Random fees that make you say "what the heck"?

[eliza61]

So, I got my flights all set and turned my attention to car rentals. Thanks to a generous discount from my employee I thought I got was a really good deal on a 8 day rental of a full size car. Then came the fees......

Tire/battery fee .02/day Ok, generally when I rent a car, I assume the tires are included. 2 cents a day for tire usage? really? Is there a way to use the car without tires?

Vehicle license fee 0.60/day Not sure what this is?

Airport access fee 10%. Ok, I'm assuming that I'm paying for my car rental to have access to the airport.

Steering wheel maintence fee .02/day Now you're just messing with me right? If I'm the brakes I may be a little envious, why does the steering wheel get it's own maintence? What exactly are people doing to the steering wheels that require extra maintence?

Customer facility charge 2.50/day this one has me baffled also.
Florida surcharge 2.00/day ????

sales tax 6.5% Isn't the sales tax collected by the state? so wouldn't the florida surcharge be a little redundant.

still got a pretty good deal, ~27 bucks a day. just love the fees.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Sure the tires and battery are included - but at one cent per day each, ideally they'll each last long enough that the fee will cover replacement :confused2

Ditto for the steering wheel (???????) fee, although how often, exactly, does that need to be replace? Cleaned, maybe, but...

Airport access fee - I think we're paying for them to lease space at the airport.

Vehicle license fee is probably the registration. But at $.60 per day, well, up here it's $45 for two years. Sixty cents per day into $45 works out to 75 days. Surely each car stays in service more than two and a half months?

Sales tax is collected by the state, you're right. Florida surcharge is that extra fee they charge out of state visitors so they can get extra income without dinging residents

 

[dudspizza]

Vehicle license fee is probably the registration. But at $.60 per day, well, up here it's $45 for two years. Sixty cents per day into $45 works out to 75 days. Surely each car stays in service more than two and a half months?

:

Sign me up where you are! Minnesota license fees on a newer car can run $150-250 per year!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Yeah, sure - come register your car in Massachusetts!

 

[nytimez]

It's just a way they make it hard to really know how much you paid as compared to other companies.

One might have a rate of $20 a day, another $22... and after all the fees, they'll both be at $27.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Airport Access Fee = The fee pass-through to recoup what the rental car agency pays the airport operator by way of a 'kickback' for revenue generated by car renters who arrived by air. This covers the costs associated with maintaining a presence and operating shuttles at the airport. It is typically a set percentage of that revenue which can be attributed to those customers who rent at MCO. If you price a rental car for pick up at the Car Care Center at WDW you won't see this fee, even if you drop the car off at MCO at the end of your rental period.

 

[RainbowsMist]

I'm in awe over the $45 for licensing!!

Our's is $237 for 2 years

 

[DebbieB]

PA is $36 per year.

 

[dpmfloyd]

Yeah, sure - come register your car in Massachusetts!

amen!

 

[jlewisinsyr]

So, I got my flights all set and turned my attention to car rentals. Thanks to a generous discount from my employee I thought I got was a really good deal on a 8 day rental of a full size car. Then came the fees......

Tire/battery fee .02/day Ok, generally when I rent a car, I assume the tires are included. 2 cents a day for tire usage? really? Is there a way to use the car without tires?

These are often state imposed pre-payments for tire/battery disposal and are often imposed on rental car companies. It's really a traveler tax and easy to put through to increase revenues without people really complaining.

Vehicle license fee 0.60/day Not sure what this is?

Again, often state mandated for tags/registration and since each state is so different many companies avoid charging it seperately.

Airport access fee 10%. Ok, I'm assuming that I'm paying for my car rental to have access to the airport.

This is often imposed by the airport authority or whoever runs the airport (ie. city), again, it's easy to tax those who have no votes in taxation.

Steering wheel maintence fee .02/day Now you're just messing with me right? If I'm the brakes I may be a little envious, why does the steering wheel get it's own maintence? What exactly are people doing to the steering wheels that require extra maintence?

