Other Car Rental Programs/Partners (ie. Alamo, Enterprise, Sixt) - Alamo Charging Extra For Early Return

Last two rentals I returned a car a few hours early, but had started the last day I reserved for. (Like most people, I'm used to renting in full day increments so I won't have late fees). The agent added a substantial surcharge for "bringing the car back too early." Not disclosed on the rental form, and amounted to about a doubling of the booked rate.

Complained and a rather embarrased sheepish-looking manager eventually emerged to reverse the penalty. After a second occurance in a second location within a month I'm not writing this off as a rogue location and will be booking elsewhere if possible.

Wow, I've never experienced that yet and I always allow extra time in my rental, especially when I rent out of LAS. I usually fly in in the PM and go home in the AM. They never hit me up with a surcharge. I'll keep my eyes open now.

Last two rentals I returned a car a few hours early, but had started the last day I reserved for. (Like most people, I'm used to renting in full day increments so I won't have late fees). The agent added a substantial surcharge for "bringing the car back too early." Not disclosed on the rental form, and amounted to about a doubling of the booked rate.

Complained and a rather embarrased sheepish-looking manager eventually emerged to reverse the penalty. After a second occurance in a second location within a month I'm not writing this off as a rogue location and will be booking elsewhere if possible.

That is totally unacceptable. :td: It would be one thing if you took advantage of a less expensive weekly rate and then brought the car back a day or several days earlier, but it's something entirely different to return the car a few hours earlier. Obviously, an early return is in Alamo's interest anyway because the sooner the vehicle is back in their custody, the sooner they can turn around and rent it to another customer. Shame on Alamo and/or this location for this practice.

I wrote Alamo regarding early return charges and I got the following response from them:

Thank you for your e-mail inquiry. I appreciate the opportunity to answer your question.

We do not have in place a specific penalty for returning the car early. However, an early return can cause a rate to change and this sometimes results in an extra charge. So that you can understand that a little better, let me explain our rate structure. Rentals from one to four days are charged a daily rate. Rentals from five to seven days are charged at a weekly rate in most cases. That can change if the daily rate comes up lower than the weekly rate. For example, if the weekly rate is $165.00 and the daily rate is $30.00 and you had the car for six days, you would get the daily rate because it is lower. We might also have a special offer that would get you a weekly rate on a given car. For my example, I will use a special we run from time to time that gets you a full-size car for around $175.00 per week. The requirement for those specials is generally that you keep the car for a minimum of five days. If you keep the car for four days, the daily rate might be $50.00 which comes out to $200.00 which is more. This is called secondary rates.

Since it isn't always possible to schedule to the minute how long you will need a car, you can call our reservations department at 800-327-9633 if there is any uncertainty about exactly how long you will need a car and they can advise you on how best to proceed.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,
Douglas Schalk
Customer Service Representative

I just thought that I would share this with you. Feel free to make your own conclusions.

Interesting...

We rented a car in Kahului, Maui for two days and returned it a day earlier without any sort of penalty. Guess the rate didn't change, then.

aloha

I wrote Alamo regarding early return charges and I got the following response from them:



I just thought that I would share this with you. Feel free to make your own conclusions.

Wow, he must be doing that new math. Last time I checked $30 X 6 days = $180 I also remember $180 being more not less than $165. Unless he was saying that you could have the car for 6 days for $30, now that is a deal.

I understand his point, I just think he picked the wrong numbers in the examples. Have used alamo for several recent trips and never experienced anything like that. I think I will double check their math though.

Same thing happened to us in FLL a few weeks ago. Had the car for three days, turned it in maybe three-four hours earlier than stated in the reservation, and was hit with an additional $27.00 charge (how they arrived at that figure, no one could explain). Had to waste several minutes at the counter, they eventually reversed the charge.

Last two rentals I returned a car a few hours early, but had started the last day I reserved for. (Like most people, I'm used to renting in full day increments so I won't have late fees). The agent added a substantial surcharge for "bringing the car back too early." Not disclosed on the rental form, and amounted to about a doubling of the booked rate.

Complained and a rather embarrased sheepish-looking manager eventually emerged to reverse the penalty. After a second occurance in a second location within a month I can't write this off as a rogue location and will be running all the alternative scenarios and booking more carefully if possible.