Car hire-refuelling charge scam

Pssst

I have been to many countries and hired cars and the standard method of operation has always been that the car is collected with a full tank and must be returned with a full tank. If it isn't, then the company charges a refuelling fee-fair enough and more than reasonable.

Howver- I recently went to cyprus. I had prebooked and prepaid for my car hire via holidayautos and was supplied with a voucher for Europcar. On arrival i was told i had to pay a fuelling charge of cy£24 for the fuel in the car which was supposedly a full tank (smallish car). I protested that i had never done this in the past and i was prepared to return the car with a full tank. They wouldn't have it so i had to pay. What a scam. When i received the rental agreement there was an option box to return the car with a full tank and not pay the refuelling charge up front.

In the paper this weekend ,i notice someone complaining of the very same thing,this time a major Spanish hire car operator who previously didnt do this but have now started doing it. So if you pre book a car,look out for this and insist that you dont pay a refuelling charge.

vikingaero

I saw that too in the paper.

It's nothing but a scam. You should have the option to return the car with a full tank. Every customer that returns the car with fuel in the car puts more money into the company's pockets. Seems like every Euro car rental franchise is on the scam and make. I would write or initial the agreement to the charge but write "initiallied under protest". Then return the car with a full tank and take it up with the company in the UK or get a credit card chargeback.

An acquaintance of mine (not a friend I hasten to add) returned a car to an airport in the Costas. The agent checking the car in said that he had to pay 500 Euros for the tiny scratch on the wheeltrim. He argued that it was already marked on the form - there was a dubious mark. So he said that he wasn't due to return the car until 6pm and took it out again and wrecked the car against a wall near the airport!

MarkyMarkD

@Pssst - this is scarcely new. It's been an increasing trend over the past few years.

@vikingaero - if you hire a car, you are subject to the terms & conditions of the company hiring it to you. You won't get anywhere with a chargeback claim if you signed an agreement which stated you would return the car empty and pay for a tank of fuel at the start, and then returned it full instead.

Writing "initialled under protest" doesn't make any difference either - it's up to you whether you take the car, on the terms agreed, or not. If you don't like the terms, don't take the car.

It's not inherently unfair for car hire companies to do this, it is just a way of them cutting their headline prices whilst not reducing profit margins.

If you don't want to use a car hire company which operates in this manner, use a different one - but that different one might be a lot more expensive in the first place, negating your saving.

vikingaero

I would tend to disagree Mark. Most of the major rental companies allow you the choice of how you fuel the vehicle. It's when the agents at local branches and franchisees blatantly lie and tell you that their is no other options except to purchase the fuel - you're on the spot in a foreign country, don't speak the language and are in a weak position and don't they know it!

For smaller rental companies, I quite agree. They can make up any manner of terms and conditions that you accept on booking.

Dave_the_Indestructible

Pssst wrote: »

I have been to many countries and hired cars and the standard method of operation has always been that the car is collected with a full tank and must be returned with a full tank. If it isn't, then the company charges a refuelling fee-fair enough and more than reasonable.

Howver- I recently went to cyprus. I had prebooked and prepaid for my car hire via holidayautos and was supplied with a voucher for Europcar. On arrival i was told i had to pay a fuelling charge of cy£24 for the fuel in the car which was supposedly a full tank (smallish car). I protested that i had never done this in the past and i was prepared to return the car with a full tank. They wouldn't have it so i had to pay. What a scam. When i received the rental agreement there was an option box to return the car with a full tank and not pay the refuelling charge up front.

In the paper this weekend ,i notice someone complaining of the very same thing,this time a major Spanish hire car operator who previously didnt do this but have now started doing it. So if you pre book a car,look out for this and insist that you dont pay a refuelling charge.

You can only guess at the number of cars returned to them with supposedly full tanks but running on fumes, while the hirer is on a plane rapidly dissapearing over the horizon...

MarkyMarkD

If that happens they'll just charge your credit card for the fuel costs.

This isn't an anti-fraud move, it's a profit-protection move by the hire companies.

gwapenut

Bit off topic, but thought you'd enjoy hearing about a beneficiary of car hire companies overchargin for petrol.

Rented a van from budget ten years ago, and noticed the fuel gauge was only at 3/4. When I complained they were too busy to fill it up so just marked it on the form at not being sent out with a full tank.

Coming back, I filled it up completely. They noted the full tank, and not only gave me a rebate for the extra 1/4 tank, but also at their ripoff fuel charges, ie htey gave me more money back than I had spent filling it up! :T

Not often it goes in your favour ...

iolanthe07

I noticed that Alamo in San Francisco no longer gives you the option of full to full, despite there being a gas station right by their garage. As MarkmarkD says, it is a way of keeping down the daily rate, as they make quite a lot of profit on the fact that no on is going to risk running out of petrol on their way to catch their flight back home. I don't think it's really a scam, as such; more a marketing ploy.

jim_in_carlisle

argus/cartrawlers/carrentals netted me

car hire was sublet to HIPER in Menorca

9 day hire of Diesel Multipla

84 euros for full tank ; thats a lot of diesel ;to use a full tank in 9 days I would have had to be in reverse gear for 6 hrs a day and towing a JCB with its brakes locked on

You want my advice ??? Don't use the above

Does any know which companies still do it the honest way ? ie you get a full tank as part of the deal and fill up just before drop-off

Kilty_2

jim_in_carlisle wrote: »

ie you get a full tank as part of the deal and fill up just before drop-off

Although Europcar are mentioned in the OP - their UK operation certainly do this....

Dave_Z

Don't really think it's a scam and unless you're going to be using less than a tank during the rental, then you can't lose out by much. I had this when i rented in the US from Thrifty in Jan. They charged me a fair price for the full tank (certainly no more than if i'd filled up myself) and i brought it back with the low fuel light on. The last couple of days i only stuck the odd bit of petrol in to make sure it wouldn't be going back half full. A little bit of forward thinking is all you need.

Personally, i find Enterprise UK the most annoying as they give you the car with whatever fuel it has and you have to bring it back with the same (or more, obviously).