How does Avis determined how much $ you will pay when you have less than a full tank?

I'm not talking about prepaid fuel options here...

If I rent a car and drive 100 miles and do not get gas, do they figure out how much I owe by using an estimate of that cars MPG?

What if I return the car at 3/4 full and drove 500 miles (i.e. I bought gas)? How do they determine how much I pay for the gas I didn't buy?

look on your contract. it will say the refueling rates.

1> if you do not refuel at all during your trip, they use the $ per mile calculation. Typically, is around 40-60 cents per mile. This number is determined by the car's city (MPG*gallonsper tank=maxrange), (Cost per gallon x gallonspertank)/maxrange=cost per mile. Cost per mile*miles driven=cost of refueling.

2> if you do refuel and the tank is visually not full, even just a couple of cents, that calcualtion will not work. So they use the gas gauge.

So instead of cost per mile, they use [(Gallons per tank/8)* cost per gallon]= cost per measure.

every 8th of a tank will then cost a measure.

I was in ABQ once and used Avis. I filled up 10 miles from the airport, and the needle was just slightly on the lower side of the F line (it was an Escape). I know I put as much gas in it as I could plus it was very early in the morning and I wanted to fill up where I knew it was safe. (When I was leaving the airport, I didn't see any gas stations nearby.)

When I checked my receipt online because the counter was closed when I returned the car, they charged me for a full tank of gas. Even though I filled up 10 miles from the airport. I called the counter and the girl said it didn't matter. I called back later in the afternoon and spoke to the manager and he specifically said, after he found out how much they actually put into it, that it was unreasonable to be charged for a full tank when they only had to put in "a little bit." So he adjusted the bill and only charged me 1.50.

By the way, when I mentioned to the first person I spoke to that I filled it up 10 miles away, she said "oh, our policy is that you can fill it up 5 miles from the airport and not be charged."

I'd have called somebody's bluff on that.

I was in MBS (Midland, Bay City, Saginaw, MI) a few months ago when I rented an Avis car. They had a sign at the counter that if you didn't purchase the gas option, when you returned your car you must present a receipt to prove you filled up the gas within 5 miles. I returned the car before they opened, so I didn't have to have my receipt.

The crazy thing is, that just proves you put something in the tank at a local station. It doesn't prove that you filled the tank or drove directly from the gas station to the airport.

On another rental at my local (off-airport) location, they were closed when I returned the car. When I picked up the car, the windshield was cracked and the gas was 3/4. (Most local places I've been to don't fill the gas, just have you return it where it was)

The next morning I got called and told I had to fill out an accident report for the windshield and I was being charged for a tank of gas b/c I returned it 7/8 full, not 8/8. I explained the windshield was cracked when I picked up the car and the tank was 3/4 when I got it. She said a manager would call me back when they arrived. They never did & I got billed for the gas . I called back & a manager never returned that call either. I emailed Avis.com and they refunded me my $$ and mailed me some coupons.

From that location, I now make the employee do a full circle on the car and note absolutely every imperfection in the car and write it on my contract. I'm to the point now, I make them note every spot on the seats, etc at that location just for spite.

When renting from non airport locations, DEMAND an employee walkaround and insist upon notes on every single nick and scratch. As far as gas, if they charge you for gas when the gas tank is full (Ford cars drop out of full really fast, including the escape), you can argue it all day long if you just claim you filled it up. The CAll center customer service will always credit the gas rather than lose a customer.

one more thing. If you truly want to draw attention to a location having issues, call the 800 number, and complain. Every complaint via 800 number counts against the location's budget and Quality assurance score. lower than 98 at airport locations denotes failure.

I will, however, reccomend that you use this for truly bad locations. I was one of the better managers and nothing pissed me off more than getting these complaints without giving me a chance to correct the mistake first.

However if a location deserves the bad pub....so be it. Some places just need to be brought to the attention of the upper management.

A location that has lots of gas complaints, for example, will get an accelerated visit from an inspector and he will concentrate on cars gas levels on the ready line.

What is ATL's score? Can't be very high. The last three times I've rented there -- long waits to get the return checked in, even longer waits for buses (with several buses on the lot going nowhere). A prevelant "not my job" attitude from the staff.

Actually, a number of Ford vehicles never gets to full...Taurus being particularly bad about it. The pump's auto-shutoff usually kicks in too early (I blame Ford's gas tank design) which results in the gas gauge showing anywhere between 7/8 and a little bit less than F. I constantly had this problem so I just refuse Ford cars as much as I can.

Interesting. I recently rented from there (as a chairman's club member) and had the worst service that I received as a chairman (If I was not used to Chairman service, it would have been fine).

The guy that gave us a ride back to to the terminal was so terrible that I wanted to call in a complaint, but didn't as the debacle when I picked up the car was so bad they had already comped me a day, and it was only a two day rental.

Fords and 2006 and older Cobalts have that issue.

The way to fix that (the way avis employees fix it) is to rock the car. Rock the car once or twice then start filling. Works best when someone else rocks the car. The other way is to turn the nozzle upside down when filling. it allows for gasses to escape and fills to the top, but occasionally causes gas spills so watch out.

V....buddy....your chairman. Call the CHM desk and complain IMMEDIATELY. Say "this is the worst treatment I have ever had as a Chairman."


I havent looked at ATL recently, but I was in Florida on vacation so I took a peak and not one of the Florida locations passed muster. They all failed.