Other Car Rental Programs (ie. Alamo, Enterprise) - Enterprise: Gives me the car 1/2 full, tells me to return it 1/2 full

This was an unusual situation. Normally, a car rental place gives me a car full and tells me to return it full. With Enterprise, they gave me a car 1/2 full and told me to return it 1/2 full, knowing that it's difficult to measure as I'm filling the tank and that I would err on the side of putting in too much, giving them extra gas on my dime. :mad:

Pretty sneaky, sis.

Mike

This is really common with Enterprise. My car dealership uses them for loaners when I bring my car in for service. Because most people only have the car a day and don't drive much, Enterprise seems to not mind giving out cars that are well-below full. Yes, I know I always give them a little extra when I return the car.

I rent from Enterprise about twice a month and this is par for the course. I agree that they probably come out "ahead" for most customers, but not me.

That's because of the thing called the "odometer". You measure how many miles you've driven, then calculate how much gas you've used. (Most rental cars seem to get in the low to mid 20's mpg, so it's easy to figure out roughly how much gas you've used. Obviously SUV's are lower, subcompacts higher) I always subtract a half-gallon for good measure. Then, at the gas station, you simply watch the pump until you hit the magic number.

I'd bet that 75% of the time, I come out "ahead". (i.e. returning it with less gas than was in it when I picked it up).

Also, I must add that the Enterprise agents I deal with routinely give me the benefit of the doubt. That is, they round down to the nearest hash mark on the gas gauge when checking it out, and round up when checking it in.

All this being said, I do think that rental car companies should rent it out with a full tank, simply for the convenience of the customer. A full tank can make the difference between getting somewhere on time or having to fill up first.

I would also add that my last rental from Avis also did not have a full tank. But that was even worse than Enterprise since the rental contract said it had a full tank and I had to go back to the counter to get them to correct it.

I use enterprise regularly but this is the one thing that bugs me. It's difficult to gauge how much fuel to replace and often involves a couple of stops to turn the key to see how I'm going.

I've probably more often than not put more fuel back in, and the one time I had it slightly under I got stung with a refueling charge.

Thankfully I use the same branch every time and they kindly used the charge as a credit for my next rental.

is there any airline partner with enterprise? do enterprise rentals earn miles anywhere?

is there any airline partner with enterprise? do enterprise rentals earn miles anywhere?

No to both questions, as far as I know.

this bugs me as well with Enterprise, last time I rented from them I waited an hour and a half for my compact car (which was getting an oil change
, according to the rep. ) basically it wasn't ready. I was offered the Cadillac SUV, with only a 1/4 tank full, I told the rep this car only stops for a gas station & he said that if I take the car (truck) I can return it empty. eventually I paid more in gas then the rental price.

But to be fair I have many times rented with Avis, Budget, Hertz etc & got a car with a few gallons less then full, you can tell by the gas guage needle, I did the math and the last time the tank was about 2 or 3 gallons short !!!

If you overfill, they will generally note the amount you filled up too much on a business card and promise to take care of you on a future rental.

It's better than that EasyCar rental I had in Paris near the Metro Pointe de Champerret. I don't think it's there anymore, but cars did not have be returned full. I was under no obligation to be sure the fuel needle's in the same spot. Consequently, nearly all the cars were empty and I picked up a very bright orange Opel Corsa with "EasyCar" on the sides.

I took it off the lot and it went empty about a minute later. Should not have passed the two gas stations.

When I go through Enterprise, I always return the car with more gas than what I got it with.

I always go through the same office and they usually treat me well...well, except the last time when I got chastised because I made a last-minute reservation and didn't like what they had to offer me (PT Cruiser...ick...not my favorite car...plus, they're uncomfortable as hell for me) and I had to drive across town to get a replacement.

Enterprise is more sales focused than most of the other agencies. They push a little harder for the prepaid gas option and maybe the 1/2 talk gives them an edge in selling it - can you prepay a 1/2 tank? Last week at ALB, the prepaid gas was about $0.25 less per gallon than the closest stations.

enterprise allways gives me half empty cars and it makes me sick

I attribute this to so many customers asking to be picked up/dropped off (especially at the neighborhood locations.) I recently got a car with 3/8 of a tank and had to fill up half way back on my return trip (in the middle of rush hour.) I had to guess how much gas I would use or have to gas it twice (luckily I guessed right.)

But to be fair I have many times rented with Avis, Budget, Hertz etc & got a car with a few gallons less then full, you can tell by the gas guage needle, I did the math and the last time the tank was about 2 or 3 gallons short !!!

Yes, it's very common, almost every rental for me it seems. I can't figure out if it's cheap customers or joyriding employees.

enterprise allways gives me half empty cars and it makes me sick

At first this twirked me as well, but in hind sight this is how I met my girlfriend, so I thank ERAC for their inconvenient policy.

1. Who cares how full the tank is when you get it, as long as you aren't required to return it full? (OK, ignoring ridiculously empty tanks here.) When the tank is full, there is a lot more free gas you are giving the rental company because the gauge usually doesn't begin to drop until quite a bit of fuel has been used.

2. A contributing reason for Enterprise not having full tanks could be that they use the cars to pick up customers. The cars don't just sit around on the lot waiting to be rented.

The rare times that I need to rent from Crappyprise, I always call ahead and tell them I need a full tank. If, when I arrive, the tank is not full I ask them to go fill it up for me. It's too much of a pain to try to return the car with any other gas level. In NJ, where gas stations are all full-serve it's even harder to do this.

As to the mileage/points question, I believe you can earn Choice Rewards points - but not 100% sure on this.

Szymon

This is the same question I had. No one has been able to answer it.

I don't remember which company it was (perhaps Enterprise), but several years ago I rented one that was half (or 3/8?) full when I rented it and they asked me to return it full and that they would reimburse me. I was skeptical, but I did as I was asked and they did deduct the extra fuel from my amount due when I returned it. They didn't tell me how they calculated it, but it was pretty close to what I figured it should have been.

I don't think the enterprise I usually rent from has any pump and I routinely get cars 1/2, 1/4, 3/4 full. Never an issue upon return and yes, I usually somewhat overfill, but not much. If I factor in that they are usually at least 30% cheaper I don't mind if it saves them labor and I get it back via cheaper rates.