Yesterday, around 9 pm, when I tried to return a SUV to the SJC airport Avis, I ran into some issues returning the car. The car was a bit dirty (as we drove around Yosemite), but it was mainly dirt/dust that would have been easily wiped off with water. The check-in agent kept looking at it and said he would call his manager. I talked to the agent for awhile and he agreed with me that it would probably be fine after going through the wash, and after 15 minutes, the manager still didn't arrive, so the agent said it'd probably be fine and just waved me off - as I stepped into the elevator, I see the manager chasing me and telling me to stop and that my return wasn't in acceptable condition - and that's when things turned sour:

The manager told be that my return was "filthy" and that I must have been in a "filthy" place. I was calm and ignored his comments - I just told the manager that it was a bit dusty on the way back, and that the dust would probably get washed off after one run in the car wash. He then proceeded to open the trunk and complained about dust/dirt in the area between the gasket and the trunk - and said that it would cost $200 to clean/finish the car, and I was getting as an Avis First member since it's usually "$250". I found that to be quite insulting and told the manager that a $10 gas station car wash and a wet paper towel would have the car new, but he just kept repeating "you're crazy, it's AT LEAST a $200" finishing job. After some complaining, I got fed up with the manager and told him it wasn't my job to clean his vehicles and give them a car wash - but I would put the car through a car wash and send them the bill. He finally agreed to reopen the contract, I went to the nearest gas station carwash, put in 8$ which easily cleaned off all the dirt, and returned it (this was at 10pm, when nearly all the carwashes were closed). The manager kept on telling the associate over the phone to verify that all edges of the car were clean - which the associate did. The manager then came out and said "well, I just saved you $200, next time don't return our cars in such a filthy order". I just told the manager that I'd be contacting corporate and I'd be sending them the receipt.

Given the an automatic carwash washed the car to a "returnable" condition, you would imagine that the car wasn't that dirty... Apologies for the long diatribe - but has anyone else run into a similar situation? Are we responsible for returning cars in a pristine condition (in the words of the manager - "the way you drove it off with" - but I see cars returned dirty and with trash all the time!!!) I plan on calling and writing to Avis - so if anyone has an opinion of how what would give better results, that would be helpful too.