Car rental charges

On Mar 19, 7:09 pm, The Etobian wrote:
On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 21:00:36 -0400, "Rog'"

wrote:
"Dave" wrote:
What ****es me off about car rental places is that they
always ask you if you want "STANDARD" insurance
coverage or something else (forget what they call it, and
it varies by company anyway). The catch is... snip

It like when you order a combo-meal at a fast-food joint
and they ask if you want curly fries instead of regular, or
a medium drink, without telling you that either is an extra
$ .25 (but at least you get somethig for your money). =R=

Not quite. It would be like:

Combo meal $3.99
Sales tax $0.20
Franchise fee $0.49
Property tax recovery fee $0.49
County tax assessment recovery fee $0.19
Fuel surcharge $0.39
Water and sewer fee $0.29

Geez. Whatever happened to the time and tested business model: One
price that takes into account ALL your costs, and adds whatever profit
the market will allow?

That model won't work for them because, when you ask for the price of
renting the car, it would have to be the TOTAL instead of just one
portion of the cost. Rent a 39.99/per day car for a day, and it might
cost 199.99 by the time they are done.
And the insurance is usually a ripoff.

In article ,
says...
In article ,
Steve wrote:

Just arranged a car rental, cost $223 plus these incidental charges
for a total of $302 -

30.00 customer facility charge
24.71 concession recovery fee
15.77 gvt service fee
14.00 tax recoupment
9.53 license recovery surcharge
4.76 county car rental fee

Seems like things are getting outta hand. Is this like the phony fees
on telephone company invoices?

You didn't say where you rented that car and if the drop off is that
same as the pick up place. You might call the rental agency to discuss
those fees, particularly the first two. It is not unusual for local
governments to pile taxes onto rental car agencies to help pay for large
capital projects such as building a stadium, airport, etc, but that
doesn't explain those first two charges.


At first glance, "

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In article ,
says...
In article ,
Steve wrote:

Just arranged a car rental, cost $223 plus these incidental charges
for a total of $302 -

30.00 customer facility charge
24.71 concession recovery fee
15.77 gvt service fee
14.00 tax recoupment
9.53 license recovery surcharge
4.76 county car rental fee

Seems like things are getting outta hand. Is this like the phony fees
on telephone company invoices?


You didn't say where you rented that car and if the drop off is that
same as the pick up place. You might call the rental agency to discuss
those fees, particularly the first two. It is not unusual for local
governments to pile taxes onto rental car agencies to help pay for large
capital projects such as building a stadium, airport, etc, but that
doesn't explain those first two charges.


At first glance, maybe "30.00 customer facility charge" relates
to a rental agency delivering the car to some location that
wasn't their own headquarters(?) Like if they drop off the
rental car at a body shop, where you have just handed over your
own car. Some insurance policies apparently have combined
claims, where they provide a rental while your own car is being
repaired after an accident.

And, "24.71 concession recovery fee" sounds like maybe the car
was returned to some location (the body shop? or another branch
of the rental chain?) and then "recovered" (driven back) to the
original rental location(?)


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Credit Tools, Reference, and Forum

In article LmGLh.10421$B7.5327@bigfe9,
says...
"Dave" wrote:
What ****es me off about car rental places is that they
always ask you if you want "STANDARD" insurance
coverage or something else (forget what they call it, and
it varies by company anyway). The catch is... snip


It like when you order a combo-meal at a fast-food joint
and they ask if you want curly fries instead of regular, or
a medium drink, without telling you that either is an extra
$ .25 (but at least you get somethig for your money). =R=


No, I would automatically expect that the offered option would
place another line-item on the bill.

"Would you like curly fries?" would sound similar to, "Would you
like fries?" - PLUS - in the sense that it adds to the offering -
and expense. And, when grabbing fast food, I wouldn't be in a
mood to quibble over 25 cents. I would usually want to get in,
and get out, soon, and that would be the priority.

Please don't tell me that you intellectually contemplate the
quality of (gack!) McDonald's coffee (gulp, gack...) The brand
of coffee that they serve in HELL, to the poor condemned souls,
finding the only drive-through, or breakfast place open... Can we
please pay a thousand years of labour to get a huge white-bread
muffin with a tiny crumb of bacon, and a little sliver of
reconstituted fried egg?

On the other hand... I usually get my monthly junk food from one
place. And their only questions are, which variety of salt I
want on my chips, and if I am going to eat in or take-away (they
know I usually eat there.)

And it isn't McDonald's - but, rather a Greek fish-n-chips, with
a selection of gourmet burgers - I love them all.

