Dollar - Dollar NYC surcharge for certain borough residents

I've rented a couple times from Dollar in Manhattan and noticed that in the fine print it says there is a surcharge for residents of certain boroughs. $55/day for Brooklyn, $53/day for Bronx, $11/day for Queens (apparently zero for Manhattan and SI residents).

I'm a Manhattan resident, so it doesn't affect me, but I find this curious.

I found one old thread (http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=508050) that mentions this surcharge, but nobody responded to it.

Anybody know if any other rental car companies have similar surcharges? What's the deal with this surcharge, anyway? Is it some sort of risk profiling? It seems really strange.

Hertz does. I don't think Avis did. A few others do as well.

When I lived in NYC, I almost always did local rentals thru Hotwire or Priceline, and was never dinged for a local renter surcharge.

How did you do local rentals through Hotwire or Priceline? Both only offer airport rentals as far as I know.

Picked them up at LGA or JFK - airport locations slap you with the local-renter surcharge as well (if they rent to local renters at all...)

Anybody know if any other rental car companies have similar surcharges? What's the deal with this surcharge, anyway? Is it some sort of risk profiling? It seems really strange.

Back in the 80s and maybe 90s all the car rental agencies added a surcharge for all NYC renters. :td:

That was the major reason why I switched to a Florida Drivers License

iirc, it was an insurance issue