Car hire fuel.

[The Charmed One]

Hi,


Last year I booked a car with us rent a car, with alamo, an I4 with a free upgrade to a F4, I couldn't remember which insurance we had gone for, so I emailed them yesterday, I booked the full insurance which doesn't include fuel, they said the price's have gone up now with alamo so to upgrade to get fuel in would be £85, which they said wouldn't be cost effective, so does this mean we'll have to pay for it when we get there (for a full tank), and when we return it do we take it back empty or full.

How much will they charge us if we do have to pay for it when we pick it up?

This is the first time I've booked it on my own, so I'm abit lost.


I've just phoned customer service's the lady on the phone said if we didn't pay for fuel, if would have enought it in to get up to a gas station where we can fill up ourselves, and then we can take it back empty, she said it's not worth the extra £85, I think I'll email them and get it in writting and then I can print it off to take just incase.


I had no reply so I went on live chat.

I spoke to Lisa, she said we will have to pay for a full tank on arrival, and take it back empty, the other girl was wrong, she didn't know how much it would cost to fill it, I'm sure it will be less than £85, that they want for the upgrade.

Now I've just received this e-mail

Thank you for your email,



A deposit is often payable for fuel and is usually refunded if the car is returned with a full tank. Fuel policies vary but the general rule is that you will collect your car with fuel in it and you must return it the same way to avoid any refuelling charges.



Please check the fuel terms when you pick up your car.



Kind Regards



Chloe

U.S Rent A Car

How can I get one straight answer, 3 people from the same company all giving different information.

Who is right.

Hope you can help.

Love Wendy xxx

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Similar to what we do with Dollar, we have a fully insurance package but just have to pay for a tank of fuel.
To be honest they do generally overcharge you for this, however it will more than likely be around $60 (what I paid last year), rather than £85.

Generally I would say it would be $20 or so on top of what you would pay to fill the car up yourself, personally I would just rather pay than have to worry about having enough fuel to reach wherever I was staying.

In paying for the fuel you would return the car empty yes, naturally you will want leave enough in to get to the airport

 

[Boo Boo Too]

Hi Chloe

Yes, you DO NOT want to pay £85 for the higher insurance option that includes petrol (unless it has other bonuses that you want/need). An average AMerican car would probably cost you £20/£30 to fill up.

Rental cars (at least from Alamo) come with a full tank of gas/petrol. You simply have three choices.
1. PRE-PAY FOR YOUR FUEL WHEN YOU PICK IT UP. When you collect your hire car, ask if you can pre-pay for the fuel. If you do this (and make sure the option is noted on your receipt), then you take the car back as empty as you like/can. You will pay a bit more than filling the car up yourself, but you don't have the hassle of trying to find a gas station on the return to the airport. We often do this option.

2. DON'T PRE-PAY, RETURN THE CAR FULL. Basically you return the car with the same amount of petrol in it that it had when you hired it. What you need to do is find a petrol/gas station close to the airport and fill-up just before you return it. This is the cheapest option.

3. DON'T PRE-PAY, RETURN CAR EMPTY OR LESS THAN FULL. This is a bad idea: if you do this the hire company charges you an exorbitent rate for the petrol it takes to fill the car back up (they want to "encourage" people to return the car full - less hassle for them...)

Basically choose option 1 or 2 (option 3 is silly). If you want to do option 2, I am sure people on here can advise of petrol stations very close to the airport.

Boo

 

[The Charmed One]

Thank you for the replies.

I've just phoned them back and the girl asked her superviser, as I'd been told so many different things.

I have to pay for fuel on arrival and take it back empty, she said she'd of thought it would be around $30-$40 to fill it up, so it wouldn't be worth upgrading to gold cover for £85.00.

Thank you.

Love Wendy xxx

 

[Boo Boo Too]

I have to pay for fuel on arrival and take it back empty, she said she'd of thought it would be around $30-$40 to fill it up, so it wouldn't be worth upgrading to gold cover for £85.00.

Yes, she is right - it is not worth the £85.

As mentioned in my post above, you can pre-pay the fuel at the Alamo counter... it is completely up to you (my previous post covers it all really ).

Boo

 

[paulh]

we use the upgrade option as we have extra divers,and dont want the hastle of looking for a fuel station on last day.Took one car back to sanford and light and alarm was pinging for 30 miles
Paulh

 

[paulh]

just been on us rent a cars site and yescarhire sites and both quote about the same for there primium packages.We are having a 7 seater for a week for the extra driver and fuell and all taxes paid its £10.50 extra so a full tank of fuell costing about $50 seams a good buy to me.Are you sure it was an £85 diferance (£42 if for a week)?
Paulh

 

[alisonbestford]

We were charged $65, at the Alamo desk, for fuel when we collected our 7 seater minivan at Easter

Yes, the 'going rate' for fuel was the same price as at the fuel stations but it wasn't until later that I realised we'd been charged $65 to fill up a car that would only fit $35 into it's tank...................................

 

[Tron[ADS]]

We were charged $55 for a full tank on our Dodge Grand Caravan recently, which I thought would be a rip off, until I filled it myself at a cost of $52.
Pre-pay is the easy option if the price is right (like mine was).
Beware of the gas station prices that are near to the hire car depot's though...they know people are filling up there because they have to, and charge higher prices accordingly.

 

[ely3857]

Dont be fooled into returning it with a full tank & getting a refund, They dont give it to you!

Take it back as empty as you can make it, without there been a danger of running out.



Jodie