a full tank to even get the needle to show less than full. I cannot understand how a person can even think when they do receive a car with a full tank of gas, drive as you put it in your CNN article “only 75 miles”and try to return it without filling up! That may be only a couple or few gallons but that is AT LEAST $5-$10. You know who pays that- well if it isn’t the customer who actually used the gas then it is the company- and that adds up, believe it or not. I found while working at the company that the people who rent cars are just as ready to scam the company (if not more ready) than the company is out to get them. I think it is disguesting the way people renting cars act- like they are above following any sort of rules. I cannot defend every practice rental companys follow, but this one is really way off.
Funny…i once rented a moving van (they do the same thing with the gas). I drove it from Denver to Parachute, Colorado. I was to return it to Parachute, Colorado, where the company had a local represenative. I finished my move, drove to the gas station, and then took it to the agency. The agency owner stated he could not take any vehicles due to local enforcement of laws that he would be in violation of, and so we had to drive it 45 miles away to another agent’s place business. We got there after hours, left the keys, and did not add any more gas. The next day, I got a nasty phone call from that agent, and he told me he was going to charge me an extra day (I had returned it, actually, one day early) because I hadn’t called to tell him I was coming, and that the gas gauge was not on full. I told him I had filled it up, and it would have been fine, but his company rep in my city would not accept the vehicle. The extra mileage and the fuel it cost was, therefore, his companies responsibility. He said he was going to charge it to me, anyways. I assured him that he must do what he must do, but he would regret it. Minutes later, I had the regional manager on the line, explained everything to him, and had charges waived. Needless to say, though, I no longer rent from that company…
Interesting comments. I’m concerned about using a cell phone around your gas pump - be careful.
It’s not just rental cars. Someone should start a post on U-Haul - they make rental car companies look like humanitarians!
They have a word for this type of shenanigan: Fraud. I”ve never had this happen, but I check my receipts etc religiously. This type of charge isnt just inconvient, its theft.
I had the same experience in Whistler, BC with Hertz. When I picked up the car, the needle was *just* below the full mark. When returning it I filled the tank to the brim 25 km from the rental location, so when I returned it the needle was still *above* the full line. Even though I returned it with more gas in than when I took it, they still wanted to charge me $15 for the 25 km I drove. I asked them to look at the gage and confirm it was *above* the full line, they refused to go look at it. After an unpleasant argument I flat-out refused to pay for the extra gas, and left with a bad taste in my mouth.
Hello,
I used the advanced fuel option from Hertz one time and the last time. I took the advanced fuel option. When I returned the car with it 3/4 full of gasoline I assumed I would only be charged for the 1/4 needed to make it full. Oh no, the advanced fuel option is for a empty tank, period, no matter how much fuel is in it when returned. I paid for having it filled as if it were empty and not the 1/4 tank that it actually needed. So if you do opt for the advanced fuel option coast in on fumes or push it in empty. Better yet skip this option and return it full.
Next scam: I rented a car from National. As usual when I picked up the car I inspected it for damage before I drove off the lot. The left front wheel well fender was scraped on the edge and this area was circled on my form and damage was indiacted on my form for the fender. I assumed all was fine, not so. When I returned the car the return agent in the lot walked quickly around the car almost making a bee-line to the previously indicated damaged wheel well fender and pointed out a small slit, and I do mean small slit, of about a 1/4 inch in the sidewall of the tire, you had to look really close to see it. Well to make a long story short I ended up being charged for a new tire at over double what a new tire would cost. Had I had some sort of tool to puncture the tire and really make it defective I would have. I wonder how many customers have got biten with this scam.
Regards,
Paul
It was one of the bigger agencies at San Diego airport. I filled up the tank en route to my return, and drove no more than four miles to get to the airport.
They tried to claim I was only 7/8 full, and tried to then charge me $10 for their gas to fill it.
I then produced two receipts: the one filling the tank for over $20 twelve hours earlier, and the $1.90 receipt from the top-off en route. They issued a flurry of apologies about “misreading” their reader and started to ask me a bunch of fluffy & fake customer-service questions to take my attention away from the gas issue. They erased the gas charge and the clerk initialed the new printing. I saved those papers for three months just in case further trickery occurred.
I recommend that renters reset the trip odometer to 0.0 each time you fill up. It is quite persuasive to point at a trip odometer showing 3.8 miles while simultaneously showing a gas receipt than is less than 20 minutes old. Trust me.
