You win!

LeJerque

teapartys_over

Tonguetied

Does. Not. Compute.

DXDawg

One time in California a treehugger got pissed off at me because I spilled a little gas. I calmly told her not to worry, it would soon evaporate and not leave a mark. Have you ever seen a treehugger with a face so red you'd think blood was going to shoot out of her eyes?

AD8BC

zibby

ancientsociety

Hanke

RagingBoehner

bgeek

If they want to charge me this fee then I will want to rent a car where I see the gas sloshing around under the gas cap- ie topped off. I usually can over-pump (pumping after the pump automatically shuts off) enough gas into a car to get me 20-30 miles to the airport rental place and the guage still show full.

econobiker

However, that also gave me a huge dose of incentive to never, ever play that game again. Pushing a car through O'Hare airport totally sucks.

erica.blog

The car had 4k miles on it and was spotless, it drove great.

I returned the car, drove up, they looked it over and handed me my receipt. No extra fees, no troubles whatsoever and they were easily the cheapest rental place in Tucson.

So the fee was certainly not universal and as Dollar said it was not being charged by corporate but by the regional franchisee I presume.

The sad part is that people here will slam Dollar simply because of this one story when I can produce a counter story and corporate has already stated that this was a fee from the regional area.

Moving towards the additional fee, it's a fine line in the business. You certainly can't tell if a tank is full just by looking at gauge, it's impossible. Requiring a person to fill it up within 5 miles of the location and produce a receipt is really not that ridiculous a request. Think of it this way, they can ask that, or they could just assume you won't do it and raise the rates to compensate. I'd rather avoid the fee by simply showing a receipt than be charged regardless.

LTS!

Whzsutton

They eventually picked him up, he cancelled the rental and went elsewhere, and everything seemed hunkydory. Until a month later when they billed him a bill for a full tank of gas.

disavow

dulles

"Budget Rent-A-Car has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it failed to adequately disclose a "fuel" fee automatically charged to customers who drove fewer than 75 miles."

[www.ftc.gov]

t-r0y

Eyebrows McGee

The reason for the top-off fee is not to top off a full tank. It's because most cars can burn a gallon or 2 before the gas gauge comes off of F. So, if you rent a car, don't drive more than 30 miles or so, you could bring it back looking like it has a full tank.

So it's either 'show the receipt' as one commenter said, or charge the $2 to cover the non-full full tanks out there.

Not that I like or agree with the policy, but there's the reasoning.

Murph1908

I rented twice from MCO airport in Orlando and wasn't overcharged one cent either time. In fact, I filled up each time and then drove 20 miles to the airport and had no problem. If they had charged my $2 to top-up, they would have been more than justified as the car got about 20 MPG.

After a long vacation where the money seemed to fly out of my pockets, I've got to say that I was thrilled with the Dollar car rental service and value.

LoneGeek

jordy777

overbysara

When I need a business rental, I wish I could Enterprise; they're close to home and they don't mind me leaving my car there. The company approved sources are a big pain in the neck for local, drive-to-my-destination rentals. Although with the price of gas, I can just about break even by taking the mileage reimbursement and renting the car on my own.

balthisar

We don't want to tell you why we're charging this fee (profit, actually) but if you'll shut up for 2 bucks then We've already written a check and it's on its way

Scuba Steve

FLConsumer

myotheralt

myotheralt

I got a 'Premium' car for an 'Intermediate' rate, even though I A: Stupidily made my reservation at a different store, B: Didn't call first (since I called the other store.). Because the only other 'intermediate' class vehicle they had was a cargo van, they honored the OTHER store, and didn't even try to upsell me / charge me more. The girl was all 'We recommend the regular insurance.' and when I said no, that was that!

I love my Enterprise. They didn't even D: at me when I brought back my last rental with a flat tire, even though I didn't have their insurance.

Squot

m4nea

America's rear end is more than a little sore at this point from being spanked with fees.

Vote with your wallet, shop elsewhere.

dazzlezak

humorbot

normally, it's the business travelers who prepay since usually their company is paying for it.

as far as i'm concerned with dollar, the agents there make commission on everything and it's insane! i mean, everything: underage fees, car seats, added drivers, etc. i bet they get a piece of that ridiculous top of fee, too.

uhohagain

eelmonger

BuriedCaesar

enterprise can eat a bag of roadapples! On several occassions I have been refused a pickup even when I was close by..... despite what their commercials say.

forgottenpassword

myotheralt

rdm24

yg17

shiftless

xtc46

princess_peach

How do you "market" a fee?

