so Dick complained about the error at the return counter, and Dick was blown off?

@spindle: +1

Not a chargeback, a return.

What were the fees? Did the OP take out insurance?

Through my own clumsiness, I once had a rental from Budget where the car was around $150 for the week, but the insurance was upwards of $200 for the same period, making the total for the week $350. I told them I didn't want the insurance, but they put it on the invoice regardless and I signed on it because I didn't look closely.

I had a similar incident last week at Avis. The sign said "Drove less than 125K? Return your car without refueling and we will charge you at flat $20 fee". I had drive 122K, so I did as the sign said, and was slapped with a $73 refueling charge ($3/L). The guy told me my company had "opted out" of that service in its contract, but when I told him to give me back the car to go fill it up, they knocked it down to $20.

The lesson here is to pay close attention.

I wouldn't have even realized there was an error since every state seems to have screw-the-tourist car rental taxes. And by tourist I mean anybody who needs to rent a car including locals like me who don't want to ride the bus for a couple of days when the car breaks down.

@FatLynn: As an aside, you have to watch some of those service charges that rental companies offer, like pre-paying for gasoline or this flat $20 gas fee.

Those are above the line, so any percentage-based taxes and surcharges applied to your bill will add those amounts into the basis. In cities like Chicago who love to zing travelers, that can add up quickly.

Ever been to PHX? Taxes & fees (not insurance!) routinely amount to more than the rental fee--to pay for the monstrosity of a boondoggle they call the Car Rental Center.

Would they have notified him of the "computer error" on their own and issued him a refund if he didn't notice it?

"agreeing to pay the taxes and fees above the cost of my rental."
When I rent a car, I want to know to the penny what it will cost me. If the company can't tell me then they are not in business to help the customer but to scam them.

I've only had one run-in with Dollar RAC and it left a bad taste in my mouth.. Not from the price or even service, but from the fact they run a Credit Check without telling you when you use a Visa Check Card.. even if its not a debt..

@rpm773: Good to know.

@thebluepill: Far as I know, they all run credit checks on prospective renters (you think they're going to let anyone drive off with a $10,000+ asset?)

@MaytagRepairman: If they can figure out the "screw-the-tourist car rental taxes" at time of rental why not online when reserving a car???

In addition, if you use a coupon for a discounted rate the companies will often calculated the taxes and fees off the base rate, not a promotional or coupon rate.

@GiselleBeardchen: Lots of companies pretend not to know how much taxes and fees will cost you. As soon as you sign up, the information magically appears. I've been through that discussion with the cable company, phone company, cellphone company, car rentals, you name it. They all refuse to divulge the taxes/fees.

@thebluepill: Check Card= Debit Card.

Yes, it's in the fine print.

___

Rent with a Credit Card and you won't need to deal with the hold or credit check.

I have had to deal with these clowns at Dollar in Las Vegas. My "agent" was a total a$$. If you do not sign up for all of their add-ons they treat you like a dog. And then they manage to make your simple rental transaction last an hour. I also booked through Southwest.

They have turned me off from renting a car there from anyone ever again.

@spindle: He should have gone to Burger King.

Isn't the insurance bullshit on car rentals anyway? If you have a car of your own, doesn't your auto insurance cover rentals, at least liability? Or do you have to pay your insurance extra for that?

Just wondering; I've never rented a car because I don't have a credit card.

Many cities tack on outrageous fees and taxes on rentals. Phoenix, for example, uses rental car taxes to help pay for their ballpark. Beware and do research before hand...NEVER assume the taxes on rentals will be reasonable.

@rpm773: Same thing happened to me with Budget. I only have myself to blame for not reading the statement before signing.

@HogwartsAlum: Most likely your personal auto policy will cover liability while you're driving a rental. Physical damage to the car is a whole other story.

Use AmEx to rent the car, and they'll cover vehicle damage automatically, at least my AmEx does. (I had a claim once when a rental car got damaged and the process could not have been easier.)

@tinmanx: Well, it's one way to learn a good lesson :P

@HogwartsAlum: As someone who had a deer hit my rental car (yes, the deer hit me, it jumped into the side of the vehicle, almost through my window!) it works like this.
- If you don't buy the extra insurance then your insurance covers damages but the normal deductible applies. So I paid $500 for my deductible, my rates went up, and all other costs were covered by my personal auto insurance.
- If you buy the extra insurance then that's it, you're covered 100% for cost of damage, no deductible.(Usually, but always read the contract!).

