40mph for 12hrs, report it?
 

I was just looking over a reciept from a rental at DTW. I had the car for just shy of 12 hours and my O/I milage is listed as 2019/2500. 481 miles at just over 40 MPH average. I had unlimited mileage, but I have a few one-way rentals coming up and I would hate to get a charge like this. Should I report this to Avis, what is the best forum to do that, DTW station or website?

You could report it to the DTW station. It might have been a typo at the previous return, or during your return.

More important on your upcoming trips is to check the odometer when you get the car, and again when you check it in, and discuss any discrepancies immediately.

Cheers,

GenevaFlyer

500 miles in half a day? That's not unheard of.. heck, I did ATL-PHL (abt 800 miles) in that time a few months ago.

In any case, for unlimited mileage rentals, don't worry about it. You can call either the station or Customer Service and they will contact the location. They will just check the odometer and computer to be sure the next person doesn't have a fight over mileage. For rentals where you're paying for the miles, absolutely check the odometer before/after the rental. I even snap a pic of the odometer/gas in instances like this.

First, you didn't see how much actually drove the car.

Second, "at just over 40 MPH average" is not very meaningful IMHO. I look at it as *about 8 hours of freeway speeds, as if driving somewhere 240 miles from DTW just to be there for 4 hours". I can certainly imagine someone flying into an airport and driving to someplace for one meeting or one sales presentation, and then coming back after that and flying home (or at least somewhere else). I don't know about DTW (Michigan is one of the very few states I've never yet been in), but there are certainly some airports where there are destinations 240 miles away for which it doesn't make sense (either in terms of timing or in terms of fare cost) to take a connection to a nearer airport. (But then I live in the West where meaningful airports are often very spread out.) And if that's where your meeting, sales presentation, whatever, is, driving from a major hub airport 240 miles might be more practical than waiting for a commuter plane to take you only halfway to a place where it's harder to rent a car at the same price.

I should have clarified I drove to Ann Arbor and back ~50mi R/T. and the rental was from 9PM to 9AM.

I just called the DTW station and there was no answer for 5 or 6 rings. I sent Avis Corprate a note witht eh RA#. I just want to bring it to their attention to hopefully help people in the future. I hope i was effective.

With the vast majority of rentals coming with unlimited mileage, there is much less emphasis on getting the odometer reading for a rental correct. I have seen several errors, both outgoing and incoming, in recording the mileage.

The proper recording of mileage is important if you are planning on using their $13.99 refueling charge for 75 mile or under driving.

TW

Sorry, but that bothers me and accounts to nothing but sheer laziness on the part of the agents involved. This causes headaches from someone like me who rents a car for work as an independent contractor and then claims the expense on income tax to get the sales tax paid back. Sometimes I use a car for part business/part personal so I track personal miles driven and then use a percentage, so that percentage goes out the window if I get a ridiculous receipt saying I drove 8,000 km in two days.

Check the odometer when the car comes in, and then double-check it again when you park the clean car on the lot. It ain't rocket surgery...

I have also had a number of problems before w/ incorrect odometer readings. Once, had unlimited mileage, but when the total miles driven came out negative, I got delayed for about 20 minutes because the agent insisted I clear it up (had to wait in line at counter).

To the OP though, it's human error in recording the mileage - complaining won't do anything other than maybe get an agent in trouble.

You are absolutely right, this is not rocket science, but you are dealing with car rental employees . . . they are not going to have the attention to detail that you bring to things.