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Seriously? Poll finds car rental companies have the most surprise fees

August 15, 2010


I don’t think I would have believed it unless I saw it for myself. I would have guessed that airlines or hotels would be the leading generators of surprise fees. But no — it’s car rental companies.

I conducted this survey last week, as part of a research project on fees and travel. The poll answers were randomized to prevent any bias.


More than 80 percent of the respondents said car rental companies were the place they most expect surprise fees from when they travel. Just over 40 percent said they expect it from an airline or hotel. A fraction of respondents said cruise lines and travel agents were most likely to hit them with surprise surcharges.

What do you think of the results? And are these car rental fees the product of state and local taxes on car rentals, or creative surcharges invented by the car rental companies, like “tire disposal” fees or “license recovery” fees?

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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19 comments

  • http://www.thetravelinggiraffe.com Crissy

    Most people seem to know about the checked bag fees when flying. Internet fees for hotels aren’t a secret either. But trying to rent a car – there’s a fee for insurance (with different levels), gas, then the local taxes. I think it’s the most overwhelming, expensive and the sales people are the pushiest. On top of the pushy sales people, some of these fees are more optional leaving people feeling pressured to pay for something they don’t even know if they need.

  • MrsKruse

    I get more frustrated with hotels, actually. Whenever I rent a car from a nationwide vendor, I can always find an “out the door” estimated price on the check out page and it’s always nearly a match for what I pay at the terminal.

    But when I reserve a hotel room, it seems that they always “hide” the tax percentage (sometimes in the text on the confirmation, but other times somewhere else) and any resort fees. Why can’t the hotels do the same “out the door” estimate as well. I called a Marriott once and asked, and they said that they did it that way so people didn’t get mad if the tax rate changed between booking & the travel date…

  • Datanerd

    The reason I picked rental car versus hotel or airline was the hard sell techniques that are used at the last minute when picking up the car.

    When I was in Maine back in May, I got the hard sell from the Budget car rental guy for an upgrade (which would have doubled my rate), for pre-paid gas, and for insurance. On the other hand, my hotel was exactly what it said it would be. We didn’t get pushed to upgrade to a suite or take out a maintenance contract on the television.

  • tomb

    My main gripe with the rental companies isn’t so much the insane prices they charge for insurance (should you be unfortunate enough not to have an alternative), but the charges you regularly find have appeared after a rental

    Of course you can get those charges removed, but it’s added hassle you don’t need

  • Michelle B.

    Whenever I book a rental car, I always check back several times before the trip to see if I can get a lower price, knowing that for every $1 I reduce the rental rate I’m really saving about $1.50 with taxes and fees.

  • WildBill

    I had a 5 day rental with Avis in Boston the first of August. $265.58 Rental Fee & mileage, + $108.92 in Taxes & assorted Fees = $374.50

    That’s 41% in Taxes & Assorted Fees, including;
    **CONCESSION RECOVERY FEE
    CUST FACILITY CHG
    CONV CTR SUR
    PARKING SURCHARGE
    MA EXCISE TX REIMB
    (**11.11% FEE)
    TAX 6.250%
    $ 10.00 /RNTL CN
    $ 0.60 /RNTL PK
    $ 6.00 /DY CFC
    5.9% VEH LIC FEE

    ‘Nuff said???

  • Joe Farrell

    I rented a car from Budget @ MLI [I'm a long time member of their fast break program] this past weekend. The estimate from the company was $129.39 – the final price was $132.57 – a $3 discrepancy – reviewing the receipts I noticed an ‘extra’ fee entitled “XP = $3.00″ that was not previously disclosed – with tax it totaled the extra $3.18.

    I called them on the non-disclosed tax/fee and said you cannot charge me a fee that is not disclosed in advance- I never agreed to it. Since I use fast break I never signed anything at your location.

    They could NOT tell what the fee was – but it $1.00 per day – was not a licensing, franchise, airport, vehicle licensing, energy or similar fee because all of those had already been charged. The manager came out and he could not explain what it was for and the franchise owner happened to be there and he came about and said its ‘my’ fee – to which I replied – ‘oh, so thats the ‘Xtra Profit’ fee then?”

