Interesting handling of car return
 

Hi,

I recently rented a car in the Netherlands. Three days, pick up Friday at 15:45, return Monday. BMW3. Total cost 159EUR or so.
Staff at the station was great, super friendly, got me an upgrade to the BMW5 - great car - thanks to the Platinum card.

Car returned on Monday at 16:48. All is well, no scratches, great chat with the local staff, all is super.

Fast forward to today, I receive the final bill: 239 EUR. I'm surprised and check what's up: Turns out Sixt accounted for 4 days with the last day being nearly 100 EUR.

It seems the returning the car at 16:45 would have been fine but at 16:48 - which is 3 min later - it's counted as another day at a different rate and billed as such.

Now, in theory the calculation is correct. But I am surprised a bit by this as I never noticed such finicky behaviour bevor. And had I known that, I would have not patiently waited for the Sixt gentleman to finish his phone call before walking out to the car. I would have also not chatted nicely but instead made sure that the handover was completed three minutes quicker.

Now, my question is: Is it worth following up with Sixt customer service about this or should I just eat the costs and consider this a lesson for the future?
I've been very happy with Sixt so far for the last 5 years. Their cars are great, Staff has generally been friendly and sometimes I had excellent service from the local people.
Their central customer service though was not always as excellent which means I'm interested in other people's experience.

Thanks

For 100 euros, I'd at least call. Let them know you were on the lot way before the 24 hour cutoff and the agent was tied up and took XX number of minutes before checking in the car.

Interesting handling of car return
 

You can try but after 59 minutes they charge an additional day. Ask nicely as they can but don't have to work with you

Interesting handling of car return
 

Technically you are suppose to return at the same time as pickup and they already gave you an hour grace period.

Have to agree with the others here. You returned past the grace period so I would not expect anything. Still worth a call though.