Hertz - Hertz - MIA - gas receipt to be required

Today I returned my car to the Hertz facility at MIA and was told that they will be implementing a policy to require customers to show a gas receipt to avoid a fuel charge. My tank was full, the needle was beyond F, but I was told that in the future that this would make no difference unless I showed a fuel receipt. I rent there at least twice a month, sometimes three or four times, so the advance warning was appreciated.

I have told them where to go when that issue was brought up. I have been told that they will charge the credit card; I have told them they won't. So far, they've never added the fee on. I have filled the car using the same card, so it should be clear to the card company that I have filled the car.

FWIW, I called Hertz and complained about what I was told. They sent me a $10 certificate and an apology letter.

That is total BS. I'm required to replace the fuel. I'm not required to document that I have. What if I want to pay cash for the gas?

Today I returned my car to the Hertz facility at MIA and was told that they will be implementing a policy to require customers to show a gas receipt to avoid a fuel charge.

Put in 20c of fuel, ask for a receipt. That doesn't show that you've taken the tank to the Full mark, but nor does any receipt. They're not going to work out Gallon / Miles Driven and say "you had a full tank when you left, you put in 20 gallon when you bought it back, you've done x miles, so it can't be full".

I think the gas receipt policy is fair as long as it's disclosed in advance. After all, most all pay at the pump gas stations can print a receipt on the spot, so no sweat at all to get a receipt.

The real beneficiary of this policy is the next renter, b/c it ensures the car is actually filled up. I recall doing regular 1 day rentals in DFW where I would drive the same 50 mile route airport -> hotel -> office -> airport and the variation in my gas bills pointed to some renters freeloading and not refilling the car.

Another way to do this is the $9.50 mandatory surcharge - whether you fill up or not - if you rent from Budget and drive under 75 miles. Getting it removed requires standing in a line as it cannot be removed by the person checking in the car.

Another way is how Hertz's franchisee in Tasmania works - when you return the car, they will pump gas and will charge you if it is more than $2 worth. Imagine if that got added to the car return process at busy times!

You could also say that Hertz should just top up every vehicle at its expense. I'm not sure that's financially viable and just rewards freeloading, driving up rates for those of us who don't freeload.

I think Hertz's receipt policy is the fairest of the above.

MIA is probably the worst location for getting a car with a full tank of fuel.

I seem to be hitting around 50% of the cars I get are less than full.

Then they say bring it back at the same level. How the heck do you do that?

MIA is probably the worst location for getting a car with a full tank of fuel.

I seem to be hitting around 50% of the cars I get are less than full.

Then they say bring it back at the same level. How the heck do you do that?

If it's not full, then it's 7/8 of a tank, and if you return it full, you get a credit which I believe is computed on the per gallon price to prepay for the tank.

I ended up with a windfall, though, with Avis in Australia, where I was given a car 1/2 full, returned it full, and was credited based on the per gallon price for returning less than full. In Australia, gas from the agency is only 40% more expensive than the pump, but it made my rental much less expensive.

The amiguity here is - "how full is full". I often will fill up 15 minutes away from the airport (i.e. before I get on the freeway) because so few airports - i.e. ORD, SJC, TPA - have gas stations at the airport exit. Not sure of an easy solution to this problem except the Tasmania policy which just isn't practical. :-)

MIA is probably the worst location for getting a car with a full tank of fuel.

I seem to be hitting around 50% of the cars I get are less than full.

Then they say bring it back at the same level. How the heck do you do that?

One time we had to argue with a Hertz intown location in Chicago - at Mckormick Center. The car they gave us was shown full on the contract print out, but when we got in the car which was brought to the curb just outside the office - we found it was just about 3/4 full. We went back to the office and it took about 10 minutes to iron this out and the manager would only adjust it to 7/8 full. Not wanting to waste more time, we took off. What we suspected was the car was used for running errands at the agency but they tried to push it to the customer (it was an unwanted upgrade, from a Mazda 6 to a Siebling. We wound up paying $40+ in gasoline for our r/t to Toronto).

I've only been asked if I've actually filled it when the miles driven was really small and it might have been a freeloading trip.

I generally try to fill it to the first "pop" in the fuel pump at a station within a few miles of the airport, but even different styles of filling the tank may get you different full tank rates more than any other factors.

