Hertz is no longer gouging travelers with refueling fees for those who return
their cars on empty. Now before all of you get excited out there, we still think
your best deal is to fill up the tank yourself before you return your rental
car.
The new plan from Hertz for those who don't have time to refill their cars
before returning to the airport is that they will charge you the market price of
gasoline in your area of rental, plus a $6.99 refill fee. Now folks, that's not
bad. Other car rental companies still charge up to $7.99 a gallon to refill your
car. Now that's highway robbery!
For example, if you bring back your rental car on empty and it has a
20-gallon tank, you could be paying as much as $160 to refill. Under the new
Hertz plan, if the average price of gas is $4 per gallon, you would pay for the
same car $80 to refill plus the $6.99 processing fee. Now that's nice. Let's
hope the other car rental companies wake up and smell the coffee.
Remember, the best and cheapest refueling fee is when you stop and refill the
car yourself.
We also hate the option to pre-pay for a tank of gas in advance. Let's say
you still get that 20-gallon tank and you pre-pay $4 per gallon in advance.
Well, that's fine if you bring back the car on empty. But let's say you pre-pay
for your gas in full but you return your car with a half tank of gas. You
actually now paid $8-a-gallon for gas.
If you are not renting from Hertz, you will want to find out the refueling
fee of the company you are renting from. But just remember that the worst sucker
bet of all is not filling up your tank and getting charged a whopping $7.99 per
gallon for gas.
To see more car rental news and deals, please click
here.
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