I work for a car rental agency, and we have a gas pump on site so when the customers
leave with the it is full of fuel. The agents that wash the cars top off the cars with fuel at the same time. When a customer returns and the car is not as full as when it was when he/she left we lose money. When a customer fills the car up 20 miles away and returns it’s not fair to the next customer who gets the car because the gauge goes down right away therefore we fill it for them. As long as you bring your receipt when you return we are more than happy because we know it is full for the next customer. But you would not believe the customers who throw fits because they don’t want to fill up or bring a receipt when they return. Gas prices are affecting all of us. We lost millions in 07′ on fuel and so we are having to crack down on giving it away for free. It’s the disonest people who ruin it for the rest of our customers. If you think about it we have 900 cars, and if we have to spend one gallon for every car that did not come back full of fuel for the next customer thats 2,700.00. at 3 dollars a gallon! Can you imagine the larger companys that have 3,000 cars?
Most gas receipts have the time date and location were you filled up at. Just show that and as long as you filled up within 5 miles (like the car rental ageny did for you)
your clear. Its just common since people.
When you prepay you pay for convience of not having to stop and do it yourself. Car rental agencys are not going to have you wait wile we pump your car just to find out what to charge you for gas. It’s simple if you think your going to use it and not have time to fill it up on your way out prepay.
Budget Rent A Car in the Gare Centrale, Montreal, Quebec…scammed my Wife with additional gas charges for 4-van rentals during a school exchange trip to LCC (January 24/08 weekend) from Toronto. She disputed the charge and the female Budget rep., who refused to identify herself all weekend and refused to call a superior Manager when requested, instead called security and then the Montreal Police with a bogus assault charge. The Police ultimately “forced” my Wife to pay the demanded amount. Budget V.P., William Boxberger; Montreal Police Chief, Yvan Delorme; Homburg Canada Op.Mgr., Guy Charron, who now own the old CN building; ALL do not reply to my faxes.
The FTC in the USA has charged Budget with fraud…The FTC charged that Budget’s fuel fee program was deceptive and violated federal law…(http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2007/11/budget.shtm) AND there is a class action there.
I seek a class action lawyer as well as other scam victims in Canada, against Avis Budget Group Canada.
Since it seems like an issue that keeps reappearing, here’s what just happened. I just purchased a car and they scheduled me to do some work on the car after delivery (they will be applying something to the paint of the car).
I got the car with 1/4th of the tank. I work apparently 5.1 miles (google maps) from the dealer (which has a Hertz on site) and I received a Nissan Sentra (25/33 MPG as per Nissan’s website). I got the car and drove to work, thinking I was not going to have to fuel it (digital odometer and I’m using it less than .5 Gallons at those calculations 10MI@25MPG).
As soon as I get to the parking lot in my office, the odometer already dropped (digital odometer) from 1/4=2/8=4/16 to 3/16 of the tank….not pleased with the situation at all. I’m planning to fill it up for one gallon and then show that if I drove it less than 20 miles and I filled one gallon, I “complied” with getting the car back with the gas I received it with. The dealer has a tied interest on making sure my problem gets resolved satisfactorily, hopefully I don’t have to fight!
In late March I rented a car from a Budget in New Jersey and returned it to BWI Airport the next day. I filled up the tank at the airport, dropped it off, watched the guy check my gas gauge and boarded my flight. 2 weeks later, I receive a bill in the mail saying that my credit card had been charged for 3 1/2 gallons of gas that I failed to replace (at $7 a pop).
When I called Budget, the national customer service rep said that on the day in question, the machines to check in cars at BWI were incorrectly calibrated, so ALL rentals were charged for the gas fee. He claimed that, had I not called, I would have received my refund on April 15, when apparently such mistakes are fixed by the Budget system.
Needless to say, I am a little skeptical that anyone who doesn’t pick up on the error will receive their $26 back. Wouldn’t it make sense for Budget to make sure their machines were calibrated BEFORE charging every customer $26?
I had a similar experience with a car I returned at the National Car Rental at LAX. I’d opted for the “top-off” option when I checked out the car (I’ll never do that again, because it seems to be an invitation to charge the customer for an entire tank of gas, regardless of how little they put into the tank). Three days later, I stopped several miles away from the airport and filled up the car with gas. When I returned the car, National charged me $58 for a fill-up. I pointed out that the tank was almost completely full when I returned it, they initially argued, then stood down and ended up charging me only for the 4 gallons that they said they needed to top it off the rest of the way.
As a weekly Hertz renter for nine years running, I can tell you that I have never had an issue of damage or fuel, but I know it happens. The insurance the rental companies offer is a rip-off, but if you rent frequently enough, strongly consider the card programs that include car rental insurance (Amex and Diners). Also always keep your gas receipts. And lastly, the late-model Hyundai Azera’s have a fuel gauge that ALWAYS reads lower than reality. I have filled them to the brim (which I would never do with my own cars) and gotten inside to watch the gauge read 7/8 and not 8/8. So be wary of the Azera’s.
