Maxwell Smart

Sounds like it.

If they're documenting fuel level in gallons, then the consumer has to be able to read the fuel level in gallons to be able to refuel enough to meet the check-out level. If the customer doesn't have access to that same info during the rental, that's a problem.
More fundamentally, if they say the car has 12.5 gallons when you pick it up, the consumer HAS to be able to confirm that.

I have no problem with digitally reporting "fullness" level (1/2, 7/8, etc.) since I can verify that with the gas gauge. But xx.x gallons? I'd have to have a way to read it myself to be comfortable with that.

bocastephen

Indeed - unless you're given an accurate fuel reading at checkout - AND - are giving a reading on how much fuel you've burned (perhaps via the mobile app) BEFORE returning the car, this is most definitely grounds for a lawsuit.

glostix

Funny, your name is kid but you're trying to be my Mom

Edit: yes, I agree class action on teh way if enough of us find this unacceptable

JamesLoughney

No smoking !

diburning

I'd be pettier. I'd take a fuel jug out of the trunk and top it off while in the return line at the rental agency to make a statement.

(Just kidding)

Mwenenzi

I doubt they are reading actual tank level. Tanks in cars are now very irregular shapes. And if the car is on a slope the reading would inaccurate. But it can be done. I have put many level transducers into industrial tanks (10's of thousand of gallons)
More likely they are totalising fuel volume (fuel rate) used in the rental period. Need to have a reference to tank volume..Would hope they are using mass flow transmitters and not volume flow transmitters. Density does change a little with temperature.

xienon

So I picked up an Impala yesterday from a local branch and the agent told me they can automatically read the tank and it was 5/8. When I got into the car, the gauge read 1/2. After driving the car out of the garage, the gauge showed slightly under a half so I took a picture and showed it to the agent. Then, after driving 3 minutes to my house and parking on the left side of a street with a slight crown, the gauge was slightly above half. Suffice it to say I took a bunch of photos and kept the gas receipt to make sure I don't get charged.

A couple of weeks ago, I had another Impala where I got charged 5 gallons of gas to go 45 miles. Since my corporate rate gives me pretty good price on refueling and the fact that they can read the gas automatically on GM cars, I didn't bother to fill up that time. However, it seems like the slope of the ground really affects the Impala's fuel gauge.

lilpisher

It has been awhile since I've had an Avis car with this feature, but when I did (I think 2018), it was definitely two-way. I'd often end up with gas "credits" when I brought the car in more full than when I picked it up.

Loren Pechtel

This doesn't fly. Once a container like this has been used it can't be taken on an airplane. (Very much an issue for us backcountry people. Liquid fuel stoves don't fly once they've been used because of the residue in the fuel tank. Gas fuel stoves can fly but the fuel cans can't.)

btonkid12345

1.) National/Enterprise don’t provide a credit for overage, as Avis

2.) I never got any overage from Avis when the digital fuel readout was used - only manual. Definitely not two way, unless you make a regular habit of overfilling, or filling to the click within a mile of the return location.

Maxwell Smart

As an engineer I can appreciate what you're saying.

But as a consumer, all of that is irrelevant. Simply put, if you can't show me somewhere on the car the start and end fuel levels that you're using to compute the fuel usage, I'm not going to pay just based on the company's say-so. Basing it on the fuel gauge? Fine. Basing it on some numerical fuel level measurement that I don't have access to? Not a chance.

Again, this is a class-action lawsuit waiting to happen.

Azamaraal

In 50 years of renting cars it has always been a "mystery" to me why the cars get such poor fuel economy on the first tank after being picked up. And then, because I am such a good driver, the fuel economy soars for the rest of the trip.

So when I pick up the vehicle I carefully note the fuel (picture), mileage etc. When refilling later from fill-fill I calculate the fuel economy. I then calculate the amount of fuel that was in the tank in the first place and when returning fill the tank so that is what is the level returned. I then take another picture.

Have not ever been charged for low fuel but I see that this is about to change if I rent a GM product.

Hopefully if the rental agency is reporting the digital fuel in the tank on return they will obviously have a record of the digital fuel when it was previously returned/rented. Unless there is a gas hose at the return station you can be sure that they did not fill the tank in between.

StevenSeagalFan

Yeah, this is certainly an issue for me. When I rent a car and it looks to be on Full, it may not actually be, in fact, I usually see on the range meter say 285 miles and that's full but when I fill it up it shows 340 miles, while that's based on efficiency there are some ambiguities when it's "full." I would be pissed if they give me a car that's "full" and I get charged for returning it "full" but not actually "full" lol

bocastephen

They key issue here, which would in my opinion help in a class action lawsuit, is EHI (and other rental companies) failure to establish, enforce and publish transparent calibration standards so we know what these devices are, how the fuel added and burned is being measured, by what standard of measurement, and by what standard and schedule of maintenance are these systems checked, calibrated and maintained, and which third party is verifying these calibrations.

Anything else is nothing more than nonsensical gibberish that we burned x and x gallons of fuel when it could be much less, or since they charge in fractions, slightly less - nor are they telling us with any certainty how much fuel was measured going into the tank so we can compare with the quantity shown on our gas station receipt.

thedeeg

I had this once on a Chevy Tahoe for $0.30. It irritated me disproportionately, and feels like penny pinching, not least because it absolutely feels like a 1 way street.

I had filled the car up, as was shown by the fact it was $0.30, and I would guess the gas station is 3.5 miles from the airport.

Anyway, I hadn’t had it again (this was October), so I assumed the feedback had been taken from National.

I understand the constraints on the industry at the moment, but it feels like National are in extreme penny pinching mode, between this policy, the age of cars (I’ve had a couple now with 30k plus miles), what goes in the Executive aisle (lots of paid upgrades that used to be in the aisle) and the general attitude of staff, compared to 18 months ago.