If I want a little tub of tomato sauce, or tartre sauce, I just
pull one from the basket, and tell them. Drinks are pre-packaged
bottles from a fridge, and you can just get one and present it.

At kebab joints in the city, there is a basic price for each
type. "I'll take the vegetarian combo, please." And there, the
options are just whether you want onions, and what kind of sauce.
Which don't effect the price. They don't ask if I want any side
stuff. I would have to ask.

McDonald's? Burger King? Eeeeewwwww... I'd only do that if some
lunch-mate wanted to go. KiwiBurgers at McD are actually semi-OK
- beetroot over the patty is cool - I dunno if they exist in
other countries. Otherwise, nooooo...


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From:
At first glance, maybe "30.00 customer facility charge"
relates to a rental agency delivering the car to some location
that wasn't their own headquarters(?) Like if they drop off
the rental car at a body shop...
And, "24.71 concession recovery fee" sounds like maybe
the car was returned to some location (the body shop? or
another branch of the rental chain?) and then "recovered"...

IMHO, you're building complexity where none exists.
"Customer facility charge" is likely intended to defray their
cost of maintaining their rental facility, such as rent+utlities.
The "concession recovery fee" recoups the fee they pay to
the port authority for operating on-site at the airport, their
counter-space in the baggage area, and/or shuttle-buses.
All this insures that no matter how low the car rent, they
won't lose money. =R=

In article , says...

Just arranged a car rental, cost $223 plus these incidental charges
for a total of $302 -

30.00 customer facility charge
24.71 concession recovery fee
15.77 gvt service fee
14.00 tax recoupment
9.53 license recovery surcharge
4.76 county car rental fee

Seems like things are getting outta hand. Is this like the phony fees
on telephone company invoices?


--

For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of
life,

please press three.

...Alice Kahn

Alice,

Unfortunately, many municipalities have decided to add all sorts of tariffs to
auto rental (at least in the US) to pay for all sorts of "improvements," like
sports stadia for professional sports teams, that threaten to leave the
cities, unless they ante up billions of $. The feeling is that the tourists
will always come, and they might as well bilk them of the $.

I do not know where you rented, but one will find all sorts of similar charges
for hotel rooms, auto rental, on-site dining at resorts and even some "retail"
outlets at resorts. Airline tickets from certain locations can also hold this
sort of "extra" charges.

Some day, the tourist trade might well dry up in some of these areas and then
the cities, counties, etc. will be left with no recourse, but to increase
taxes.

Hunt

Kent Wills wrote:
14.00 tax recoupment

A tax for collecting the other taxes?

Cool, I like this one.

9.53 license recovery surcharge

Did you misplace your license? :-)

Could be, but considering I haven't yet picked up the car, how would
they know?



--

For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life,
please press three.

....Alice Kahn

At first glance, maybe "30.00 customer facility charge" relates
to a rental agency delivering the car to some location that
wasn't their own headquarters(?) Like if they drop off the
rental car at a body shop, where you have just handed over your
own car. Some insurance policies apparently have combined
claims, where they provide a rental while your own car is being
repaired after an accident.

And, "24.71 concession recovery fee" sounds like maybe the car
was returned to some location (the body shop? or another branch
of the rental chain?) and then "recovered" (driven back) to the
original rental location(?)

No, the facility charge and concession fee are usually related to a rental
agency that is located on airport property. They have to rent the space in
the airport AND pay a fee to run a concession in the airport, so the costs
are passed along to people who rent cars at the airport. I don't agree with
it. -Dave

"Mike T." schrieb

They have to rent the space in the airport AND pay a fee to
run a concession in the airport, so the costs are passed along
to people who rent cars at the airport.

That's the same for everything in all the other shops as well.
I might pay more if I buy something at the airport instead of any
other shopping mall without a runway outside the back door,
but the price is neatly written on the shelf, and I don't get a
long list of extra-this and extra-that at cashier.

Jochen from Potsdam

"Jochen Kriegerowski" wrote:
That's the same for everything in all the other shops as well.
I might pay more if I buy something at the airport instead of
any other shopping mall without a runway outside the back
door, but the price is neatly written on the shelf, and I don't
get a long list of extra-this and extra-that at cashier.

Usually, sales tax is tacked on (unlike the "VAT included" price)
The more reputable rental agencies will quote a "taxes included"
or detail them in a reservation offer, instead of low-balling you
with fine print. Caveat emptor anytime you see an absurdly low
rate compared to others. "If its too goo to be true, it usually is."
=R=