Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - Priceline car rental bid accpted but Avis charges additional $13 in car rental taxes

I bid $140.00 for a weeks' car rental in San Francisco using Priceline. My bid was accepted (taxes were added) and Priceline told me that all expenses were covered. I understood I was 100% pre-paid. When I dropped off the car Avis charged me $13 in additional Airport taxes. Something doesn't seem right.

(No, these were not additional charges for extras)

Anyone else with the same experience?

Have you complained to Priceline and asked for a refund of the additional expenses?

I sat on hold to Priceline for ever and hung up in frustration. May work with credit card company. Regardless, I am interested if this happened to any-one else.

I'm getting ready to use my first PL rental car--I will let you know if I run into the same problem. I certainly hope not!

I've rented cars through Priceline a number of times and don't recall additional taxes being added. It's always been my experience that ALL taxes (including the numerous airport type fees and taxes) have been paid through Priceline.

What type of explanation did the folks at the Avis counter have (if any)?

Unless something changed, taxes are included in your PL fee. Stay on top of this and let us know what happens.

I am renting a car through Priceline at PDX airport this weekend with Avis. Will let you know if that happens to me. Sure hope not.

I've never been charged extra for my Priceline rentals. Everything is supposed to be pre-paid (except for optional insurance, upgrades, add-ons, etc.) In my experience, all standard taxes and fees should be included.

It seems that in your case, you should be contacting Avis instead of Priceline. Priceline might be able to help, but it seems Avis is the one that can better answer your question and better address the problem.

One thing about SFO, they are one of those airports that charge a ridiculously exorbitant fee for the people mover that gets you from the airport terminal to the rental car facility. Perhaps that is the fee that Avis felt wasn't included in Priceline's rate.

OK, I did some quick checking. Here's Priceline's verbiage explaining what taxes should already be included in your rate:
Charges for Taxes and Fees
In connection with facilitating your Name Your Own Price® rental car
transaction, we will charge your debit or credit card, in addition to the price
you name, a charge for Taxes and Fees (an amount that will always be
disclosed to you before you elect to proceed). This charge includes an
amount to recover the amount we pay to the rental car supplier in
connection with your reservation for taxes, fees and surcharges owed by the
rental car supplier including, without limitation, sales and use tax, excise tax,
value added tax, airport or facility taxes, surcharges or fees and/or other
similar taxes, surcharges or fees. The amount of this charge is intended by us
to be sufficient to cover the maximum amount we may be required to pay to
a rental car supplier, and may be greater or less than the amount we actually
pay the rental car supplier in connection with your reservation for taxes, fees
and surcharges. The balance of the charge for Taxes and Fees is a fee which
we retain as part of the compensation for our services and to cover the
costs of your reservation, including, for example, customer service costs and
additional fees which may be charged from time to time by the rental car
suppliers. The charge for Taxes and Fees varies based on a number of
factors, including, without limitation, the amount you pay to priceline.com
and the location at which you will pick-up your car from the rental car
supplier.



We are not the vendor collecting and remitting taxes to the applicable taxing
authorities. The rental car companies, as vendors, bill all applicable taxes to
us and we pay over such amounts directly to the vendors. We are not a
co-vendor associated with the vendor with whom we reserve our customer's
travel arrangements. Taxability and the appropriate tax rate and the type of
applicable taxes vary greatly by location.As you can see, all standard taxes and fees should be included, to include facility fees.

You should call Avis and ask exactly what that $13 charge was for. I found out that SFO charges $13.50 :eek: for their people mover. If that's the fee that Avis is trying to get you for, then according to the terms quoted above, it should have been included in the pre-paid rate. If Avis doesn't give you satisfaction, then I would call Priceline.

I bid $140.00 for a weeks' car rental in San Francisco using Priceline. My bid was accepted (taxes were added) and Priceline told me that all expenses were covered. I understood I was 100% pre-paid. When I dropped off the car Avis charged me $13 in additional Airport taxes. Something doesn't seem right.

(No, these were not additional charges for extras)

Anyone else with the same experience?

OT: $140 + $13 = $153 is still a good price for a week at SFO. I know, it's OT and doesn't answer your question, but what car did you get?
I have got plenty of nice hotel deals with PL, never tried a rental car bid.

The exact price of the additional tax was $13.50. According to Avis the taxes on a car rental in San Francisco is $13.50 plus 8.25%. Priceline charged me about $28 in taxes, so all taxes should be covered.

I have not got a hold of anyone who can answer my question but I will keep people informed.

Yes the price even with an additional $13.50 is good for a full-sized car but the hidden additional tax being added at the end is not fair in my eyes.

