# Rental Car Companies Are Lower Than Pond Scum. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 27, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243 "2009-10-27T00:06:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/41 "2009-10-27T22:18:47Z")
Just booked a car for an upcoming trip to Maui (yay me!) So I have not paid yet. But the rental company kindly laid out for me exactly what I’m going to pay, so I will not be surprised: Cost of rental: 277.00 USD Taxes & Surcharges: 94.47 USD $3.00 per day (Hawaii State Surcharge) (up to) $0.60 per day (Vehicle License Fee) $1.00 per day (Customer Facility Charge) 11.11% (Concessionaire Fee) Tax (4.166 %) 13.10 USD so 25% taxes. I’m not at all surprised, having rented cars before. But I’m glad to know the charges up front, and I’m also glad to know exactly where my $ is going. For example, I now know that the Airport gets $30.47 of my money. Total: 371.47 USD ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/42 "2009-10-27T22:27:41Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](#): > > Weak. If they had just lumped all those fees together in the basic rental price you still would’ve paid the exact same thing, but would’ve been more ignorant than you are now. > > They gave you the courtesy of itemizing their cost of doing business with you. So what? Consider the other costs they didn’t break out… the salary of the person who prepared the paperwork and handed you the key, the salary of the poor shlub who vacuumed the floormats, the cost of the electricity to run the overhead lights and computers and everything else necessary so you can walk into a retail location (cost of the lease) and walk out with a car (cost of the car). Sheeesh. You do realize, don’t you, that all those costs are also being paid for when you rent the car, right? And they’re all, in one way or another, lumped together in the price you eventually paid, right? > > So what if you paid six cents for “tire/battery fee”? Would you have been happier if your total bill was just six cents higher, but that one line item wasn’t included? You probably would’ve. > > Instead of market regulation, how about we require people to take, and pass, a basic course on economics before being allowed to rent a car? > > Tell you what, **Spartydog** , why don’t you go get a $79 brake job and a $19 oil change and report back what you end up paying for those, too. Because it’ll be good for a chuckle when you come back apoplectic and insisting on “regulations”. I’m not contesting how much I paid. As I said, “it’s not a ton of money”, I can afford it. I don’t want to live in a world where the challenge of life is having to be aware of every minutia of every action. Let me ask you, do you want to go to the grocery store to buy a can of corn for 20 cents only to get to the cash register and find out that there is: - Energy fee for lighting and heating the store. - Stocking fee for putting the can on the shelf. - Receiving fee for taking the can off of the delivery truck - Cleaning fee for mopping the floor. - Cart usage fee for putting the can of corn in a shopping cart. - Checkout fee for ringing up your purchase. - Parking fee for using their parking lot. - Lighted parking fee for having lights in the parking lot. - Lease fee for the store having to pay their rent to the mall. . . . and on and on and on. So they advertised a can of corn for 20 cents and you ended up paying $1.50. Is that the type of world you want to live in? Is that what you want to have to think about when you decide to shop in store A or store B? Have at it, buddy. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/43 "2009-10-27T22:36:49Z")
Whatever you do, don’t look at your phone bill! ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/44 "2009-10-27T22:52:12Z")
**Spartydog** , if supermarkets had bullshit taxes put on them by local government, like a $3.00/day Hawaii state surcharge, or a stupid 11.11% “fee” charged by an airport authority, then yes, I would expect them to break out these taxes and show them to me on the final bill. I’d like to know that the store got .20 cents for the can of corn, and the local and state taxing authorities took the rest. Then I’d know exactly who to be pissed off at: Hint, it’s not the store, it’s the local and state authorities that see the operation as a cash cow. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/45 "2009-10-27T23:27:23Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > **Spartydog** , if supermarkets had bullshit taxes put on them by local government, like a $3.00/day Hawaii state surcharge, or a stupid 11.11% “fee” charged by an airport authority, then yes, I would expect them to break out these taxes and show them to me on the final bill. Yes, but this should be done up front. Quoting the “price” and then only adding that stuff on after the customer has committed to the deal is bullshit. Also, not all of the ridiculous charges are simply government impositions. For example: > [@ItsInTheCards](#): > > Customer Facility Charge. - As it sounds, it’s a pass through charge to cover maintenance on the facilities. Believe me, it doesn’t cover the total expenditures. As a franchise, Corporate dictates everything down to the size and color of the damned toilet paper. WTF? I have to pay an extra fee for you to maintain your facilities? I was under the impression that maintaining your facilities was an expected cost of doing business. Vons has to “cover maintenance on the facilities,” but i don’t face a surcharge added by Vons to my Fudgsicles when i get to the cash register. McDonald’s and Papa John’s are franchises too, where many things are dictated by coroporate, but they manage to build the cost of maintenance on the facilities into the prices of the Quarter Pounders and the Cheese Pizzas they sell. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/46 "2009-10-28T00:39:00Z")
One thing jumps out at me. “Daily Frequent Flier Fee (because I wanted the frequent flier miles) - $1.50” Did you pay this fee for each day you rented the car? Because frequent flyer miles are worth one or two cents per mile, so unless you’re paying $75 per day for the rental, that’s a ridiculous amount to pay. ---
