Tank not filled when returning car...
 

I rented from the Avis ORD location. Great, friendly staff, but when I returned the car from a 3-day rental I returned the Ford Focus at 3/4 full gas. I was charged $93.75 for 13 gallons @ $7-ish/gallon, which is absolutely insane considering I had filled the tank up twice during my 3 days of rental. How could 1/4 of a Focus tank be 13.* gallons? I called to dispute and the best they could do is to charge me for the pre-pay option, which came out to around $33. Is there something I need to know about for future reference? Despite the over-billing that occured, the Avis customer service at the ORD location was great.

I'm sure I will be corrected if I'm wrong...

I think that if you return the car with tank that is not full you get charged for enough gas to cover the miles that you drove at whatever inflated rate they charge for gas. It is not dependent on how much gas actually goes into the tank.

For whatever reason if you drive more than so many miles (differs per car) then they charge you a flat rate for a full tank. They screw that up sometime, though. I returned a car to HNL and they charged me $84 even though I had the gas option. I went straight into the office a disputed the amount and they cut $50+ dollars off the amount. I ended up paying less than I would have if I had to fill the tank up (I returned it near bone dry) myself.

Its a full tank of gas as per Manufacture(how many gallons the tank holds), regardless of how much fuel was actually in the tank. If the tank was not "full" your getting charged max rate. Same a pre-pay option. Pre-pay charges you a lesser amount per gallon for a FULL tank, even if you return it at 3/4 tank. You will be charged for a full tank $X @ X gallons

Thanks for your responses... so I'm to assume that this is a standard policy across the board, and should return the car with a full tank of gas if I don't pre-buy the tank to avoid the outrageous penalties.

I have never been to a rental station where the fuel options aren't clearly spelled out on a sign behind the counter, so look for it the next time you rent. I have always been asked whether I wan't to prepay for a tank of gas(usually at a teaser price), return it full, or be charged for the rental agency to fill it up at some very inflated rate. I always opt to fill the tank myself. Think about the other options for a moment and it doesn't make sense to go any other way.

Do you have a corporate rate? My company has an agreement to pay 12.5 cents per mile for gas. I paid $9.87 on a recent rental for 79 miles. It's nice not to worry about getting gas on a short trip.

An often lamented question, and here is the answer from an avis insider.

When you return, you will be asked "did you buy gas?"

If you put even a DROP of gas in the tank during your ENTIRE trip, you need to say "Yes."

If you DID NOT PUT ANY GAS into the car on your trip, no matter how short or long, then say "NO".

Why?

When you say "YES", the check in computer must use the gas guage to determine tank fullness.

WHHEN YOU SAY "NO", it uses the mileage driven*averagecost per mile at the assigned gas rate.

So if you filled up the tank twice on your trip, that would be roughly 600+ Miles in standard driving situations. So the computer would default to the full tank at the assigned rate.



Remember, they are NOT asking you "did you bring the car back full", they are asking "did you buy gas at all on this trip." They can see if you brought it back full on their own, thank you very much. But to charge you accurately for any gas, you need to let them know if you filled it, or not, at all during your trip.

Can someone confirm this? So returning a car with half tank full is same charge as totally empty tank? Avis does not meter much gas it takes to full the tank? In this case, why don't they just say much they charge if the car is returned without a full tank? What is the point of listing $X per gallon on your contract?

my answer is the correct one.

if you prepay the tank and return it full, the prepay SHOULD fall off. If you prepay the tank and its returned ANY less than full, you will prepay for the full tank of gas.

If you DO NOT prepay the tank, and you bring it back full, you will not pay any additional charges (except for the locations where they have the "if you drive less than 75 miles" clause in effect.).

If you DO NOT prepay the gas, and you bring it back less than full, the agent will use the Guage to determine how much to charge, to the nearest 1/8 of a tank, derived as 1/8 tank on the guage=MFG spec on tank capacity divided by 8, multiplied by the prevailing gas rate for fuel service, often 5.99 a gallon or higher.

The trick is "if you say" to the agent at check in "no I didnt buy gas", they will hit no on the machine and the machine will calculate gas usage based on the mileage inputted. If you say "YES" when they ask if you bought gas, they will be forced to look at the gas guage as the check in rover unit will not let them bypass without entering a value in that field.

