Either prepay or bring your rental car back with a full tank
Posted By RichC on May 4, 2011
For those of us that regularly rent cars, we’ve always known that it is costly to bring a car back to the rental agency with less than a full tank. This lesson is doubly important with the higher prices at the pump nowadays. Some car companies are now charging over $9/gallon “if you bring the car back without a full tank” according to USAToday. It might just be a smart idea to pre-purchase the discounted gasoline (sometimes lower than market) just in case you find yourself pinched for time when returning to the airport.
A USA TODAY survey of auto rental gas prices at 13 big airports on April 25 found Hertz was charging $9.29 a gallon at all 13. Dollar and Thrifty were charging $8.99 a gallon at two.
At $9.29 a gallon, Hertz customers renting a Ford Club Wagon, which has a 35-gallon fuel tank, would owe Hertz $325.15 for gas if they returned the wagon with a nearly empty tank and hadn’t prepaid for the gas.
Renters who pay ahead of time for a tank of gas from Hertz or another car rental company, though, may find the per-gallon price cheaper than at many local gas stations.
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