Alamo petrol charge

[martinrmn]

Has anyone else experienced a charge for returning a car full of petrol? I booked through Virgin last year and had the car with Alamo. On return home I had been charged £30 for ? I naturally queried this with Virgin and eventually had a reply to say that as I returned the car full of fuel I was being charged as it should have been returned empty!!? I am still awaiting a definite reply but find this hard to believe.

 

[tashasmum]

We haven't been charged for petrol but last sept after returning from WDW we had toll charges applied to our card from Miami and we had never even been. We got further by contacting Virgin and Alamo on their facebook pages than e mails.

 

[wilma-bride]

Has anyone else experienced a charge for returning a car full of petrol? I booked through Virgin last year and had the car with Alamo. On return home I had been charged £30 for ? I naturally queried this with Virgin and eventually had a reply to say that as I returned the car full of fuel I was being charged as it should have been returned empty!!? I am still awaiting a definite reply but find this hard to believe.

I am afraid that is usually the case. The policy for car hire (in the US) is generally that you either pre-pay a tank of fuel or you return the car empty and they charge you for filling it up. It is a way for them to earn extra money over and above the rental rate. We fell foul of that on one of our early trips. Now, we either book with a deal that includes the first tank of fuel or we make sure that we book with a company who have other options for re-fuelling.

I will move this over to trip planning for you.

 

[wayneg]

If your contract was to return empty and you did not pre-pay the gas then you have to pay for a tank of gas, return full and unfortunately thats your loss, the contract is to pay for a tank.

If the contract allows to return full then they should not have charged you.

You need to read the T&C's of the contract, I prefer to rent Alamo via Holiday Autos, I know their contract I can return full with no charge.

 

[chmurf]

Wayne is correct.

You have to explicitely decline the "return at any level" option at the rental desk, otherwise you are charged for the tank of gas.

your rental contract should mention that the gas remaining in the tank is not refundable. (and I bet it does, if it doesn't then file a complaint with alamo or with your TA)

 

[martinrmn]

Good news. Virgin have been in contact with Alamo and they have agreed to refund the charge. One point though, Alamo rep at Orlando was not the most forthcoming when I declined the "extras". This was not explained to me but I should have read the small print. At least I have been refunded.

 

[wayneg]

Good news. Virgin have been in contact with Alamo and they have agreed to refund the charge. One point though, Alamo rep at Orlando was not the most forthcoming when I declined the "extras". This was not explained to me but I should have read the small print. At least I have been refunded.

Glad you got a refund. You really need to be on the ball with car rental reps, not just Alamo, they are all as bad.
Its one thing I always find out in advance, what I am doing about the petrol, what is in my agreement.
I know Alamo rented via Expedia won't allow returning full, you have to pay them for a tank on arrival yet Alamo via Holiday Autos you have a choice. Although even this info needs to be checked every rental as they can change overnight.