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Old Sep 14, 2013, 11:03 pm
  #1  
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Washington Post: Rental car companies gauge the benefits of a new technology to meas

Rental car companies gauge the benefits of a new technology to measure fuel use



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Old Sep 15, 2013, 9:08 am
  #2  
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Simply putting a charge on your credit card with no notice is completely unacceptable.

If a company is going to do this, they need to notify you upfront, and calculate the charge at the time the car is returned. And, preferably, allow you to monitor it as you drive.
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Old Sep 15, 2013, 12:12 pm
  #3  
 
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"Mark Frissora, Hertz’s chief executive, says that his company loses $50 million a year in fuel"

How so? Because someone takes out the car with 16.9 gallons and returns it with 16.1? As long as it still reads FULL, no one show care. Just give the car with 16.1 gallons to the next customer, and perhaps that customer will being it with back with 16.9. How is Hertz losing $50 million on this?
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Old Sep 15, 2013, 1:36 pm
  #4  
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What an [redacted] crock. Say you fill up at the closest station to the airport, it fills to the "click," it would be a violation of law to top it off any further, and it isn't quite as much as the tank had when you picked up the car.

Do these companies really want to fund the Full Employment Act For Class Action Attorneys?

Last edited by cblaisd; Sep 15, 2013 at 10:52 pm Reason: http://www.flyertalk.com/help/rules.php#q88
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Old Sep 15, 2013, 9:44 pm
  #5  
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..."(The customer) discovered that Avis had charged her an extra $7.43 for 0.8 gallons of gas, or about $9.29 per gallon. She called the company to complain."

"... I am certain that there would be no credit if I had returned the car more full than the ‘full’ I received.” (Avis says it would have credited her for any additional fuel.)
I want to know if Avis is going to refund me $9.29 per gallon for any extra gas that I bring back.

And if it's a different amount, how come, Avis?
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Old Sep 18, 2013, 9:42 am
  #6  
 
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When a company makes an investment in a new gadget, website, whatever, I have a hard time believing that it's really for the customers.
“This is going to be good for customers,” Frissora says.
When an exec says that, I KNOW it's not true.
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Old Sep 19, 2013, 2:20 pm
  #7  
 
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This will engender fuel charges at every airport where the nearest gas station is not immediately adjacent to the RAC terminal.

I already refuel immediately after each rental so that the RAC will refund the cost of what is nearly always a shorted "full" fuel tank.
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Old Sep 19, 2013, 5:30 pm
  #8  
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Originally Posted by article
When Freeman phoned Avis to question her bill, it quickly deleted the fuel charge. But she’s unhappy with the way the technology is being used. “Not only do I think it’s unreasonable to hold the consumer to a data point we have no access to,” she says, “but I am certain that there would be no credit if I had returned the car more full than the ‘full’ I received.” (Avis says it would have credited her for any additional fuel.)
This sums it up perfectly.

There's also the issue of malfunctioning gas gauges. I once rented a truck at full. When I filled it back up (next door to the rental place) it took too much--and I found the needle pointing way past F. It took a while to argue the bill down to about what it should have been.
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