    He gave me a dirty look and I told him that he could take it off, or I could challenge the fee when my statement came and I would then also send a nasty gram to Budget and tell them their franchise operator was charging non-disclosed fees in violation of their fast break agreement with me which said all fees are disclosed in advance. He took it off, grudgingly. Imagine making an extra $1 per day per rental you do not have to pay over to Budget as a ‘fee’ – nice tidy little extra profit there and probably one out of a hundred actually notice it.

  • Joe R

    Unless I’m missing something, the poll was where do people *expect* to find surprise fees, not where there actually *are* surprise fees. It might just mean that hotels and airlines are better at hiding them or giving the appearance of transparency.

    I’d be more interested in a study of the actual fees charged by companies rather than people’s opinions about it.

  • Bill

    I’m glad Mr. Farrell challenged the Budget “Fee”, the franchise owner should not be getting away with that at all.

    I’ve been using Marriott and Hertz. From what I have seen, they disclose fees pretty well. There are often a lot of them – but they ARE disclosed.

    I’m surprised MrsKruse found Marriott not to be disclosing fees – they do when I reserve and are usually bang on. If the tax is going to change, they have a little note about it.

  • Anon

    Traveling in international countries makes a huge difference as well. My significant other and I recently traveled to Costa Rica and had quite the time figuring out the best way to book a car. We’re experienced enough with flying, and while they do throw tons of “fees” at you it’s done at the time of booking, so what you pay is your total -right then- (except, perhaps, luggage fees).

    However, while closely studying Costa Rican fees we discovered that even if we paid, for example, ~$350 for a 4×4 rental for 10 days over the internet and were covered by our auto insurance, we would STILL be required to purchase a mandatory insurance issued by the government of Costa Rica, to be paid at the time of car pickup, for a total of ~$20 per day. That makes the sum fee $550, not the $350 we would have originally been charged at the start.

    And where were the terms of this mandatory fee disclosed? In itty-bitty font on a separate window found by clicking on a small indiscriminate link. This was the same practice for company after company – big ones, too, like Avis and Hertz and others. It was amusing, certainly, but also appalling.

    (Our research seems to have paid off, by the way – we went with a company that operates solely in CR and receives rave reviews, and also disclosed all fees up front. No surprises when we arrived at CR!)

  • Lynnsie

    I was stunned to find that our 2 day rental in spain a few years ago cost us $900! So, yes, I’d agree with that survey! We picked up the car in Granada and drove to Seville, so I suppose there was as usual a fee for picking up/dropping off in different places. That was factored into our initial price however. We were an hour late in returning the car, but we called the company from the road and they said no problem. Unfortunately, I can’t remember why it cost that much – something ridiculous – but I am MUCH more careful these days…

  • Chicky

    Yeah, I’d agree about car rental. And also about the pushy agents, trying to sell me insurance I don’t need, since I’m covered under my auto insurance policy and my credit card.
    I usually reserve online, and in general, the companies are pretty good about disclosing the whole ball of wax, fees and all, in the confirmation e-mail. Since I’m not at the rental counter, itching to be on my way, I have the time to look over the fees and see if they have me down for anything I didn’t request, like insurance.
    Oh, Alamo has a new twist in the “you’d better buy our insurance game.” The agent told me there was a new policy in place that said, if I didn’t buy their insurance, and there was damage to the car upon return, they would soak me for my insurance deductible at the counter. Good luck with that one holding up in court. You have the car and can take it up with State Farm and/or Visa. Have fun.

  • Adele

    I’ve noticed Avis has started a new scheme. If you enter a coupon code when making a reservation on line, you get a message, “Notes: Coupon deductions are not included in the estimated total and are calculated at the rental counter.”

    So, you do not know how much your coupon will save you, or even if they will honor it, until you get to the rental counter. That’s pretty darn sneaky! So if you rent from Avis and have a coupon, in addition to your confirmation be sure to bring to the rental counter a copy of the coupon, conditions associated with the coupon, and your own calculation of how much the coupon will save you. Otherwise, you may be paying more than you should be. I think this is more than a little underhanded.

  • Chicky

    @Adele: Oooohhh. That IS sneaky! At least Alamo deducts the coupon from the total when you reserve the car. Uber sneaky little devils!

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    When I book hotel rooms on the Marriott, Hilton or InterContinental website, the taxes and fees are clearly listed and disclosed BEFORE I hit the submit button. When I book my rental cars on the Hertz or Budget website, the taxes and fees are clearly listed and disclosed BEFORE I hit the submit button.