"Excuse me, sir, but would you care to try out a few of our newest and most interesting fees and charges? Our new Platinum Fee comes with frequent-flyer miles!"

Consumers already know that any letter from a company that starts with the words "To serve you better..." will be announcing new fees. It would appear that the marketing people are getting high on their own supply and actually BELIEVE that more fees equal better service.

Daniel Rutter

Usually the price difference is so close that to come out ahead you will have to figure out a way to bring the back with a bone-dry tank. The majority of renters do not drive nearly enough miles to empty the tank.

I tend to have my rentals for weeks and drive them thousands of miles. Even so, in order to bring the car back with a nearly empty tank, I have to buy gas a few gallons at a time on the last day or so. It's not worth the hassle.

My big problem with the policy is that they do not explain to the rubes that they will be charged for a FULL TANK of gas no matter how full the tank is when they return it. None of the signage includes this information and I have never heard a rep mention it.

bdgbill

AngrySicilian

humphrmi

Joe_Bagadonuts

savdavid

My Dodge Charger (with 2,600 miles) was a few cents under $90 with tax, Saturday to Friday. No hidden charges. No long waits. The folks there were quite nice.

Part of my price was an extra discount for AAA members (10% plus 1% additional per decade of AAA membership - 12% for me)

If you shop, you can find bargains.

Oh - this Charger had no hemi. It was more than a little underpowered, but got the job done.

geofffox

FLConsumer

SuperJdynamite

DrGirlfriend

Yeah, a lot of people figure they'll fill it up before they return it, but many people get caught out there because they are running late for their flight and have no idea where the nearest gas station is. THAT'S when they get you, and charge you an obscene rate (usually $1 or more per gallon) My mother works for a car rental agency and while their prepaid fuel IS higher than the local stations, it's not significantly so.....about 5 cents or so per gallon. In her expierence, foreign tourists and those people from states where gas is the highest tend to be the customers that buy the prepaid gas. Everyone else just figures they re trying to make a fast buck.

laddibugg

Also, the last rental I got had a reported range of 400 miles to empty. Not everyone drives a car that much during one rental.

Anything left in the tank when you come back is pure profit to the rental company.

weave

BoC

Bottom line, it's a rip-off.

Where's Randy Taylor when you need him?

weave

And yes, I was running on fumes when I brought it back..they probably had to push it to the service area :)

dmolavi

Apparantly, even most casual tourists have gotten wise to the "Do you want to bring it back full or buy the gas from us? We charge less than all the service stations in the area" scam.

It's not always the case it's a scam. Perhaps one is best served by looking ahead at gasbuddy.com to make an informed decision about prepaying for the gas.

A few months ago I rented a car at LAX with Hertz. I declined to buy the entire tank of gas up front. After leaving the rental car lot, I notice that every gas station close by the airport is selling for 15-20 cents a gallon more than the price charged by Hertz.

Had I prepaid I would have saved a few bucks on the gas, not to mention just the general headache of trying to find a gas station in an area that I know nothing about.

Employees Must Wash Hands

All in an effort to upsell the worthless rental insurance.

I took a diet coke once from them and afterwards, they tried to make me feel guilty about declining. Needless to say I enjoyed a good chuckle.

Boberto

ironchef

balthisar

Apparantly, even most casual tourists have gotten wise to the "Do you want to bring it back full or buy the gas from us? We charge less than all the service stations in the area" scam.

This scam is something close to low grade fraud.

This is another example of travel companies trying to advertise a low price online and make up for it with bullshit fees when you arrive.

bdgbill

If you're going to drive a bunch, just buy the tank. It's usually cheaper than the going rate, and it's almost like a drinking game to drop the car with just fumes in the tank :D

doctor_cos

So it looks like it's a way for them to come up on search engines as "not the most expensive", then later actually make more money than Alamo and Hertz.

Clever way to screw your customers, Dollar.

But since they're not the cheapest, it's easy for me to say "I won't ever rent from Dollar again." :)

humphrmi

dorksandlosers

Screw you, Dollar.

Grrrrrrrrr

RandomHookup

Return the favor by charging Dollar a 100% "stupidity fee" -- aka giving them no business.

Buran

deb35802