**Author:** ![ItsInTheCards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@ItsInTheCards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ItsInTheCards)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/47 "2009-10-28T01:24:39Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Yes, but this should be done up front. Quoting the “price” and then only adding that stuff on after the customer has committed to the deal is bullshit. > > Also, not all of the ridiculous charges are simply government impositions. For example:WTF? > > I have to pay an extra fee for you to maintain your facilities? I was under the impression that maintaining your facilities was an expected cost of doing business. Vons has to “cover maintenance on the facilities,” but i don’t face a surcharge added by Vons to my Fudgsicles when i get to the cash register. > > McDonald’s and Papa John’s are franchises too, where many things are dictated by coroporate, but they manage to build the cost of maintenance on the facilities into the prices of the Quarter Pounders and the Cheese Pizzas they sell. Sure, but McDonald’s and Papa John’s are able to dictate the prices they charge for pizzas. Rental Car companies have to report to the airport and to the Comptrollers office exactly how much was collected for Facility Charges. We are not permitted to simply increase the rental amount to cover this cost. I was actually talking to our president about this thread this afternoon and in his opinion these fees are not constitutional and he’s not real happy about them either. Taxation without representation and all that. But we don’t have a choice in the matter. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/48 "2009-10-28T01:48:34Z")
> [@ItsInTheCards](#): > > Sure, but McDonald’s and Papa John’s are able to dictate the prices they charge for pizzas. Rental Car companies have to report to the airport and to the Comptrollers office exactly how much was collected for Facility Charges. We are not permitted to simply increase the rental amount to cover this cost. Who you have to report the charges to falls firmly in the category of Not My Fucking Problem. You can tell the Comptroller’s office whatever you like, but the charge should still be included in the up-front cost that the customer sees. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/49 "2009-10-28T01:52:16Z")
> [@ItsInTheCards](#): > > I was actually talking to our president about this thread this afternoon and in his opinion these fees are not constitutional and he’s not real happy about them either. Taxation without representation and all that. But we don’t have a choice in the matter. Your president is an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/50 "2009-10-28T02:20:49Z")
@ **ItsInTheCards** When I was 18 back in the 80s, I rented a car for a weekend. College freshman, first credit card, peer pressure, etc. A few years later at 21 or 22 I went to rent a car and was told that I have to be 25. What was up with that? I went to the same company(Avis) also. State of MI BTW. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/51 "2009-10-28T02:46:00Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > You can tell the Comptroller’s office whatever you like, but the charge should still be included in the up-front cost that the customer sees. The fees and taxes are shown before you book. If you don’t pay attention why is that the car rental company’s problem? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/52 "2009-10-28T05:35:59Z")
They’re not shown before you get there, and once you’ve made a reservation you’re pretty much at their mercy. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/53 "2009-10-28T07:00:19Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > They’re not shown before you get there, and once you’ve made a reservation you’re pretty much at their mercy. Actually they are shown. Well, they’re shown if you make your reservation online. I just went to the [Budget](http://www.budget.com/budgetWeb/locationsearch/location.ex?action=locationsearch) website, and looked up pricing at Orlando Int’l Airport and at some place out on West Colonial Drive. I selected the cheapest car at both locations, and refused any optional upgrades. On both sites, they told me the base rate, the taxes and fees, and the total due for a one-day rental. Furthermore, the taxes and fees had a link to break out how much was taxes, and how much was fees. And the fees line drilled down even further to itemize those fees for me.\* Go ahead and try it; it’s perfectly safe. No reservation got created by any of my researches, and I never was asked for a single bit of personal information. And I will be willing to assure you that, were you to do the research on their telephone reservation system, you would be able to obtain the same information from the reservation agent.\*\* \*I’ll concede that one of the line items was “fees”. But still, we’re not talking about the kind of opacity implied by your post. \*\* My reasoning being that, until they’ve got your credit card number, it’s not in their best interest to behave like pond scum toward you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/54 "2009-10-28T08:06:10Z")