I've never seen this one, so I think I'd have to know what city/state it is in. It could be part of an airbag certification program or similar, but not sure.

Customer facility charge 2.50/day this one has me baffled also.

Same as Airport Access Fee, but often isn't directly tied to the airport, but often another facility. Places that have a common rental car building often have these.

Florida surcharge 2.00/day ????

Refer back to state/city mandates.

sales tax 6.5% Isn't the sales tax collected by the state? so wouldn't the florida surcharge be a little redundant.

Surcharges are different then taxes. Surcharges are often for a period of time to pay for something or fund some program/service permanently, sales taxes are general revenue.

Hotel taxes are not that dissimilar in terms of everything they hit you with. Another area, not related to travel are landline/mobile phones.

 

[Rpsemont]

Florida Surcharge was just enacted a few years ago:

1212.0606Rental car surcharge.
—
(1)A surcharge of $2.00 per day or any part of a day is imposed upon the lease or rental of a motor vehicle licensed for hire and designed to carry less than nine passengers regardless of whether such motor vehicle is licensed in Florida. The surcharge applies to only the first 30 days of the term of any lease or rental. The surcharge is subject to all applicable taxes imposed by this chapter.

(2)(a)Notwithstanding the provisions of section 212.20, and less costs of administration, 80 percent of the proceeds of this surcharge shall be deposited in the State Transportation Trust Fund, 15.75 percent of the proceeds of this surcharge shall be deposited in the Tourism Promotional Trust Fund created in s. 288.122, and 4.25 percent of the proceeds of this surcharge shall be deposited in the Florida International Trade and Promotion Trust Fund. For the purposes of this subsection, “proceeds” of the surcharge means all funds collected and received by the department under this section, including interest and penalties on delinquent surcharges. The department shall provide the Department of Transportation rental car surcharge revenue information for the previous state fiscal year by September 1 of each year.

(b)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in fiscal year 2007-2008 and each year thereafter, the proceeds deposited in the State Transportation Trust Fund shall be allocated on an annual basis in the Department of Transportation’s work program to each department district, except the Turnpike District. The amount allocated for each district shall be based upon the amount of proceeds attributed to the counties within each respective district.

(3)(a)Except as provided in this section, the department shall administer, collect, and enforce the surcharge as provided in this chapter.

(b)The department shall require dealers to report surcharge collections according to the county to which the surcharge was attributed. For purposes of this section, the surcharge shall be attributed to the county where the rental agreement was entered into.

(c)Dealers who collect the rental car surcharge shall report to the department all surcharge revenues attributed to the county where the rental agreement was entered into on a timely filed return for each required reporting period. The provisions of this chapter which apply to interest and penalties on delinquent taxes shall apply to the surcharge. The surcharge shall not be included in the calculation of estimated taxes pursuant to s. 212.11. The dealer’s credit provided in s. 212.12 shall not apply to any amount collected under this section.

(4)The surcharge imposed by this section does not apply to a motor vehicle provided at no charge to a person whose motor vehicle is being repaired, adjusted, or serviced by the entity providing the replacement motor vehicle.

History.—s. 4, ch. 89-364; ss. 32, 90, ch. 90-132; s. 109, ch. 90-136; s. 3, ch. 91-79; s. 5, ch. 92-299; s. 7, ch. 97-99; s. 6, ch. 98-342; s. 1, ch. 2000-257; s. 60, ch. 2002-20; s. 18, ch. 2003-254.

1Note.—Section 22, ch. 2000-257, provides that “[n]otwithstanding any other law to the contrary the requirements of sections 206.46(3) and 206.606(2), Florida Statutes, shall not apply to any funding, programs, or other provisions contained in this act.”

 

[doggydoc]

Sign me up where you are! Minnesota license fees on a newer car can run $150-250 per year!

My car is 3 years old and the registration renewal I just got says $1100 dollars..... for 1 year.

 

[Luv2Diz]

So, I got my flights all set and turned my attention to car rentals. Thanks to a generous discount from my employee I thought I got was a really good deal on a 8 day rental of a full size car. Then came the fees......

