Comments on: The Hidden Costs of Renting a Car

By: Joe E

Joe E — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:09:19 +0000

Great post.

Be aware of being given an older car also. In 2004 we rented a car to drive on our two week vacation and we were given one with over 29,000 miles. That one had steering problems so we took it back for a replacement which they gave 2 us with free GPS.

The 2nd car had over 27,000 miles on it and we got a flat tire about 4,000 miles into our trip. We called Hertz and they told us to bring it in at the nearest location at our convenience for a 3rd car.

The 3rd car had less than 10,000 miles on it but when we were about 500 miles from home the ‘check engine’ light came on right after I gassed up. I figured it was only a gas cap problem so I was not about to get a 4th car. Instead we cut our trip short by one day and headed for home.

Renting a car cuts down on wear and tear for your own car but pay attention to what the contract says or you could ending paying a lot more than you expected to.

By: freecia

freecia — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:09:20 +0000

Don’t forget the “dings and dents” fee. With some car rental companies, if you don’t indicate all the dings and dents when you drive off the lot, they charge you “repair fees” because they assume you put it there.

I use Hertz and they don’t do this in the states. The usual luggage scratches put on the bumper fall under normal wear and tear for them.

By: Jane

Jane — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:12:55 +0000

Kevin,

Unless you are the business your business should be responsible for insuring the rental at least that’s how it works at my employer.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:44:31 +0000

I just got back from a trip, and almost feinted when I saw the $7.99 per gallon if not full fee. AND, I got hit with the ‘free’ upgrade. But with the rental savings, along with hotel and disney tickets, my AAA membership more than paid for itself. Check their web site. they have other discounts too for shopping and things.

By: nickel

nickel — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:26:15 +0000

Yes, subscribe to comments is gone for now, but might be making a comeback.

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:21:07 +0000

Hmmm, did subscribing to comments go away?

Also, I rented a car in Australia recently, AMEX doesn’t insure cars rented there, the GPS was $8 a day and was a must have since I drove over 2500km. Printing and using maps is cumbersome at best, assuming you have somewhere you CAN print.

By: nickel

nickel — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:57:57 +0000

Mike: Yep, I’m aware of the underage fees. But since I’m not underage, and since I was writing from my own recent experience, I left those out.

Justin: Every time I’ve rented a car, it’s been given to me with a full tank. So yes, you’re technically correct that it had to be returned with the same amount of gas that was in it when you received it. Nobody would ever expect you to fill a tank that wasn’t full when you got it.

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:54:45 +0000

I haven’t rented a car that had to returned with a full tank in the US in years. I have to return the car with the tank where it when I picked it up. So if I pick it up at 3/4 I need need to return it at 3/4

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:41:53 +0000

Don’t forget underage fees. Most car rental companies will charge you $25.00 to $40.00 extra per day if you’re under 25 (like me).

By: nickel

nickel — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:16:51 +0000

Jim: Just be sure that your other drivers never get in an accident. Or be sure to switch real quick if they do.

By: jim

jim — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 22:13:45 +0000

Hmmm I never mention other drivers…

By: Winning Startups

Winning Startups — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:07:28 +0000

I like to look at cost savings on a per hour basis. This weekend I rented a car – of course I used my handy dandy coupon codes which you can almost always find when renting a car – and I was 45 minutes overtime on my rental. I asked a quick 30 second question, “Will you please not charge me for the extra minutes, I’m a Blue Chip member?” She immediately took off the charge, saving me $8.60. If I were to calculate that hourly (1/120 hour divided by $8.60), I earned $1032 that hour.

By: FFB

FFB — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:49:26 +0000

A couple of years ago we rented a car in Miami while on vacation. We didn’t understand the whole cut-off time issue and we had to pay extra. What a rip-off!

By: Kevin (ReturnToManliness)

Kevin (ReturnToManliness) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:46:10 +0000

Be careful on the insurance front. If you are traveling for personal reasons (and more importantly can prove it) then you are just fine. Your credit card company and your personal car insurance company can fight it out over who pays for an accident. You will be covered. But what I found out recently that if you are there on business (and the burden of proof will be on you to prove that you were there for personal reasons) your personal car insurance carrier will not cover any damage regardless of the credit card or not. I am not sure if the CC companies will fight this as well, but just be careful when traveling on business to get the insurance (unless you have investigated it and feel comfortable).

Amen to everything else in the post as well.

By: Cheap Like Me

Cheap Like Me — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:31:54 +0000

Ouch! That extra driver charge would almost pay for AAA membership (ours is about $80 a year). I will keep that AAA tip in mind when we pick up our rental car this weekend, and I’m going to call our insurance agent about coverage right now – thanks for the reminder!

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:19:04 +0000

I rented a car at Avis near Detroit a few years ago to drive to Boston. Even went thru Canada as a shortcut and I had no problems. Just had to get extra paperwork from the rental counter for border crossing.

The major rental places I looked at clearly give restrictions on locations, typically Canada and US is ok, but check to make sure in their fine print.

By: Sandwichartist

Sandwichartist — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:55:59 +0000

We travel to see grandparents a few times a year and usually drive, especially after having more than one kid. I’ve thought about renting a car, since they advertise unlimited mileage, but does anyone know if they limit geographically where you’re allowed to drive? Our typical trip would be from Dallas to Minneapolis, putting almost 2,000 miles on our car roundtrip. We do it in one day and only stay for an extended weekend, so the daily rates wouldn’t be too bad if we could pull it off, and we’d be paying for gas either way. Anybody ever do anything like this?

By: "Mo" Money

"Mo" Money — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:47:49 +0000

I am always amazed at the tax they charge you, many times as much as 17%. This is how the local government collects taxes from their visitors. And I don’t know of any cities that don’t.

By: john

john — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:38:28 +0000

I agree with crazypumpkin, you also aren’t going to get nickel and dimed as much if you go with the big companies and negotiate. you can negotiate anything!

By: crazypumpkin

crazypumpkin — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:25:00 +0000

I’m not sure where you’ve looked recently, but I just rented a car a few weekends ago for a weekend trip. Every single rental agency I looked at now does unlimited mileage. I rented from Budget who also offered that if I traveled less than 75 miles that they would do the gas refill for about $13. Definitely worked to my advantage, especially when I negotiated getting this deal when I had actually driven 78 miles. I could not have refilled the tank for less than $75. I pad $58 total for a Sat-Mon rental from an airport (this includes a Costco discount and a “free” upgrade because they didn’t have the economy car I had requested).