> [@SmellMyWort](#): > > The fees and taxes are shown before you book. If you don’t pay attention why is that the car rental company’s problem? I’m very much of the (outspoken on these boards, at least) belief that advertised prices should be all-inclusive. Of every. single thing. No exceptions. So, if I see “Car rental from $35 per day!” then I should reasonably be able to expect to pay $35- and ONLY $35- to rent a car from that company for one day. As a consumer, I really, honestly do not care what the cost breakdown of that $35 is. I don’t care if the actual cost to rent the car for the day is $14.85 and the rest of it is Renting Space At The Airport fees or any of those other things that really should be considered “normal costs of doing business”. Since I can’t _not_ pay the “statutory charges and taxes” components of the price, then businesses should advertise the rental price as $35 and just have “This price includes statutory charges of $X and GST of $3.50” on the receipt. All the other expenses should be built into the price, as in nearly every other business. My “bottom line”, as a consumer, is “how much money, in total, do I have to provide to this business for this good or service?” It’s dishonest, IMHO, to say “Car Rental from $35 per day!” and then add all the fees, charges, and taxes on top to the point where the total price comes to closer to $50 per day. The customer isn’t paying $35 per day, they’re paying $50, and no amount of hand-waving or trying to pretend statutory fees and charges somehow “don’t count” (because they’re not going to the business, one presumes) will change that. ---
**Author:** ![Vorpal\_Blade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/9de0a6/32.png) [@Vorpal\_Blade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vorpal_Blade)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/55 "2009-10-28T14:05:55Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > I’m very much of the (outspoken on these boards, at least) belief that advertised prices should be all-inclusive. Of every. single thing. No exceptions. However the business, the rental company for example, has no control over taxes and, in many cases, fees. They have to charge them but they didn’t impose them. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/56 "2009-10-28T14:09:45Z")
I just got a fantastic offer from Av\*s! $10.00 off my next rental (I rented a car from them in Minneapolis, in 2006!). Of course, it doesnt apply on weekends, and must be used only if they have a 1990 Daewoo Leganza on the lot… ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/57 "2009-10-28T14:18:53Z")
> [@ItsInTheCards](#): > > The fees that are “broken out” are handled that way, because it is required. We are required by the airport, the taxing authorities, and countless other agencies to account for all items separately. We don’t “hope” that our customers will not complain if they are handled this way. You should probably quit while you’re ahead. You obviously know dick about the rental car industry. And yet, mysteriously, those fees are never advertised, and are never mentioned until the customer is billed. WHy, it’s almost as if the entire industry is fundamentally dishonest, and you’re covering for it by claiming somebody else makes you do it. Because until you cite me chapter and verse of your laws, I won’t believe that somehow somebody makes you break out some undefined “tire/battery” fee seperately, or that you actually have to charge specifically for frequent flier miles. Don’t even try to pretend to me that this was somehow foisted off on your innocent company. I don’t pretend your business is something new or unusual for you, and I don’t pretend you’re innocent fucking lambs, either. Well, you mgiht be fucking innocent lambs. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/58 "2009-10-28T14:19:16Z")
> [@bikebloke](#): > > However the business, the rental company for example, has no control over taxes and, in many cases, fees. They have to charge them but they didn’t impose them. I agree with **Martini Enfield** , and this doesn’t change my opinion. If a company’s advertised price must include taxes and fees, then that applies to its competition as well, so there is no damage done to any particular business. Differences in the voluntary, or company-selected, portion of the price will still be evident in the advertised cost; the only difference is to the consumer, who has an assurance currently lacking in the extreme: that the total he will pay bears any resemblance at all to the advertised price which attracted him to the company’s services. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/59 "2009-10-28T14:45:56Z")
I will agree that the rental companies (for the most part) have no control over the taxes imposed on them by local/state authorities. I also agree with **Martini Enfield** that it would be good if an advertised price could be the ACTUAL bottom line price that a consumer would pay. In the case of care rental companies though, they operate out of many different locals with complex and widely varying taxes and fees. For example, if I want to rent a car through an airport, there is a fee charged the rental company by the airport authority that must be recouped. No such fee exists at other rental locations in the city. Some rental locations have special city fees or state taxes. Others do not. For this reason, it would be impossible for a national company to advertise a single rate. ---
**Author:** ![ItsInTheCards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@ItsInTheCards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ItsInTheCards)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243/60 "2009-10-28T15:35:13Z")
> [@enomaj](#): > > @ **ItsInTheCards** > > When I was 18 back in the 80s, I rented a car for a weekend. College freshman, first credit card, peer pressure, etc. A few years later at 21 or 22 I went to rent a car and was told that I have to be 25. What was up with that? I went to the same company(Avis) also. State of MI BTW. I don’t know the Avis policies, but our minimum age is 18. You are, however, subject to a “young driver” fee unless you are military traveling on orders. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rental-car-companies-are-lower-than-pond-scum/515243.md?page=4)