I guess I”m not convinced. If I understand what you are saying is that the car company could avoid overbookng because the number of no-shows would be reduced. Even if all reservations were prepaid or required a deposit, the car company would still have incentive to overbook because there will still be a statiscally verifiabel number of no-show because of change of plans, whether voluntary or not. Its the same issue. Perhaps they will over book by less than 30%, but the real issue isn’t how much they over book, but how well they predict the number of no-shows.

@David Z

I sort of agree with you that customer’s should understand what they read. However, the reality is that some contracts are written to be unintelligible except to an attorey. Who knows the difference between the various insurance initials such as LDW. Also, as a practical matter, with 20 people in line behind you, who is going to read an entire contract.

Personally, I believe there is a joint responsibility here. It is the car rental companies’ responsibility to clearly explain all of the charges to the consumer, but it is also the responsibility of the consumer to read and understand what they are signing and what they are responsible for.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. Unfortunately I rather agree with this, too:

When you get to things like supplemental liability insurance and collision damage waiver, these are services that, frankly, 90 percent of our renting customers do not understand, nor do they afford the car rental company the opportunity to explain.

In my experience dealing with people shopping for standalone cars, many people don’t know, much more care, about those details except for the results they’re willing to pay. For some of those who believe we’re more expensive than others inspite of being clear, upfront and nice, they even demand for higher-ups to lower our rates!

Only thing we can do is be polite yet firmly turn them down.

A call to the company where I bought the package got me my promised vehicle in 8 hours after arriving versus the 24 hours. I heard later that the call moved me up the waiting list to number one as I had pre paid.

So as of now it does not seem to matter to rental car companies if you have already pre paid,

As for airport fees, these are usually set by the airport authority board or some equivalent thereof, sometimes in conjunction with the city council or the county commission. These boards generally meet quarterly, and as Mike said, notice is usually given for any fee changes. I say, roll it all into the base price and say, “This is what you will pay. Period. Including fees, taxes and the whole ball of wax.” If the other rental agencies want to keep up the song and dance, let them.

Based on what I read they have to overbook by as much as 30% because of all the cancellations and no shows. if many of those 30% show up then here are no cars. If you have a $20 deposit to put down that you lose in case of a no show or a cancellation within 24 hours of rental then i would assume that the need to overbook by 30% would go away because the rental would either be paid for, or the people would most likely show up or cancel far in advance. A car that sits there all day and still generates $20 of revenue because of a no show requires no maintenance or fuel.

I completely agree with others who have said items like maintenance need to be included in the cost. Any rental company KNOWS what the average yearly cost is to maintain a car. It is easy to add that cost in to the base price of the rental before any taxes and fees are added on. Likewise the rental companies know what the airport costs are and all taxes and if those fees and taxes change most laws give 90 days + notice before a new system is enacted.

I think the incentive to prepay is that you would get a reduced rate. I don’t think it would have any effect on availability.

@Stewart

Perhaps you could explain how prepayment would help control the fleet. As I understand, the reason why a car company can’t deliver as promised is because a bunch of folks kept their cars longer than anticipated and/or you had fewer no shows.

@Chicky

I have to respectfully disagree about the maintenance surcharge. If its an unavoidable charge then there is no justification for not including it in the base price. By contrast, insurance is optional and therefore NOT included in the base price.

I do agree about the airport fees. Of course you know what they are. I find it difficult to believe that they change day to day in the same airport. That seems unlikely.

Just my $0.02

But a surcharge for maintenance? No. Roll it into the rate. When my clients ask me how much something is going to cost, I tell them, in total, what it will cost. I do not tell them one thing, and then turn around and charge them something else.

That’s the beauty of a site like Priceline. I don’t care which company rents my car, as long as they have a car to rent to me. And if I pay up front, then there are no surprises at the counter.

Now, a maintenance surcharge I understand. These cars have to be serviced and repaired. I do object to a fuel surcharge. I pay for the fuel I burn. If I bring it back with less than a full tank, that’s one thing. However, if I bring it back full and the company STILL levies a fuel surcharge, that’s double-dipping. Sorry, Charlie.

And airport fees don’t change every day. Every quarter, maybe. So don’t throw that line at me.

While Mr. Barton had some good things to say, I was still reminded of the “Razzle-Dazzle” number from “Chicago.”

“Give ‘em the old Razzle Dazzle– and they’ll never catch wise.” Hmmm.