Most rental car companies allow you anywhere between a 30-minute to one-hour grace period between when your car is due back at their car rental return location.
If you miss your rental return time, some of the companies will bill you on a per-hour basis not to exceed the daily charges. Some rental car companies have been known to charge you for a full extra day even if you are only returning the car a couple of hours late.
We have seen very few cases from the major car rental companies that actually gave you a refund if you return the car early. Some will refund you a portion of the amount, but it can be tricky, especially if you used discounts, and is very rare to see a refund for an early return.
However, we just came across Fox-rent-a-car, that mostly operates on the West Coast, and they are actually charging you if you return the car early. So for example, if you are due to return your rental by 2:00 p.m. on a Tuesday and let's say you catch an earlier flight home so you return the car at 11 p.m. Monday night, Fox would charge you an additional $10.
Their policy states that they will charge you $10 per day for each day early that you return the car. So not only would you be paying the full amount of the additional day that you had already booked you will be charged another $10 more for a car that you aren't even in possession of any more.
What are we getting at? Read the terms and conditions when renting a car, especially when you are renting in a different state or country. Knowing what your liabilities are will help you set aside the correct amount of money in case you have to pre-pay gas, need a temporary residence drivers license permit, have to pay for additional insurance like you have to in the state of Georgia.
Also, most car rental companies will require a $200 deposit if you use a debit card, knowing this in advance will save you some headaches later. So be cautious of using a debit card as you may also need to take out additional insurance, and you will also have $200 less to be able to spend. While it is a deposit, they do not release the funds until the car is returned, and even then it will take the bank a few working days to refund the deposit back to your bank account.
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