....Yes the price even with an additional $13.50 is good for a full-sized car but the hidden additional tax being added at the end is not fair in my eyes.

I agree - the additional charge of $13.50 is not correct. I believe you'll get it back .. I am not sure if from PL or Avis.

I had good experiences with PL. They credited me the whole amount when I complaint via e-mail about a hotel.

Let us know what the end result is, OP. I would definitely dispute the charge with your CC if I were you, who has much more power when dealing with disputes with merchants. All PL bids are prepaid and include everything except optional stuff.

LAX

I rented a car for one day using priceline in SFO: $14 successful bid, $26.50 total cost (for Budget economy car). This was substantially less than any other quote (including hotwire), especially given the $13.50 tax was included. Indeed, when I returned the car, I was specifically told that everything was prepaid.

I don't know how priceline is calculating its taxes/fees for SFO, eg was this a mistake, was my bid price high enough that priceline felt it could subsidize some of the taxes, or did priceline negotiate a special discount on taxes with SFO?

Interesting. I've never had an issue with PCLN car rentals.

I have witnessed a car rental issue with PCLN and Avis but that was for one where the bidder used a debit card -- not a credit card. According to the renter at least, they had marked the "debit card only" box when bidding. Apparently when the renter arrived at the airport they were told by Avis rep at that location that this Avis location would only rent to a person with a credit card and that this Avis location only accepted debit cards at time of rental pickup if there was proof of an onward flight ticket.

The renter was clearly upset and the Avis rep told them they should: a) call Priceline from home to get a refund and resolve the matter because they could not comply with this Avis location's "no debit cards" policy; or b) try one of the other rental agencies. (Option B was not a good idea given that they had already paid for a car rental.) The renters were about to leave and figure out what to do, but I decided to not mind my own business. I told the renter right outside the door that they should go to the airport and buy a refundable one-way ticket at the airport, get a printout from there and then go back and rent the car "in compliance with Avis policy". And for good measure I told them that they should stick their head back in the door and tell the Avis rep they will come back with proof of travel showing they are leaving on car rental return date.

[For good measure, I offered to book them on a refundable award ticket -- award fees not applicable in the frequent flyer progam I would have used -- if they did not have sufficient funds linked to their debit card or to help put together a "held" -- but unticketed, no-cost -- booking.]

GUWonder ^

Interesting. I've never had an issue with PCLN car rentals.

I have witnessed a car rental issue with PCLN and Avis but that was for one where the bidder used a debit card -- not a credit card. According to the renter at least, they had marked the "debit card only" box when bidding. Apparently when the renter arrived at the airport they were told by Avis rep at that location that this Avis location would only rent to a person with a credit card and that this Avis location only accepted debit cards at time of rental pickup if there was proof of an onward flight ticket.

The renter was clearly upset and the Avis rep told them they should: a) call Priceline from home to get a refund and resolve the matter because they could not comply with this Avis location's "no debit cards" policy; or b) try one of the other rental agencies. (Option B was not a good idea given that they had already paid for a car rental.) The renters were about to leave and figure out what to do, but I decided to not mind my own business. I told the renter right outside the door that they should go to the airport and buy a refundable one-way ticket at the airport, get a printout from there and then go back and rent the car "in compliance with Avis policy". And for good measure I told them that they should stick their head back in the door and tell the Avis rep they will come back with proof of travel showing they are leaving on car rental return date.

[For good measure, I offered to book them on a refundable award ticket -- award fees not applicable in the frequent flyer progam I would have used -- if they did not have sufficient funds linked to their debit card or to help put together a "held" -- but unticketed, no-cost -- booking.]

I am really impressed with your willingness to help out a total stranger, too!

LAX

I am really impressed with your willingness to help out a total stranger, too!

LAX

For me the only cost was a bit of my time to help someone -- cash-rich, credit maxed out??? -- whose post-school graduation move was going to otherwise be spoiled. (Literally flying off with my miles would not have been possible as I'd have the award ticket cancelled before the next flight. ;) )

I told the renter right outside the door that they should go to the airport and buy a refundable one-way ticket at the airport... [For good measure, I offered to book them on a refundable award ticket]

And did they take you up on it? Did you stick around to find out if that actually worked? Or are we left up in the air wondering what happened next?

And did they take you up on it? Did you stick around to find out if that actually worked? Or are we left up in the air wondering what happened next?

Before I left them to their own devices, I gave them my number in case they needed any help. I later got a voice mail thanking me and telling me that a DL rep at the airport had helped them out and the DL print-out worked out well for them when they went back to the Avis office/lot.

Some stories have happy endings I guess. :D