Buy gas at rental agency or outside?

[yydots]

I wanted to know what the rule of thumb is for gas purchases when renting a car? Which is better to buy from rental agency and bring back empty or buy outside?

Thanks.

Also does anyone know of good deals for 15 passenger vans?

 

[toystoryduo]

As for the question about gas: We purchased ours from the rental company for $1.39 per gallon. When we returned the car, gas was going for $1.56 in our area. So, we saved money. (Plus, we made sure that the car was on empty too. ) We really chose that option because of the convenience of not having to fill the tank when returning the car.

Also, for deals on car rentals (maybe 15 passenger vans too), you may want to check out mousesavers.com.

 

[toystoryduo]

By the way, Welcome to the DISboards! You will find a lot of great information here!

 

[kashkdz]

My rule of thumb is to never return the rental car with less gas than was in the car when first rented. The rental agency will charge you at least .30 or more than the going gas rate. This may not seem like much, but add up the price per gallon and the number of gallons they may put in the tank, and it may be significant. Just make a quick stop at a gas station outside the rental agency right before you return the car, and you'll save a few dollars.

 

[Geoff_M]

We purchased ours from the rental company for $1.39 per gallon. When we returned the car, gas was going for $1.56 in our area. So, we saved money. (Plus, we made sure that the car was on empty too. )

That strategy only works if you make sure you'll return the car with a truely empty tank since you pre-purchase an entire tank of gas whether the car needs a full tank or not. Also, most cars still have 2 or 3 gallons left in the tank when the needle hits "E", so you probably bought $3 or $4 worth of gas you didn't need. Given that, with the $.17 per gallon savings you mentioned, you'd need to buy around 20 gallons of gas at the higher price before pre-purchasing would have saved you any dough. When we've rented cars at Orlando for WDW trips, the most gas we've used (including several off-site Orlando trips) is about a 1/2 a tank.

The bottom line is: Just like the extended warranties they offer you at electronics and applicance stores, if they didn't make a profit off of selling them, then they wouldn't be pushing you to buy them.

So, unless you can't afford the extra 20 minutes it takes to find a gas station close to the airport (at MCO their are several a couple of minutes north of the airport), I'd decline the pre-purchase.

 

[toystoryduo]

When I was talking about the convenience factor, it was because we had just driven 1300 miles to and from WDW. The price didn't matter to us as much as having the convenience of returning the car w/out the full tank of gas.

 

[seashoreCM]

Buying the tankful of gas up front is convenient only if you don't mind returning the car with an eighth or even a quarter of a tankful showing on the gauge. To try to return the car empty requires effort and calculation, and perhaps some scrounging for a gas station the day before you return the car.

Car renting hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/carrent.htm