If you rent a car, you know what happens when you return your vehicle. At the time of check-in, agents often do their best to add extra fees for minor damage or fuel. But what’s happening from the agent’s perspective?
One reader was curious, so he asked. In fact, he got involved in a rather heated exchange with a major car rental company. I’m leaving his name and the car rental company’s name out of it because it could have happened to anyone with any car rental company. (But I will give you a clue as to the identity of the company — don’t assume this was El Cheapo Rent A Car.)
Three times over the past year — twice in St. Louis — I have caught them charging me extra for gas upon return, even though I fill up at the closest gas station to the return center. Each and every time I have reported it to the service desk at the location, their 1-800 complaint line # listed on the rental contract and the survey Web site that is listed at the bottom of the receipt. Each and every time they have refunded my money right away and told me it would never happen again
But sure enough, it happens again.
After the third time I finally received a reply from a company representative. “I would like to assure you that there is no corporate practice of trying to charge customers for fuel that they didn’t use, just in the hopes that the customer won’t notice,” she wrote. “This would be a truly reckless business practice, since this is in a competitive, service business. Giving the impression that the company is trying to cheat its customer would result in far larger losses over the long term than any petty thieving could every bring. I must vigorously deny the suggestion that we are purposely charging for fuel that wasn’t used.”
She went on to explain that her employees “receive regular training on how to communicate and provide refueling services, and we audit our employees to make sure it is being done properly.”
“There is some small incentive to the instant return representative to correctly record the returning fuel level, and so it is possible that such employees could be trying to improve their personal compensation by unnecessarily charging for refueling,” she added. “This is serious misconduct, and if it is discovered, the employee would be fired immediately”.
So they offer their employees extra cash incentives to do just that — report and charge for a car low on fuel when in fact it was filled to the brim not just 1 minute prior to being returned.
I wrote back and explained this was surely an easy way to make millions for the company simply by charging lets just 100 unsuspecting people at the St. Louis location $8 extra for fuel per day. Now multiply that by 100 other locations around the U.S. and Canada and then multiply that by 365 days per year. The result is $29 million per year in unearned profits.
Warning to others: better look close, because between the several charges listed on your receipt, the $8.** slip in is easy to miss.
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
“Giving the impression that the company is trying to cheat its customer would result in far larger losses over the long term than any petty thieving could every bring.”
No, it won’t if all companies are doing it, and there is no competition on this front.
In fact, it is my opinion that the only real competition is the one of which company is best in cheating its customers without them noticing. Do you really think business travelers care enough about $8 to start a complaint process? Their secretary is more expensive per hour!
I have never been charged for gas on any of my rentals. On the other hand, I generally avoid all companies except for Avis and Hertz because I am really tired of the 1) charges for extra drivers, 2) the hard-sell on insurance and the prepaid gas options, 3) the pseudo damage claims, and the 4) “definition” of car classes (no, Enterprise, a Toyota Camry is NOT a premium car nor is a Toyota Echo a midsized car).
On the other hand, since the price of gas has approached $3/ gallon, I have noted that the gas tanks are about 20-30 miles south of a full gas tank … which is largely attributable to our fellow rental car consumers.
I just recently rented a car & it ended up having an empty gas tank – which I didn’t notice until 24 hours after I picked up the car. After having put $50 in to fill it all the way up (I only ended up putting 100 miles on the car & would not have needed to put in a whole tank of gas), I gave the rental company an earful. When I returned it, they said I went 300 miles more than I had, so at some point they hadn’t checked it in or filled it up. I ended up getting charged for returning it 7/8 full, even though that was 7/8 fuller than I had picked it up at!
I did get that money back as well as half of the money that I put in for gas. But I will now always check my gas tank as well as the mileage on the car & record it when pulling out of the car rental facility!
People write that they will never use @%$!!**&! car rental company again. They don’t realize that the car rental companies have very little control over their franchisees. \\\On another subject, some of them commit insurance fraud. Whether the damage occurred when you were in the car or not, they bill you AND their insurance company. and collect from both.
I rent cars a lot in the SF Bay area, Vegas, and Reno, and Torrance and I haven’t run into this. What I have run into at non-airport locatoions is tanks that are less than full. It’s really annoying to rent a car with 1/4 tank of gas, ’cause it’s a lot harder to ‘time’ your fuel purchases so as not to give the rental company free gas than it is to bring it back with a full tank. Same goes for pre-paid tanks of gas – it takes extra effort to bring it back empty enough to justify the expence.
Last week I rented a car with HERTZ in Canada, pick-up at YYZ, return YUL.
I got a car with the tank 3/8 fuel and i was told to return the car with 3/8 of fuel. Upon return (with tank being 3/8 full ), I was given the passenger receipt which stated that I returned the car with only 1/8 and they charged me for a full tank filling (8/8).
I complained and without questions the fuel charges (CAD 70ish) were instantly deleted.
It should also be noted that the HERTZ passenger receipt is not very easy to read and I was not able to find out on first look what all the charges and abbrevations meant.
I probably rent some 15-20 times a year – usually with Budget. Can truthfully say that I have never had a problem with a fuel charge. I always bring it back full with maybe 10 miles at the most on the tank after refueling. Nor has there ever been any pressure to force feed insurance coverage. By doing everything online, all I need do is pick out a vehicle and drive right away after presenting my license and credit card at the booth.
Only once did I ever get a car with less than a full tank. After going into the office and informing the agent of the problem, someone came out immediately, fueled the car and I was off. I wish every aspect of traveling could be so simple.
WHAT CHRIS IS SAYING IS THAT IF YOU ARE BEING CHARGED A TOP OFF FEE THAT THERE IS NO NEED FOR THE RENTAL CAR COMPANY TO EXCERCISE THIS PRACTICE IF THE CAR IS BEING DISPOSED OF. IE IF THE NEAREST GAS STATION IS 4 MILES FROM THE DROP OFF POINT OF THE RENTAL FACILITY THE RENTAL CAR COMPANY EXPECTS YOU TO THINK THAT THEY ARE REFUELING THE CAR WHEN THEY ARE NOT!! WHEN THE CAR IS GOING TO AUCTION. THEY PROFIT FROM THE ESTIMATED GAS THAT THEY SAY YOU OWE THEM, AND THERE IS NO STATE REGULATORY AGENCY TO GOVERN THEIR WEIGHTS AND MEASURES PRACTICES. NOBODY WANTS AN ESTIMATION. DO YOU AT THE PUMP? MOST AGENCIES DONT EVEN HAVE COUNTERS WHEN PUMPING FROM THE MAIN TANK WHICH MANY OF THEM DO. REMEMBER CARS ARE NOT ALWAYS RENTED WITH A FULL TANK OF GAS WHAT IT GOES OUT WITH IS WHAT IT IS SUPPOSED TO COME BACK WITH. BUT REMEMBER THE AGENT ESTIMATES WHAT THE FUEL GUAGE IN THE CAR READS