I thought the article was cool.

What was new to me was the idea that a fee for driving under a certain amount of miles could be written into a contract. I had already learned from reading FT to take along a gasoline receipt.
The rental car companies (like so many others) are so caught up in the moment with "cost cutting' that they are forgetting that they are in business to rent the cars.
My rentals are usually discretionary, non-business rentals. I've had alot more trouble with rental car companies in 2010 than I did in 2009. Not surprisingly, I have rented about half as often this year as I was renting last year. The problem with "cost cutters" is that they start with the assumption that there will always be a certain level of incoming funds...but that ain't necessarily so! More and more I ask myself if I really want to put up with hassle of renting a car. And, although it's more and more down to the Big3; there is still room for some competition between them.
And yes, I have heard of an "early return fee"...but I have not heard of an incident where the consumer was given money because they returned a vehicle and the "cost cutters' did not have enough staff onboard to process those returns quickly.