Other Car Rental Programs/Partners (ie. Alamo, Enterprise, Sixt) - PrePaid Gas / Good Idea?

Cost me $23.65 (prepaid tank @ $1.69 gal) in addition to the $16.35 I spent to top off the tank before returning the car over the weekend in Pittsburgh. My $37.00 rental ended up costing me $78.00

I guess I am in the habit of topping off the tank before returning the rental. Won't be Pre-paying in the future as Alamo does noes not provide a credit for unused gas. They do allow you to change your aggreement within 24 hours of rental.

Prepay is one of the most misunderstood rental car features and as such it usually ends up being a rip of for conusmers. You always pay for a full tank of gas, no matter if you return it full or empty. The $.20 cents a gallon you save based on their prepay price is quickly eaten up if you have more then a gallon or two in the tank when you return it. The only way it is to your advantage is if you return the tank nearly empty, and who wants to go to the trouble of ensuring that?

Huge rip-off. Border-line fraud, IMO - from my experience eavesdropping on other customers in rental lines, very few people understand the concept, and the agents are not very forthcoming on the details.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Boring747:
Cost me $23.65 (prepaid tank @ $1.69 gal) in addition to the $16.35 I spent to top off the tank before returning the car over the weekend in Pittsburgh. My $37.00 rental ended up costing me $78.00 </font>

The merits of buying the prepaid tankful aside, I don't understand why you topped off the tank after prepaying. You paid twice for the same gas.

Prepaid gas works well if you are going to do some heavy driving. If you leave 1/4 tank full when returning, you're only paying a 33% premium for the gas you use - which can be well worth it if you're pressed for time. Some airports (i.e. SJC, TPA) do not have gas stations that are close by.

Agreed that most customers don't understand it.

I recently read another post that indicated they also got hit for the huge taxes on the supposedly competitive price for that gasoline so they were really peeved.