Budget - Can I avoid a rate increase by extending a rental at the counter vs online?

I recently decided to try and extend my rental from LAX from Friday at 11AM to Saturday at 11PM. That's basically a 1 day 12 hour extension on a 10 day 17 hour rental. The base rate however, went from $188.54 to $269.24, that's $80.70 more, or a 43% increase. Since this seemed way steep I called Budget and the CSR told me that due to the change in return date, the system is applying a whole new rate. She also said that the way around this is to tell them when I check in at the rental counter - that way my original rate prevails.
Can anyone tell me if this is true? I'd hate to find out when I'm at the counter and it's too late for me to do anything about it. Thanks!

Don't try and "extend" online, just call em up (or physically show up at the counter). They'll charge a $10 extension fee (although my experience is, the extension fee is charged 50% of the time) . That's my experience, anyway.


I recently decided to try and extend my rental from LAX from Friday at 11AM to Saturday at 11PM. That's basically a 1 day 12 hour extension on a 10 day 17 hour rental. The base rate however, went from $188.54 to $269.24, that's $80.70 more, or a 43% increase. Since this seemed way steep I called Budget and the CSR told me that due to the change in return date, the system is applying a whole new rate. She also said that the way around this is to tell them when I check in at the rental counter - that way my original rate prevails.
Can anyone tell me if this is true? I'd hate to find out when I'm at the counter and it's too late for me to do anything about it. Thanks!

Word of caution: Budget LAX is a franchise, so their rules might not be what you expect from experience renting from their corporate stores.