This thread could have gone in Auto Rental forum, or Travelbuzz...
Did a single-day car rental from Pau airport recently.
It was booked for Europcar through autoeurope.com. Rate was roughly 45EUR inclusive of sales taxes, unlimited mileage, etc.
I had previously rented cars with europcar, autoeurope, and in france, in multiple instances in the past, without issues. (that i could recall, anyway).
This time , upon check-in, in addition to the 300EUR deposit block, they asked for a ~45EUR "tax".
Later when I got home I saw that in the AE rental contract, it mentions the below in exclusion column
* Airport Surcharge of approximately EUR 40.80, per rental,
VAT included, paid locally.
* Road Fee:EUR 3.30, per day (maximum EUR 33.00), VAT
included, paid locally (per30 day rental period).
I'm not calling foul. Just surprised, and curious whether this was specific to PAU because from memory of times past the price booked was the total price paid. Maybe this could be a warning to others.