When I've gotten a tank less than full then I go ahead and return it full for the next person. When I've asked, they've given me a credit that was generally about double what I paid for the fuel. With the changes in price most recently it might not be quite as good of a deal, but I would bet they still give you a larger credit on the bill than you'd pay for the fuel.

Heck, at half of the gas stations I use, the receipt printer isn't working. To me, it sounds like another scam for rental agencies to jam customers up for bogus fuel charges. Let's face it: this is 1% about people freeloading fuel on short rentals and 99% about the agency getting up in your face at return-time.

If they tried to put this charge on my credit card, I'd simply tell them that my next phone call will be to Amex to dispute that part of the charge.

I think the gas receipt policy is fair as long as it's disclosed in advance. After all, most all pay at the pump gas stations can print a receipt on the spot, so no sweat at all to get a receipt...
I think Hertz's receipt policy is the fairest of the above.
The question remains, as long as the fuel gauge reads 8/8, of what additional benefit is it to Hertz to ask to see a gas receipt? Proving that it was actually the renter that put gas in the car instead a Gas Fairy filling it up in the middle of the night? Proving that the renter paid for the gas instead of stealing it?

I see no logic behind the policy.

I get annoyed when the car is not all the way full as well. I'm talking about the idiosyncrasies of the gauge reading 8/8 vs what's actually in the tank, not when it's clearly 7/8 or less. The receipt thing won't work, though, because there are too many variables. Are the people checking the cars in supposed to scrutinize for date, amount, proximity of the station to the Hertz location, etc.? It's just too much to deal with when trying to get the returns processed quickly.

The part of me who's been annoyed a couple times by tricky low fuel levels (when it reads 8/8, it can be 1-2 gallons short) would like to see a policy to deal with that. But this receipt checking isn't it. The only really tenable way to deal with this I think would be for Hertz to top off every single car, not at return time but after cleaning, etc. Whether it's worth it to bill people $6-12 for shorting the tank that way, I don't know. And where do you draw the line? If it's an airport where there's really no station too near, and it's 1/2 gallon short, do you bill them $3? More likely they have to eat it and make it up in rental revenue, which is hard unless the other rental agencies are doing the same.

No, probably what will happen is the same old thing, and when a few of us complain we will be compensated, and that compensation will cost them less than topping off every car.

Heck, at half of the gas stations I use, the receipt printer isn't working. To me, it sounds like another scam for rental agencies to jam customers up for bogus fuel charges. Let's face it: this is 1% about people freeloading fuel on short rentals and 99% about the agency getting up in your face at return-time.

If they tried to put this charge on my credit card, I'd simply tell them that my next phone call will be to Amex to dispute that part of the charge.

The gas stations receipt seems to never spit out.....I am not going inside as I am usually late anyway.

sometimes I fill up the night before if I have an early flight out the next day, would some silly agent screw with me for this saying I must have driven around even if the guage shows full.

what if I return via the after hours drop box? do I need to provide a copy of my gas receipt?

what a silly plan...if they do that, I'm going to start asking for proof that the tank really is full before i agree to the fual level when I rent or ask them to say the tank is at 7/8ths

Brilliant! It's only fair to hold Hertz to the same standard. At the time of initial pick-up, Hertz should be required to provide a receipt to the customer documenting the fill-up. If their pumps don't have receipt printers, they should install them.

if they do that, I'm going to start asking for proof that the tank really is full before i agree to the fual level when I rent or ask them to say the tank is at 7/8ths

sometimes I fill up the night before if I have an early flight out the next day, would some silly agent screw with me for this saying I must have driven around even if the guage shows full.

what if I return via the after hours drop box? do I need to provide a copy of my gas receipt?

what a silly plan...if they do that, I'm going to start asking for proof that the tank really is full before i agree to the fual level when I rent or ask them to say the tank is at 7/8ths

Actually, something like this just happened to me in Bozeman, MT. Had a 6 AM flight, so I filled up the night before. Dropped off the car before anyone at Hertz was there and asked that a reciept be faxed to me. When it was, there is a $4.99 charge for "Fuel and SVC". I call, and they ask me where I had the car filled up and what hotel I was staying at. I tell them and then they say, "Well there is you charge, that's 12 miles away from the airport, so you could not have returned the car filled."