Tire/battery fee .02/day Ok, generally when I rent a car, I assume the tires are included. 2 cents a day for tire usage? really? Is there a way to use the car without tires?

Vehicle license fee 0.60/day Not sure what this is?

Airport access fee 10%. Ok, I'm assuming that I'm paying for my car rental to have access to the airport.

Steering wheel maintence fee .02/day Now you're just messing with me right? If I'm the brakes I may be a little envious, why does the steering wheel get it's own maintence? What exactly are people doing to the steering wheels that require extra maintence?

Customer facility charge 2.50/day this one has me baffled also.
Florida surcharge 2.00/day ????

sales tax 6.5% Isn't the sales tax collected by the state? so wouldn't the florida surcharge be a little redundant.

still got a pretty good deal, ~27 bucks a day. just love the fees.

I agree. The rates always look great when I use various discounts and/or coupons (love Costco!) - and then they tack on about $60 worth of taxes and fees, which pushes the cost right back up.

 

[MrsNick]

I'll throw in my $.02, lol. Just made a reservation to rent a car out of O'Hare for 5 days.

With my Costco discount, the rental is $46. The taxes and fees cost $48. So, they exceed the price of the rental

Taxes, Surcharges and Fees
Customer Facility Charge 8.00/day $32.00
Lessor Tax 2.75 Usd/rental $2.75
Vehicle License Recovery .82/day $3.28
Auto Renting Occupation Tax (5.0%) $2.50
Mpea Tax (6.0%) $3.00
Mass Transit Tax (1.0%) $0.50
Chicago Transaction Tax (8.0%) $4.00

Subtotal..............................................$48.03

Can you say literal Highway Robbery?

 

[jlewisinsyr]

I'll throw in my $.02, lol. Just made a reservation to rent a car out of O'Hare for 5 days.

With my Costco discount, the rental is $46. The taxes and fees cost $48. So, they exceed the price of the rental

Taxes, Surcharges and Fees
Customer Facility Charge 8.00/day $32.00
Lessor Tax 2.75 Usd/rental $2.75
Vehicle License Recovery .82/day $3.28
Auto Renting Occupation Tax (5.0%) $2.50
Mpea Tax (6.0%) $3.00
Mass Transit Tax (1.0%) $0.50
Chicago Transaction Tax (8.0%) $4.00

Subtotal..............................................$48.03

Can you say literal Highway Robbery?

Complain to the airport authority, city, county and state, oh wait, you're probably not a resident so you cannot vote against these.

 

[aubriee]

My car is 3 years old and the registration renewal I just got says $1100 dollars..... for 1 year.

WHAT!!! I registered mine in Dec and paid $48.99. That was for a medium size car. If you drive a pickup the yearly registration fees are around $65.00. I just asked my coworker about her small SUV and she said it costs about $58.00 a year to register it.

 

[Lewisc]

Why are people in this thread assuming the annual cost paid by a rental agency to register a car is the same as the cost we pay to register a car for personal use?

I don't know what they pay. I'm sure it varies by state. I have absolutely no reason to think the cost is the same as what we pay to register the same vehicle.

Most (all?) of the fees mentioned in this thread are imposed by government or quasi government agencies.

Optional rental agency fees include a variety of waiver "insurance" plans, GPS rental, gas plans, car seat rentals, toll collection systems etc.

Some states with low (or no) income taxes charge hefty auto registration fees, frequently based on the value of the vehicle.

 

[phred52]

Airport Access Fee = The fee pass-through to recoup what the rental car agency pays the airport operator by way of a 'kickback' for revenue generated by car renters who arrived by air. This covers the costs associated with maintaining a presence and operating shuttles at the airport. It is typically a set percentage of that revenue which can be attributed to those customers who rent at MCO. If you price a rental car for pick up at the Car Care Center at WDW you won't see this fee, even if you drop the car off at MCO at the end of your rental period.

I LIKE your thinking!! I'm going to remember this trick!!