Whether you prepaid gas or not, you should ALWAYS say "yes" when the agent asks "did you buy gas?".

repeat, ALWAYS say yes.

Lets scenario out the original poster. He drove, for several days, and needed to put gas in the car twice, meaning his gas usage by mileage was over 1 full complete tank. When he returned the car, he was asked 3 questions......

Welcome back to the airport, My name is EZMONEE, how was everything with your avis car on this trip?

did you buy gas?


How was Avis' service on this trip?


And one statement....

"here is your reciept, your total charges are ..........."

Then another question.....

"Is there anything more I can do for you?"

and finally.....

"leave the keys in the car, please check the car for all your belongings. Most commonly forgotten items are Sunglasses, Cell Phones, Cell Phone, Chargers, and CD's."


And sent on your way....


When the original poster was asked "did you buy gas?"

He said "No" because he didnt fill the car up on the final trip. The agent, entered "no" in the computer, and then got the mileage from the car, and tore off the reciept, handed the reciept to the customer, and went away. What the agent didnt realize was that the customer drove more miles than a tank of gas could hold, and the tank showed about 3/4 full.

At that point, the agent, if he or she was on their job, was supposed to clarify before printing the receipt.

"Did you buy gas at all on your trip?"

At this point the customer would have said "yes, but I dindt fill it up at the end."

So, given by description, the tank would have been entered in as "6/8" and in most cars, that means 22.72 in a 13 gallon Ford focus.

Given I am a former manager who dealt with this issue more than once a day, I have two burning gripes to give about the location....

1> The rover agent was not bieng attentive. Even if the agent missed the "gas check in" question and processed the reciept, he is supposed to go over it with you in your presence to give you immediate oppurtunity to object and correct it.

2> Because you didnt get an on the spot explanation of charges, and wasnt able to dispute immediately, you couldnt get the benefit of the local correction. You were forced to accept the correction based upon a phonecall, which didnt settle in your favor. Any manager worth ANYTHING would have immediately been able to solve this question right on the spot, doing exactly what I just did, to change your gas billing to 22.72. Any other outcome was of sheer laziness or outright malfiesance. At my location, EVERY preferred agent (the counter closest to the check in area) knew exactly how to correct this. We coach them on this.....

Gas complaint...do this...

1> check mileage, make sure it matches
2> check gas guage, see where its at, if disputed, have car driven to baseyard and filled with gas utilizing the "two click" standard, calling in exact gas used to fill. Subtract 1/2 gallon from actual fill up gallon, and use this number for formula.
3> manually calculate rate based on the above formula
4> compare to actual charged
5> Adjust accordingly.
6> Still not good enough for customer, see if the prepaid price is cheaper, offer as resolution
7> Still not good enough, call for manager, or issue empowerment credit of 25$ for customers running short on time.
8> Managers discretion-Waive fee entirely if reasonable justificaiton can be made
9> still not good enough, take name and number and forward to district manager for further action
10> Provide customer with 800 number for customer complaints if all else fails (last resort, DM must be notified, incident report filed).

this is the ten commandments of checkin when it comes to gas issues, at least in my location. THIS WAS PRINTED on the back of signs that are on the counter, or under the counter out of customer sight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2 click standard= squeeze fully..... tank clicks. Squeeze slightly. second click. If the tank guage is visibly "at or above the full line", stop filling after the second click.

Response to debbieb -- I don't have a corporate rate for gas. This wasn't a corporate rental.

To answer ezmonee's post, when I was asked whether "I bought gas," I replied, "No, the tank is not full," and the attendant looked at the dashboard (first time). I got out of the car, and gave the attendant the keys, and she started doing paperwork, whereas I cleaned up the car and pulled my luggage out. She then got into the driver's seat and looked at the dashboard (second time). I asked her how much it'll cost me for the difference in gas and she responded "it's only a 1/4 tank [missing], so it shouldn't be too bad." When she handed me a receipt for the non-package add'l item for $93.75, I didn't follow up with asking what the charge was for, but in just believing her and rushing towards the AVIS shuttle bus.... I'm such an idiot. :(