The sad thing is one, it's only $5 but I just think that is the biggist scam on the face of the earth. Should I bother with the manager of the BZN location or should I just call corporate. I think I will ask to see the reciept of filling it up next time.

Actually, something like this just happened to me in Bozeman, MT. Had a 6 AM flight, so I filled up the night before. Dropped off the car before anyone at Hertz was there and asked that a reciept be faxed to me. When it was, there is a $4.99 charge for "Fuel and SVC". I call, and they ask me where I had the car filled up and what hotel I was staying at. I tell them and then they say, "Well there is you charge, that's 12 miles away from the airport, so you could not have returned the car filled."

The sad thing is one, it's only $5 but I just think that is the biggist scam on the face of the earth. Should I bother with the manager of the BZN location or should I just call corporate. I think I will ask to see the reciept of filling it up next time.

That is crazy -- 12 miles is probably .5 gallon of gas -- not $5 worth by any estimate or price Hertz wants to charge. If you had returned the car during business hours, they would have taken one look at the fuel and it would have said full. They are robbing you because you returned before they opened.

I would fight the charge, but that is just me. It is the principal of it, what are the chances you were .5 gallons down when you picked it up -- pretty high if you ask me.

If you rent frequently, I think it averages out. Sometimes I fill-up within blocks of the airport and return as full as can be. Other times I fill-up when convenient, drive up to 25 miles, and return with the guage on full. When I pick a car up, sometimes I can drive for 75 miles and have the guage stay full -- other times I've been at 7/8 within a few miles of the airport. I don't sweat it and hope Hertz doesn't either but it sounds like they are.

One location I used to rent from in the Netherlands used to give it to you full, and tell you that you didn't need to return it full. They would fill the gas tank and charge you at market rates when you returned it. One time I actually did fill it 1 km away, and was surprised to find a 4 euro fuel charge -- they said that the tank is actually only 7/8 full when the autoshutoff happens so the 4 euro was for the remainder of the tank. I didn't like it, but the tank was *full* when I picked it up so I can't complain.

Perhaps if Hertz follwed the airline business model, made some hedges on fuel, and required everybody to pay a FAIR price for fuel at the return (average price of fuel within 20 mile radius of airport) this would be a non-issue...

I usually subsidize Hertz PIT by filling up at the airport Sunoco. It's not overpriced and just too damn convenient. I've ended up doing this even on rentals where I know it wasn't that full going out, although I know there was one time that happened where I deliberately filled up some 20+ miles away because I was pissed. I had already recommended that they top the cars off.

The reality is, they've chosen to manage this in most places just by reacting when people complain.

What Bozeman is doing is overly harsh, though. If they're going to charge, they have to base it on a legitimate amount, not a high estimate based on the mileage. And yeah, I would bet money that it's not being applied evenly, because if you returned during operating hours someone would instead just look at the gauge level which would clearly read 8/8. Hey, complain for the principle of it if you want. If we all complain enough, maybe they'll change this haphazard crap, but I kinda doubt it.

I had a situation at LAN earlier this year where I had driven about 20 miles, and filled up about 3 miles from the airport.

When the charges hit my credit card, there was about $12 extra - for gas. I called Hertz, and the first thing I'm told is - it's a franchisee, you have to call the location. So I do this, and they claim the car needed 2 gallons of gas. They wouldn't remove the charges, so I called customer relations. I basically said, don't give me this crap about it being a franchise. Your name is on the place, and I want the charges removed. The CSR called the franchise and negotiated for me.

I shouldn't have had to go through this. Even if the car did manage to take 2 gallons, the franchisee could have easily seen that I only drove 20 miles - no way did I use 2 gallons (not to mention I had a receipt proving I topped off).

BTF (Before the Flood), MSY (or at least I think it was MSY) would state that I had to bring a gas receipt X miles from the airport or I would be charged. I can't ever remember them ever asking receipt on return.

Today I returned my car to the Hertz facility at MIA and was told that they will be implementing a policy to require customers to show a gas receipt to avoid a fuel charge. My tank was full, the needle was beyond F, but I was told that in the future that this would make no difference unless I showed a fuel receipt. I rent there at least twice a month, sometimes three or four times, so the advance warning was appreciated.