Flight+Car Hire One day overcharging

richardw

Some websites that promote Flight+Car Hire booking together are doing a little one day overcharging trick.

Say your flight arrives at the destination airport on a Friday at 21.25 hrs, you don't really need the hire car until 22.00 hrs at the earliest,
it takes time to collect your bags

and you are leaving on a Tuesday on a flight at 22.25 hrs,
you really need to take the car back at 21.00 hours at the latest.

Now the above is four 24 hour periods.
Car hire is priced in blocks of 24 hour periods so if you go over you have to pay for an extra period.
So if the car hire is £30 per 24 hour period that is £120 in total.

What some websites are doing is picking unreasonable pick up and return times.
In our example they pick a 21.00 hour pick up time and a 22.00 return time which takes the pricing into five 24 hour periods.

The charge is then £150 in total and you have been overcharged £30.

An extra day overcharged becomes more significant when it is a larger car or people carrier.
So check the pick up and return times carefully when looking at these deals.