For me this would have been the difference between paying $500 for my insurance deductible, or a sum total of $40 for the extra insurance for two days. :(

Many cities do, and Kansas City is one of them. If you rent a Nissan Versa for three days it's $72 a day.

But look at everything you get! A $9-a-day CFC! A A $4.53 vehicle license recovery fee! A $6 trans-facility charge! A $17.21 airport access fee!

The best one is the $12 "arena fee." Yes, you get to pay for the city's downtown arena, but at least there's no Ticketmaster "convenience fee."

So all told, almost $65 of your three-day $216 fee, about a third of your total, isn't for anything, really. They're "you want the car or not?" fees.

Oh yeah, and $15.95 in sales tax.

This happened to me when I tried to rent a car in Houston, TX. It was 8 years ago so I don't remember the specifics.

I wanted to rent a car for 5 days while I was there on business. The rental cost was maybe $90... The woman goes through all the processing and says OK, the total will be $240.

WHAT?!?!? The woman the rattles off a list of taxes and fees like airport tax, new stadium fee, bend over & take it charge....

I said fuck this, call me a cab.

@rpm773: If you own a car and it's insured, you almost always have coverage when driving a rental car. Check your own policy to make sure (I could be wrong). But I've never taken the car rental's unnecessary & over-priced insurance because I'm already covered under my own policy.

@Harry Pothead: Right, and I knew that going in. I even told the rep that I didn't want insurance. The problem is that she still put it on there, and I didn't know the weekly rate of the vehicle, so I didn't catch it until it was too late (ie, the day I returned the car).

I was pissed at myself and at Budget. I didn't make an issue about it (since I didn't have a case), but I've never considered doing business with them since.

@HogwartsAlum: I hate doing it but I often pay for the property damage portion of the insurance and skip the rest. It saves me arguing at turn-in whether some small scratch was there before I picked up the car or not. "No I'm not giving you my insurance information. That is why I bought your insurance." shuts them up quick and saves my rate from going up. I swear some places put scratches on the cars on purpose to milk everybody who rents from them.

Many times I'm flying across the country and arriving in the evening. Sometimes it is even raining. I'm not going to find all the small scratches in the mediocre-lit parking lot to have them jot down on the forms before I leave.

@Harry Pothead:
yup thats true, the dude at Alamo tried pushing his liability/insurance on us for an extra $40 a day and we had to explain that our insurance covers rental cars. He was flabbergasted and had a hard time to believe it.

I was going to reply to rpm773 that "zing" is too soft of an expression to describe what cities and states due to car renters (regardless of whether you're a local or a visitor). But as I kept reading the remaining comments, I came across the "screw-the-tourist car rental taxes" & "you want the car or not?" descriptions and figured they're better choices. To those, I would add any number of phrases, but I want to keep this a family newsletter.

@umbriago: What is the CFC fee all about? While I despise the others as well, at least their names are understandable as to why we get shafted by them. How many times does a place have to rent a car to get the license fee back?

An Arena fee? And a flat rate at that. Don't theaters and similar places charge facilities fees? Sort of like a maintenance fee for the joint? But usually those ripoffs are a buck or two at the most. $12 is doing it without lube.

No, you were blown like you like it, baby.

@DeloresPompeii: A lot of times, that's required by local law.

@umbriago: They're trying to nail out-of-towners. If you're on an expense account, it's a guiltless crime (in the cities' eyes) because the fees just go back to some company. But if you're paying your own way, well, I don't have to tell you that it sucks.

It's also why, when you're an "in-towner", if you need to rent a car you don't do it at the airport.

@HogwartsAlum: Typically auto insurance will cover somewhere between 14 to 30 days of car rental during the policy period. And some of them have exclusions for your liability to the rental company for "loss of use" and the like. Not to mention you have to pay your deductible. So it isn't _always_ better to decline the CDW, especially if you travel/rent frequently.

@Harry Pothead: One thing which you're generally not covered for, though, unless you buy their insurance is "loss of use." So while you might not pay to repair the car, you could still get socked with a bill for the theoretical revenue the company would have generated had they been able to rent the car that was damaged.

Good reason to join Zipcar.

@Blueskylaw: Probably not, but I'm pretty sure if I was renting THEM a car, and I overcharged them, they'd notice!

@msbask: @jtheletter: @MaytagRepairman: @bwcbwc:

I see. I didn't know that. Thanks, guys. I'm saving these posts for future reference.