Wow. Talk about a horror story. The worst part about it is that the Payless franchisee is obviously employing a deceptive practice and going for the throat on this one. (I say "deceptive" because the $1/mile is a critically-important part of the rental rate, and I'd bet the house that it was buried deep in the rental rate. In fact, when you book a Payless rental on Orbitz it says "Unlimited Free Miles" when clearly it isn't.)

My Payless story is more benign but just as ridiculous: I had a pickup at MCI with "Unlimited Free Miles" (booked on Orbitz). When I presented my ID, the clerk said "Oops. You're from a border state. You only get 100 miles a day." Orbitz had my Kansas address on file and I was logged in when I made the reservation, yet it still displayed "Unlimited Free Miles" on the booking screen. The clerk whipped out a thick binder and pointed to a rule in the fine print about border state renters and mileage limits. In this case, I knew I wasn't going to exceed the limit so I took the car. But I'll never rent from an off-brand company again, no matter how cheap they are.