Never Pay Upfront Gasoline When Renting a Car
If you’ve ever rented a car, you know to expect a detailed invoice with various fees that you don’t even remember. This could include insurance coverage costs, fares, GPS use, state or local government taxes, and of course gas prices.
When renting through any major car service, as a rule, you will be offered three options for paying for gas: an option of prepayment for fuel (you pay for gas in advance), a refueling fee (a car rental service is refueled on your car). name and after you returned your vehicle), as well as the simple ability to refuel anytime before returning your vehicle. There are several reasons why you should never choose the prepaid fuel option, and mainly why you should always choose to refuel yourself.
Despite the convenience of prepaid gas and not having to worry about visiting a gas station before traveling to the airport, the prepaid fuel option means you pay for a full tank of gas, whether you use it all or not. … If you rent a car for a short two-day trip, or even drive a few hundred miles and leave some fuel in your tank, that means you are paying more for gas than you need to. (Both Hertz and Avis note on their websites that partial refunds are not offered to renters using less than a full tank, which is probably the case with most other car rental companies.)
Also, if you do opt for the prepaid option, or allow the service to refuel on your behalf after returning the car, you should know that there is really no guarantee that you are buying gas from the car rental agency at a good price. According to the Enterprise website , if you choose the refueling option, you will be responsible for paying the local “Enterprise rate”, which is usually higher than the local pump price. (I rented an Avis car over the weekend; when making a car return, the Avis representative actually suggested that I leave the airport and find a gas station because that would be significantly cheaper.)
Meanwhile, some car rental companies, such as Hertz, may try to convince you to choose a refueling fee by stating on their websites that you will pay at a rate that is considered “competitive” with local pump prices, but what considered “competitive”, ultimately at the discretion of the car rental agency. (It may have been competitive a few weeks ago and the service-driven price is no longer good.)
Where will it leave you? Well, the best course of action is to refuel whenever possible. You only pay for what you need and pay the local pump prices. There are exceptions, of course – you may be in a rush to the airport, in a location with fewer gas stations, or you are willing to take the risk of paying a “competitive market” rate, which may or may be of great value to your wallet. But if you have a little free time, search the Internet for a gas station near you and take a trip – you can save more than you think.