These scams are getting more and more lengthy to straighten out! Just 2 weeks ago I rented from Budget and showed my gas top-up receipt when returning the car and was issued a receipt from Budget reflecting my internet rate plus loads of add on fees?? I decided to check my credit card receipt on line just today and found in addition to my higher car rental rate, they added another charge for an additional $12. This took me several phone calls to find out what the extra chg was for and was told it was for not returning the car with a full tank. I luckily saved my petrol receipt and told them I wanted it all cleared and they did without questioning - I only wonder for those who do not check their credit card statements thoroughly who else gets fooled and as I said this was a totally seperate charge from the car rental. There must be someone who can go to bat for the small guys because I am sure MANY trustworthy folk are getting royally ripped off! On another note, Enterprise once said they couldn’t issue me a drop off receipt since it orginated from another office and sure enough the next month I was charged for double the days I had the car! This took me several international phone calls to sort and many promises from Management they would reverse the charges and it took ages for them to do so!
As a former agent with a major rental car company, I have dealt with many of these complaints and concerns - most of which are legit, but others that lack common sense and a cordial consumer/provider relationship. The most common complaint that concerned refueling came from customers that drove “only a few miles” - which depending on which location you rent from, could be anywhere from 5-30 miles. Customers that drove anywhere from 5-10 miles could and would lie about refueling the vehicle since the gas gauge did not appear to move. Personally, I cannot blame those who don’t refuel when gauge does not move, but I also think of the next person who rents the same vehicle. The next customer may only drive a mile or two before the gauge moves, then (depending on the customer) he/she claims the car was not full at the time of rental - which, technically is true. So who is responsible for the missing gallon(s)? Common sense would tell you that the customer who lied about refueling would be subject to charge. Ironically, 8 out of 10 renters who “only drive a few miles” are same customers that get upset when charged the fuel penalty. So who wins? With fuel prices, as outrageous as they are, even large rental companies would not be able to afford to provide every customer with a couple of gallons of free gas - especially those companies that may say Hertz or Avis at the counter, but are privately owned by someone in the community (usually found in smaller cities). Please understand that every rental counter - even within the same company - may be run a little differently than the next. Some managers may want to charge for every nick and scratch while others may overlook some damage in order to keep the customer loyal. The same theory applies to gas charges. As far as any fees are concerned, generally they are associated with the state you are renting from. Fees and surcharges can range from anything from road repair to costs associated with building a new stadium for a major sports team. I have traveled many places since my days as a rental agent and I have never come across a fee associated with tire disposal or anything to do with licensing the actual rental car. Maybe I have just been lucky. Maybe I know what to look for, but I ALWAYS read the terms of the rental agreement before I leave the lot. People get scammed every single day because of ignorance. We have enough to worry about when it comes to false charges, but there would not be a car rental business if everything wasn’t stated in black and white on the contract/rental jacket. Lawsuits would be phenomenal. Please keep these two words in mind - Courtesy and Common Sense. They will get you farther than you think.
Never notice the gas scam, but will be on the lookout for now on. Somewhat related, is my latest experience with Hertz. Business trip arriving at Orange County and returning at LAX. Not only did the rental car company charge a relocation fee, but they tagged a $0.40/mile rate on the mileage (500 miles for $200, ouch!). I inquired about it upon my return in Pittsburgh and the agent told me that when you return the car to a different location the relocation fee and the mileage fee get added. At least they refunded the charge for the GPS unit, as the agent had told me that the car had GPS in it, but failed to mention that that would be extra.
The whole travel industry (hotel, airline, car rental, etc…) seem to be controlled by a bunch of former telephone company executives considering how my bills are filled up with extra fees etc… This whole idea of fees for everything as a way of tailoring the product to the customer needs is only annoying the customer and is borderline immoral business.
I found this site after wondering how common this was, I had a similar situation with a Uhaul rental this weekend. I drove the van about 17 miles total - thinking that a cargo van with a few hundred pounds in it might get 10mpg, i put in about 2.5 gallons figuring that would put it back to where i started and then some.. in the end i had to put 5 gallons of gas in to make the needle move back to the original position, and it was still slightly shy, although at that point i had two gas reciepts and was somewhat annoyed so i was willing to argue it if they tried to charge me. Everything else about the rental was actually great, the vehicle was in excellent condition and the service was decent…Luckily they didn’t try to charge me either. Still i ended up paying for probably around an extra $15 of gas, which left me wondering if there was some kind of modification they do to the gauge to make it less accurate in this regard. With my own car i always just fill the tank so i’m not sure how common it is to see the needle move differently for fuel usage rather than filling, perhaps there is a pressure issue there or something but..after seeing this site, the cynic in me says they set it up deliberately..