Hertz - Boston stinks! Taxes too High! $39 rental = $77 w/out Insurance!

Welcome to Boston Logan International Airport! If you'd like to rent a car, be prepared to pay DOUBLE the advertised rental rate for an "economy". If you'd like LIS, or a LDW be prepared to pay triple! Is there anyway to arrest the Massachusetts Legislature, or better yet, get a paid on-air job on a station not owned by the illegal ownership monopolies supressing speech and not making this known to the public?!

Best consumer advice, just don't rent a car in Boston and let them go out of business.

Rental Rates

Daily Rate 1 @ ¤39.79 = 39.79

Taxes, surcharges, and fees
10.00 /DAY CONV CENTER CHARGE 10.00
.30 /DAY PARKING SURCHARGE .30
3.00 /DAY PEAK SURCHARGE 3.00
8.00 /DAY TRANSPORTATION FEE 8.00
7.9 PCT VEHICLE LICENSE FEE 3.14
5 PCT STATE TAX 3.05
6.9 PCT CITY EXCISE TAX 3.46
11.11 PCT APT CONC RECOV FEE 6.79
Total = USD 37.74

Taxes & Fees = 37.74
Total Price = 77.53

The only "tax" is the 30 cent per rental fee, and the $10 fee which goes to building the new convention center. While I agree that the $10 per rental fee is pretty obnoxious, at least it is somehow related to tourism, there is something tangible being built, and all the money collected is going toward it. As for the other "taxes", this is Hertz simply trying to take things that are part of their overhead and characterize them as taxes to make their rates more attractive, and get people mad at the legislature instead of Hertz. When I use my corporate ID, many of those "taxes" are not charged, becuase Hertz agreed not to charge such bogus add-ons! Imagine if you walked into a store at the airport, and picked up an item marked $1.00. However, when you got to the register, in addition to the 5% sales tax you expected to pay, they also charged you a "license revovery fee" of 23% which was designed to recover the fees the store pays the airport to be able to sell to you (i.e. RENT!). This is exactly the nonsense Hertz is engaging in.

I have some suggestions for you when renting in BOS.

1. You can take the airport concession fee off by simply not entering an arriving flight in Hertz.com.

2. Thrifty, which rents out from BOS as well, is actually located at Revere. You save $10, but it is about 5 minutes more in shuttle bus ride.

3. The 6.9% city excise tax is also Boston related -> rent from Thrifty at BOS.

4. Are you renting from Boston city location? Usually the rental rate in Boston is about 10-20 dollars more expensive than airport.... simply because at night, rental car companies park at airport.. you are effectively hiring someone to drive a car from airport to your pickup location.

more suggestion:

I have been successful in asking the rental agent at BOS to take off the airport concession fee. (Enterprise, Thrifty). something which worth a try.

I just tested a rez at hertz.com.

The $10.30 is a per rental fee. (Convention center + .30 for "parking fine recovery".

There is no $8 per day fee.

There is 5% tax, 3.52% vehicle licensing and excise tax. This is similar to most locations.

If you include an arriving flight number, there is also an 11% airport concession recovery fee on flight arrivals. When I left out the arriving flight info that item was omitted from the estimate.

I've found Hertz total cost estimates to be very accurate.

So, yes, you will pay a $10 surcharge for the convention center fee for the entire rental. This will be the same if you rent for an hour or a week.

-David

Having lived in the People's Republic of Cambridge for some time, this reminds me of the other favorite saying, Tax-achusetts.

It's just as bad at DFW. Taxes can be over 50% of the base rental charge.

Miami is even higher.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by LIH Prem:
So, yes, you will pay a $10 surcharge for the convention center fee</font>

The funny item is there is no convention center in Boston and there won't be one ever.

SHADO

Duh? Try taking a drive over to D Street and look at where all those $10 fees are going. It looks rather spectacular already. Whether it is successful is another matter, but it is certainly being built.