Avis has been pretty good to me, and I try to rent from the when they can.  However, this past weekend, I got caught by a little trick that I had not seen before.  A little sign at the Preferred counter caught my eye when picking up my car in Tulsa, but I didn’t think much of it.  It said something to the effect of if you drive the car less than 75 miles, Avis will automatically add a fuel charge of $13.99 if you don’t refuel the vehicle.

I refueled the vehicle as I always do prior to returning it.  I expected to drive more than 75 miles during the weekend, but as luck would have it, I only drove the car 68 miles.  As I was walking to the terminal, I took a quick glance at the receipt and noted I’d been charged an extra $13.99.  There was no discussion about refueling with the return agent as I’m accustomed to having, and frankly, I forgot to mention that I’d refueled the vehicle.  I stopped by the Avis counter in the terminal, showed them my refuel receipt, and they gladly removed the charge.

Be aware of this when renting from Avis (and anyone else), and check your receipts closely.  And make darn sure the return agent knows you refueled your vehicle.

I pride myself on being more aware than most of potential little snags that can catch the unitiated as they travel about.  However, I was recently surprised to learn that I had booked a prepaid rental car reservation using Hertz.com.  Frankly, I had no idea until the charge hit my Amex card.

I called Hertz to find out why a charge had appeared for $79 dollars.  After a 10 minute trip through a phone tree along with hold time, I was informed that the car I reserved for a July trip to Dayton was a pre-paid reservation.  Sure enough, if you scroll down through the Terms and Conditions of the rental, it states “Prepaid.”  This caught me off guard.  The fact that a customer is booking a prepaid reservation should be very conspicous and not dropped in the scroll down menu of T&C’s.

I’ll continue to rent from Hertz, but this seems a tiny bit sneaky at best.  Check those T&C’s before you click the “Reserve” button with Hertz.

ETA on 4/9/09:  I just did a test booking on Hertz.com for the same dates, times and car class that I reserved previously.  On the usual car choice page where cars and their rates are listed, I can see nothing that indicates that I am choosing a prepaid rate.  Once you get to the final reservation page, in the rate details section, just above your approximate total, the site states something to the effect of your card will be charged (a certain amount) upon booking.  It’s by no means hidden, but if you are focused on the total cost, and in a hurry, you will not see it.  I will from now on.

As promised, I wanted to offer a few comments on my recent trip to Lihue, Hawaii (LIH). This was a work trip for Lady Astrojets which I just happened to have the time and inclination to invite myself on!

As background, I am a Hertz # 1 Club Gold customer, and have been since 1997. If I have any choice at all, I rent from Hertz, and I always have. If you ever experience # 1 Club Gold service for the first time, you will see why. Long story short, you get on the bus and ride to the Hertz location. You get off the bus in front of a large board with lots of names and space numbers on it. You find your name which is next to your space number, walk to your space number where a car will be sitting. You get in the car and leave. No lines, no paperwork, no nadda! While I’ve gotten to a few airports and found my name missing from the board, it’s never been more than a 5 minute wait to get the situation fixed.

Well, the scene shifts to January 6th at 9:30PM in Lihue. This rental was under Lady Astrojets’ name as this was a work trip for her. She has recently joined me as a fellow # 1 Club Gold renter. The wait for the bus was a little longer than usual, but not by much. The driver was wonderful and personable. Loaded everyone’s bags onto the bus and off we went. Upon arriving at the Hertz building, I saw what looked like a refugee camp with lots of travelers, piles of luggage, and a line out the door! Not to fear….# 1 Club Gold would save the day I foolishly thought.

Just think how disappointed we both were to walk into this and see no names on the board! It was in the line for us. There were 2 frazzled employees working the counter for a very large number of frustrated renters. The wait took 90 minutes, but we eventually got a car which we took before it made it into the wash section. We couldn’t stand to wait any longer!

A Hertz employee flagged us down and apologized profusely. Turned out that he was the city manager! He was out washing cars! They did refund one day’s worth of rental charges, but this was just beyond rediculous. I’ve never seen anything like it at a Hertz location. And I hope I never do again.