my sister got caught in their trap too. I had warned her to not buy into the insurance or prepaid fuel but forgot to tell her about the upgrade scam...

They told her an upgrade from compact to mid size would be $50 extra (on top of a $60+tax 3 day rental), and on her bill it said "UPGRADE $50.00" right before the subtotal. . Plus unfortunately she didn't realize that the $50 upgrade fee would turn into $70+ after the extra taxes etc.

Since they didn't change the daily rate to blend in the upgrade fee, and instead listed it as a separate line item, that tells me that it goes into a special account that each dollar location tracks and awards their counter agents big commissions for upselling. At the end of the month if their upsell account reaches a few thousand dollars that's just GRAVY on top of the rentals.

The last time they tried to pull this on me (in Orlando) I held firm saying I would be more than happy with my compact car that I reserved. When I turned down the upgrade 3x they said they don't have any compacts so I'd HAVE to pay the upgrade. I said I'll wait here in the front of the line until someone turns in a larger car since I know they get back at least 30 cars back an hour. They gave me a Pacifica and I immediately asked for a credit to help pay for the higher cost of fuel (terrible mileage). they put a $15 gas credit on my account.