Originally Posted by
IAHtraveler
Many of the newer vehicles are "connected" to the Avis back-end system. You can tell if your vehicle is connected by looking in the app - if it shows the actual gallons of gas in the vehicle (with a slight delay), the car is feeding back information to the system, including gas level, mileage and location. If the agent scans the barcode on the vehicle, they can immediately have the fuel level and mileage on their device. This eliminates the need for them to look at what the gauges say. The only issue that I've found with this is that sometimes if you fill-up near the airport, it doesn't always sync immediately and they register you as bringing in a non-full vehicle. Then it becomes the usual fight to get the charge reversed.
Was coming here to post a recent experience, but this post already mirrors my conversation with a station manager. No point in starting a new thread.
He was aware of the issue and gave an explanation very similar to what is posted above.
While he was credible, believable, and empathetic, it is still a frustrating answer to be told to "fill the car up farther away" or "drive around the airport for at least 10 minutes". Way back when they asked to see a paper gas receipt, I got admonished more than once to fill the car up closer next time or I would be charged.
Not to mention I'm pretty sure last time at the same station the return upload was way late and I got charged for a second day we didn't actually use.