Originally Posted by
kurjan
Today, when I picked up my rental car at Thrifty Salt Lake City airport, I found a bogus "trip saver" line item for $4.99/day mixed in with taxes and fees on my contract. It turns out that this Thrifty franchisee automatically adds this charge to all rentals, even though it is not listed on the reservation confirmation, and is not disclosed in any way prior to car pickup. It is removed only if the customer notices it and specifically requests that it be deleted.
The charge covers free roadside assistance for the rental car.
This franchisee also engages in at least one other unacceptable practice - they categorize the Hyundai Sonata as a full-sized car, even though it is listed as a mid-sized car on Thrifty's corporate Web site.
That's odd. I didn't think franchises offered TripSaver. It's a corporate program that franchises don't have access to. This franchise must have negotiated it with area service providers on their own--I wonder if it covers the entire U.S. and what the terms are.
As to the Sonata, though, most other rental car companies classify the Sonata as a fullsize, and the Sonata has the same interior volume as the Dodge Charger. Take a look at the Avis and National forums, and you'll see that those companies classify it as a fullsize, too. Although it's a practice you don't like, it's an industry-wide practice, so you can't really fault them for doing so.