    @ Bill – “I’m surprised MrsKruse found Marriott not to be disclosing fees – they do when I reserve and are usually bang on. If the tax is going to change, they have a little note about it.”
    - – - – - – - – -
    I have been booking rooms on the Marriott website (over 75 nights a year) for over 8 years. The taxes and fees are disclosed on the webpage. It is also disclosed clearly on the confirmation. I print my hotel confirmations to .PDF files and I have several years of these files and I can’t find a hotel reservation from Marriott, Hilton, InterContinental, Best Western, Omni, Choice, etc. where the taxes and fees were NOT disclosed. It is my guess that Mrs. Kruse call the hotel or the 800 number and asked for the room rate was told $ 100 per night but the taxes and fees were not disclosed until she received her confirmation.

    @ Bill – “I’m glad Mr. Farrell challenged the Budget “Fee”, the franchise owner should not be getting away with that at all.”
    - – - –
    I try to avoid franchisee locations because they are NOT owned or managed by corporate so some locations can be ‘wild cards.’ If I can’t avoid a franchisee location, I will spend more time in takeing pictures, reviewing paperwork, etc.

    @ Adele – “I’ve noticed Avis has started a new scheme. If you enter a coupon code when making a reservation on line, you get a message, “Notes: Coupon deductions are not included in the estimated total and are calculated at the rental counter.”
    - – - – -
    That is good business. People will use codes from expired coupons. People will write down the codes from coupons that they have already used. People will use codes that they get from their friends, websites, etc. Since there are some people that want to cheat the car rental companies out of revenues, the car rental companies are now asking people to present their coupons in person so that the coupon can be verified. If you have a coupon for 10% off, a coupon for a free day, etc., I think that a person can estimate what their final bill will be.

  • Adele

    @Arizona
    Software at the rental car companies knows if the coupon is expired. If you try to use the coupon code, the web site will say “this coupon no longer valid.” This is how things used to work at Avis. Even still, you do not need a coupon- paper coupons no longer exist. You just need the coupon code.
    Just as I am inclined not to trust Nigerian bankers who send me emails offering to help me, I am inclined not to trust a company that says, “Don’t worry, your discount will appear on the statement at the counter after it’s too late for you to book anything else.” By saying that, I trust that they may conveniently forget about the coupon, or say they are not applicable, etc., and unless you are prepared with the documentation (that you are not required to bring with you) you may not get your discount. This is regardless of what your math skills may be. I think it’s underhanded.

  • http://www.windowseatblog.com Jennifer Gaines

    My vote goes to the hotel industry. Why? There is no standard when it comes to hotel fees, which leaves a lot of room for unwelcome surprises! Hotel fees vary greatly for things such as parking, WiFi, telephone usage, minibar snacks, bottled water, access to a safe and that cup of coffee you make for yourself in the morning. Your hotel may also charge for their shuttle to take you to the airport…or they may not. You could be whacked with an energy surcharge, gratuities and a resort fee…or not. My point is there are a lot of things that you may or may not be charged for when you stay in a hotel. With the airlines, we know that there are baggage fees, entertainment charges and food costs. With cars, we know that there are local taxes to be paid, insurance charges and exorbitant gas costs if we don’t fill up that tank. In fact, you put your initials next to these contract items to acknowledge the disclosure. So why is everyone so surprised?

  • JM

    I’m not surprised. Airlines have lots of little fees, and we’re all now aware of the resort fees and the like at hotels; the sheer number of fees on rental cars has always surprised me. I’ve hit 50% in extras for rental cars, but not 100%. Not yet.

  • http://www.boothmom.com Candy Adams

    When in Las Vegas in January, I declined all of my rental car company’s usual offers of insurance, refill on gas, and road-side assistance (since I have AAA). I drove from the LV Convention Center to Caesar’s (on the Strip) to pick up an item. I never left the car and when I tried to start it less than a minute later, the car wouldn’t start — dead battery. Caesar’s valet jumped it for me, and when I called the car rental company, explained the exact scenario of it dying after being turned off for only a minute after starting 15 minutes before, and was told that I was liable for a new battery since I’d obviously left the lights on, etc. Only after 3 phone calls did they swap me out cars, since all the “idiot lights” on the dashboard were telling me there were other engine problems. I didn’t know that rental cars’ $2.99/day “roadside assistance” includes maintaining the basics of their cars…

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