Fuel surcharge on a 9 mile rental?
 

I rented today from Avis like I always do in SoCal. Ended up only driving 9 miles, tank was still full on a car that gets 20+ MPG. I didnt have a receipt for "filling" up the car upon return.. I kept saying.. I went NINE miles... "well, you still need to replace the gas" I kept saying.. what gas did I use in NINE miles... ended up charging my $13.95 fuel surcharge. They never stated this when I rented in the morning. I know Avis has this at some facilities, but not all. Normally when DO have the fuel surcharge on less than 75 miles, they tell you before you leave or there is a sign, etc. No sign, no warning, nothing.

.......s... anyone else seen this practice?

If you don't produce a receipt when you return the car, you're going to be charged for refueling. It's automatic for any return showing < 75 mi driven. The policy is usually posted on a sign at the desk (which, if you're Preferred, you probably wouldn't see because you've bypassed the desk) and sometimes provided via a sticky-note on the Preferred contract card (or possibly on the tear-off portion of the contract card). It's also posted on the website:

At SNA, there is no preferred desk. Walk up, say your name, ID, give you the keys, off you go. No sign for EZ Fuel, does not say EZfuel or under 75 miles on my cardstock they gave me.. only the cost per mile .58$ or 9.82 per gallon or something ?

Maybe its just a crappy Avis airport office?

Fuel surcharge on a 9 mile rental?
 

First of all you have 15 grace miles to fill gas. For 9 miles they should not have charged you anything.

Yes, I've seen this before... in SFO.
In many markets, Avis used to include a preprinted post-it type note about the 75 miles/$13.95 charge on the back of the contract printout. I noticed that they stopped including the note at SJC earlier this year

15 grace miles??? hmmmm.... is that printed anywhere at avis?

If I travel less than 75 miles, do I have to refill the tank since I will be automatically charged the fuel surcharge without a gas receipt?

If you have the inclination, email corporate. There's a good chance they will remove / credit back the charge. I ran into a similar situation at IAD after I went with the 75 mile option. Easy fix.

If you go under 75 miles, you have two options:

1. Fill yourself AND produce a receipt upon return. Avis doesn't add any fees.
2. Don't produce a receipt (whether or not you refilled) and you'll pay the EZ Fuel fee.

I feel like this charge isn't really warranted by Avis, and that it misleads the consumer, but now you know. Just pump in $1.50 to avoid a $13.95 charge.

And if you rented a car that dropped to 7/8 after driving only 9 miles, you wouldn't complain bitterly that Avis gave you a car that wasn't really full, right?

Happened to me also but in my case, it was not in the contract. So only thing in the contract was the 8/8 of fuel I agreed with when picking the car. I also drove very few miles and didn't stop by the gas station for a quarter of a gallon, but I brought back the car with a clear 8/8 in accordance to my picking.

Had a polite argument with the guy who wanted the receipt but he finally admitted that he couldn't at the same time confirm the 8/8 on return AND charge for gas.

The sign may have been at the 'normal' desk in the airport terminal, but I've seen it at just about every station.

Yeah, I've seen it almost everywhere too. Drive less than 75 miles, get the surcharge added on unless you produce receipt of fillup.

Still better than Hertz, where they would charge me for a full tank of gas even though I drove more than 75 miles and produced a receipt...:D

Ok - here's a twist on the situation. Normally I rent from National, but I made a mistake and booked one day too early and couldn't switch because the location PHL was sold out (as were other agencies). Avis had some specialty cars available so I booked one without any other options available. Booked a Prius for $140 for 1 day - of course when I arrived, there wasn't one so they gave me a Kia Optima and adjusted the rate down $20 (fair enough). During the rental I drove 76 miles, did fill up the tank ($12.00 or 3+ gallons), turned the car in the agent asked if I had a chance to get gas (which was yes) but didn't show the receipt since I wasn't aware of the policy and the pump wouldn't print the receipt right there anyways, got the receipt - and it said drove 76 miles, Fuel tank was full, but was charged $9.30 for fuel - called corporate service and it was adjusted off.

In the end it was fine, but there obviously was a hassle factor.