Originally Posted by
Often1
The whole premise is objectionable because the same could be set for electricity, internet service and supplies for the employee bathroom. It's all overhead and should be baked into the total rate. But, it isn't and it's the common practice in North America.
I'm of two minds on this. Fees like the "air conditioning recovery fee" certainly fall into that category - it's part of the cost of doing business. The concession recovery fee, though, is just passing through a fee that the airport is charging the rental car company because of your specific rental. If you didn't rent, that fee wouldn't be collected. It doesn't really bother me that it's itemized on the bill - it highlights the fact that some airports are a LOT more expensive to rent from than others, for reasons that are in no way the rental car company's responsibility. I also find it kind of useful, since it lets me know how much effort I should put into exploring pricing options - if I see that the rental is costing me $50/day on a weekend, I might say "hey, that's pretty high," and feel the need to shop around a lot, but if I can see that the rate is actually only $25/day, but there are $25 in pass-through charges and taxes, then I'm going to invest less effort, since there's a limit to how much lower I can push that $25/day rate.
Personally, it's the total amount that I actually care about, and so long as that's clearly shown upfront, I'm fine.