new rental car fee
 

This may be specific to Alamo, but I'm posting here because I want to lnow if any other companuies do this...

I rented a car at Alamo @ YYC, reserved as a 4 day rental, $35.69/day, picking up Mon 2:30 pm, returning Fri 1:00 pm. Actual pick up time was 2:10 pm.

At the rental counter, the agent confirmed that I planned to return the car Friday at 1:00. I said yes. Then, after the rental agreement is all printed, he pointed out and had me initial terms that stated:

"If I violate the rental agreement by failing to return the car by <fri> 13:00, I understand that I will be assessed an overstay fee of $10.99 per day in addition tro my other charges"

Below that, and not initialed:
"I understand that if I do not return the car as specified above, I will be charged retroactively for the entire length of the rental: daily $41.99, weekly..."

Now, I did return the car before 1:00, and was not charged.

But my understanding is that if I had returned the car at 1:30, then I would have been charged $10.99 for the overstay plus $25.20 for the higher daily rate. Even though the rental period would still have fallen within the 4 days elapsed. Note that we're not talking about crossing a rate boundary, like a Monday noon drop off for a weekend rental, or a minimum 5 days for a weekly rental.

Are other companies doing this? Is Alamo doing this everywhere, or is this a Canadian thing? Do we need to start telling the agent that I'll be returning in 3 days, 23 hours and 59 minutes, just to err on the side of traffic delays?

Comments?

If this is true, then I'm going to have to add Alamo to my list (Dollar is the other) that I won't use anymore.

That sucks!!!!

Is it just me, or is the rental car industry the single most non-consumer friendly, difficult to work with group of companies, that exist? This is unbelievable.

My favorite was how they now track you by GPS and give you speeding "tickets" and "fines" if you travel outside the agreed-upon geographies.

Who do these people think they are?

To be on the safe side, if I book a reservation for a pickup at 2:30p, I set the dropoff time as 2:30p too even if I would return it at 1:00p.

That way you get the whole 24hrs you are paying for.

BTW, car rental companies( Avis, Hertz and National ) do normally give a one hour extra window to return.

I read elsewhere the state of CT went after those folks. Basically saying if anyone is going to give out speeding tickets, they will be doing it, and collecting the money. I hear the fee has stopped.

In a way, I support this charge. I think it's used during periods of tight inventory when some rentees might be tempted to keep the car longer than what there's availability for, resulting in others who have reservations arriving at the renting location and finding no car available (that's happened to me). I could imagine the same thing happening in the hotel industry for those who check in and refuse to check out (after their last booked night) when rooms are tight and there are others with reservations.

I wouldn't bet on it but I am quite sure it will be used as a last resort.

I recently kept a Hertz car a day longer than the reservation. I called ahead to advise them I would be doing it and they thanked me and simply added another days charge when I returned it in MSP.

No problems, nothing out of the ordinary there. Maybe this charge is designed to sock business travelers (who are probably less likely to care since they usually aren't the ones paying for it.)

Same with Avis. They are very accommodating. Just call them and they are fairly responsive.

I have noticed more hassles the few times I rented from Alamo. I think they do not cater to business travellers and are more nitpicky.

I also encountered this policy with Alamo at TUS. A manager I questioned acknowledged that there is a 1-hour grace period before the retroactive charges and fee kick in if one does return the car a little late. Nevertheless, this policy, which I have seen with no other agency, coupled with a counter clerk who was tremendously rude in asking what might otherwise be understandable questions ("WHERE are you going to be driving the car? WHAT do you do?"), has caused Alamo to lose my business permanently. As a company, they seem more focused on the leisure traveler, but I didn't assume until this experience that this made them less interested in being courteous and reasonable!

I observed this language on my last rental in MSP. Alamo's Quick Rent is a great way to bypass the line and rude employees at the counter, but I don't like them putting a minefield in my contract.
As a general comment, we are in a recessionary period now, and if any businesses can remember as far back as the early 80's when the economy was last in the dumper (or even the smalller early 90's recession) when times are bad businesses that try to make it easier for the customer are the ones that survive. Could we get by with one less car rental company? Certainly. This doesn't help Alamo.
Daze

I ran into this in Reno. Did not return the car late or have any actual charges, but still felt taken advantage of. I looked back at the web screen and the reservation-confirmation e-mail (3 pages long) and found NO specific disclosure anywhere of any overstay fee (or how much) or any different rate being applied retroactively (or how much).

In other words, this is a last-minute condition they popped on me at the counter (when I was in the worst position to back out), and that aspect of it was the most unseemly. It also looked suspiciously deliberate, since it'd be very easy to back out of a reservation but very hard at the counter.

At the VERY least, the time to disclose things like this is at time of BOOKING, not at time of rental. Making it an undisclosed last-minute term that's material to the transaction is at BEST a questionable business practice, and certainly not of the standard Alamo should be setting for itself.

As for the policy itself, I think the idea of applying a different rate for time already spent is unfair. Most companies will charge the added time at a higher rate; either that or the flat amount is more than sufficient to cover costs, IMHO.

It reminds me of the banks and their NSF fees. Under the guise of punishing the "bad" people (or paddling the ones that had been bad), the banks slowly went from charging something semi-reasonable to cover costs, to developing the area as a major profit center. So now you have $25 charged against about $2 in actual costs for the bank, and some banks caught putting payments and deposits through in such a way as to maximize NSF fees.

And then they wonder why their goodwill is shot and people stop believing what they say.

Alamo has been on my "NEVER USE" list for a long time. This is just another reason for them to be there.

Bruce

first we had to get used to a day not being a day. instead it is a "24 hour period". now it's not a 24 hour period, it has become "24 hours, or the portion that you tell us you are going to use, whichever comes first". geez, if you drop the car off at noon and it gets rented out again its 2 days of revenue! i guess if you are going to continue to use alamo, you'll need to make sure your pickup and drop times are the same, so at least you have the option of returning it early. of course that'll be a charge later as well....

personally, i haven't used Alamo in years, after they forced me to take the CDW at philly or wouldn't rent. i got the money refunded, but as a matter of principle stopped using them.

There is a reason that the Alamo and their sister company National are in chapter 11.