Once again- I dont believe in being overly negative, but its my job as a Maven to tell you about this:
Beware Budget Rent-A-Car! In my continuing hate-hate relationship with rental car companies, I discovered this new one from Budget in Nashville, not sure if all of them are doing it, but because this slip look mass produced, you can bet they are…especially when you crunch the numbers.
Before I get to the new scam, lets revisit an old one: “Buy a tank of gas in advance, so you dont have to refill when you return”- Well that scam, which is run by nearly all rent a car companies simply means that you buy a full tank at near regular price and return the car tank “empty”. Fact is, no one ever returns a car to the rent a car company with an empty tank, so anything extra, even a few gallons, means the car company got you to pay for a few gallons of gas that you didnt use. If you return a car with a quarter or half tank, you are literally giving them $10-30 depending on the size of the tank, and what they say the capacity is. (Typically there are an additional 2-3 gallons left even when its on empty). So I encourage you to never take advantage of “buy a tank of gas in advance”. Just fill it up before you drop it off. I know in the past, its quite common for me to only drive 40-50 miles and not need to fill it up, because the gas gauge is on “full”. This is where the new scam comes in:
Budget’s “EZ FUEL” (I love how they even have the “TM” logo by it as if they are thinking about trademarking this until someone decides to file a class action law suit). The way it works is, if you drive less than 75 miles (I wonder if they did any research on this, determining what the typical distance someone drives with a rental car), you automatically will be charged an additional $14, even if you DONT sign up for the “buy a tank in advance” offer. In fact, if you drive less than 75 miles, the only way you can avoid this charge is to show them a receipt for adding gas to the tank.
What this means is, all those folks who would rent a car for a few business meetings and then head back to the airport, looking at their gas gauge and thinking the tank is “full”, will in fact have to take it to a gas station and top it off just so they wont be charged the $14. Even if they only traveled 10 or 15 miles on their trip (or 30 like I did in Nashville). The beautiful thing about this is they wont tell you about this new policy, they just put this sticker on your envelope and hand it to you. If you try to contest it, as I did, they will state it’s their new policy and unless you can produce a receipt they are going to charge you anyway. Nice job Budget! At this point your flight is leaving in an hour, so off you go to the airport with your luggage, shrugging your shoulders and saying to yourself “its only $14”. Not me- it ticked me off. I see this as someone reaching into my wallet and taking money.
Multiply this by all the people who do probably do this everyday, and Budget is probably making MILLIONS on this. WOW….. Im so sick of the games. This is why I don’t believe in nickel-and-dime-ing photography customers and hate to hear nightmare stories of people getting “squeezed”. Its a crappy feeling to know when a company has taken advantage of you and it destroys long term trust for short term gain. Its just not worth it.
Don’t use Budget Rental Car if you can help it.
So how exactly do you as the one renting the vehicle, know that the vehicle was completly full in the first place? I understand paying for the gas you used, but say you only used $5 worth, can you just put $5 back in and the fee is waved?
Smooth Move Budget – thanks for the warning Michael
That’s the idea- BUT its not enough anymore to fill it up, you have to prove it with a receipt (within the last hour or so). I know $14 doesnt sound like a lot, but when traveling now there are so many add on fees. Luggage fees, overweight bag fees, Hotel "parking" and internet fees (both should be fee), you have to buy meals on many flights, so after all these extras- you can no problem spend $100. I cant stand companies that say "this is the price" when they know full well they will hit you with add on costs later.
Well, it always seems that people are trying to make a buck here or there. Anyways, thought I would share my little resource site I am creating. In it I have a Fuel Calculator were you can found out how much fuel you are going to be using on any given trip. http://www.nightfoxproductions.com/resources.htm
I’ve had problems with them as well and refuse to use them. Now I have an even more reason not to use them. Thanks for the tip!
I’ve had numerous problems with Budget (OK, with others too) and stopped patronizing them several years ago. Thanks for posting this on your blog so others can be made aware!
I also fell for this scam as well recently. I was told to return the vehicle empty, and they will refill it. but during my driving, i filled the car with $40 (from an empty tank), and the rental place charged me $60. I return the car full, and they would not credit my credit card.
I rented at BNA and questioned the policy. It has been a long time since I rented from Budget. So, okay, I’ll just find a close gas station and fill up and hang on to the receipt. Well, I filled and I filled and I filled the KIA I rented, and the fuel gage never went to full. I filled it until the gas spilled out, and still it didn’t show full. I even went to two different stations, thinking the pump might be defective.
I called their res, and was told by the bimbo working there that I must have driven the car a mile or so and depleted the gas, so it wouldn’t register full. Huh? The gas station is one block from the hotel.
I used to work for car rental companies, and rent all the time, but this is the first "Budget" in years — and the last.
I will make it a point to go to the closest station I can find before BNA and fill it until it overflows, then I will watch them try to fill in in the return line — if the will.
This is a class action lawsuit waiting to happen, especially if the car gage is fixed.
There is no honor at budget car rental in Tulsa, OK either as I found out last week. 7/19/13. While I was signing the rental agreement the very polite customer service agent proceeded to explain how much better it would be if I took advantage of their return on empty policy. I said I usually just fill it up before I return it. She told me if I let them fill it up they have better prices than I could buy it for at a gas station. I said what if I bring it back with half or three quarters tank? Do I get charged for the whole tank? She said no, we will fill it up here at the cheaper rate and you will save money. Guess what happened when I returned with three quarters tank remaining. I got "you requested our return on empty policy and you will be charged $67 for using a quarter of a tank in a mid size dodge avenger. Well I was livid; called the customer service agent who had been so nice while she was deceiving me a crook and talked to national customer service and they refunded me $17 supposedly to my debit card. Do American companies have to resort to such loathsome tactics to make a profit. I am ashamed to be an American these days. I recommend you spend your hard earned dollars at companies who choose not to be scum bags.
New key scam $585.85 charge on cc, they just charge your cc, they say you didn’t give them the key back, as you hand keys to intake man and he drives it away. Funny the charge was about the same as the rental price and charged cc,”in the next cc billing cycle”. KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN AND CHECK YOUR CC BILLS!!!