Hertz - Can you believe 60% surcharges??

I thought SEA was bad for taxes and surcharges on car rentals, but I just returned a car to PHX. The daily (gov't) rate was $53 x 4 days = $212. The bottom line however was $324, without any charges for fuel. The difference was State Tax, County Surcharge, Concession Fee Recovery, Facility Charge, Gov't Admin Rate Supplement, and ($2) of FF surcharge, for a grand total of almost 60% taxes and fees on top of the base rate. Am I out of touch, or is that just plane crazy? By the way, their fuel charge at PHX if you don't fill up is $5.29/gallon!

houston is up there too--it's certainly easy to pay 60-70% on top of the rental rate there. and i paid $13 once for a free rental in cleveland...

Like SEA, PHX has a nice new stadium, so I am sure they added a lot of "tourist taxes" like SEA did to hotel, restaurant, and car rentals to help pay for the stadiums.

Starman wrote:

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
is that just plane crazy?
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Freudian slip? Or the only way to spell on this forum? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Phoenix is known to be one of the worst places for car rental surcharges in the nation. By taxing hotel rooms and car rentals, area residents get to pay for their nice new stadium and pass the cost along to visitors, who generally have no vote or say in how revenue is raised for something that they may never use.

One possible way to avoid some of the surcharges might be to rent at a downtown (non-airport) location. But I have no idea which of the surcharges are airport specific and which ones are levied on all car rentals in that area.

-David

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by LIH Prem:
One possible way to avoid some of the surcharges might be to rent at a downtown (non-airport) location. But I have no idea which of the surcharges are airport specific and which ones are levied on all car rentals in that area.

-David

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Another possible way is to NOT go to Phoenix on vacation and sent an email to their tourism office. I hate Phoenix for these huge surcharges.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Altaflyer:
Another possible way is to NOT go to Phoenix on vacation and sent an email to their tourism office.....</font>

... and get used to the cold weather in Edmonton! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Try Boston: Looks like 100% here.

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

I don't think your numbers are accurate. There is a $10.30 per rental surcharge, 5% tax, 3.52% recovery fee, and if you indicate arrival by air, an 11% concession fee that you can easily avoid. Other than the $10.30 per rental fee, there's nothing out of the ordinary here, though there 11% arrival fee is on the high side.

-David


[This message has been edited by LIH Prem (edited 04-16-2003).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by USAFAN:
... and get used to the cold weather in Edmonton! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif</font>

I was thinking maybe Hawaii or California but staying here ain't all that bad - going skiing this weekend - should be about 50-60 F http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Altaflyer:
staying here ain't all that bad should be about 50-60 F http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
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CANADIAN HEATWAVE. Run for your life http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

I'm going to add Little Rock(of all places)to the list tax and fee gouged cities.

My $137.00 3 day rental was just over $200 after all of the taxes and fees were added.

Budget travelers beware. !