Car Rental - I want a Mustang in / near Orlando - a few questions

wrote:
Rudeney wrote:
[snip]
Gas is a big profit center for car rental companies. Never buy the
gas from them! Even when they supposedly sell you a full tank
below market value, you won't come out ahead unless you return it on
fumes. Why? Well, if you paid for say, 20 gallons at $0.10 under
market value, that means you'd save $2.00. The problem is, you have
to return the car with less than $2.00 worth of gas in the tank or
else you are losing money on the deal. At today's prices, that
would be less than a gallon of gas. If you can swing it, then
great, but honestly, I don't find pumping gas to take much time or
be so difficult.

Mostly what I find is that it is a matter of convience. It never
fails that
I'm either running late, or I can't find a station when I'm headed
back to
the airport. I've only ever took the gas option once, and I did
return it
on fumes.

As long as you view it as an option of convenience, then that's fine. The
problem is the rental companies present it as a cost-savings option. They
will "sell it" by quoting the highest local gas prices to make their deal
sound much better, plus they often round up the tank size (i.e. an 18.5
gallon tank becomes 19 or even 20 gallons). Basically, even if you ran the
car out of gas at the very moment you returned it, you probably still could
come out better financially buying gas yourself, and because the rental
company pays fleet fuel prices that are probably $0.10 less than they
charged you, they sill made a profit on the deal.

--

- RODNEY

"Rudeney" wrote in message ...
- Bobb - wrote:
Update:
Rather than Hertz, I used Budget and reserved it online - a lot
cheaper. Well, when I got there - they didn't have a Mustang either, so I got
a Saturn Ion.

Those two vehicles don't seem to be in the same class. I would consider an Ion to be a compact and a Mustang to be a midsize.

- RODNEY
(snipped)

They were not in the same class. The only reason that I had reserved a Mustang was that I wanted to drive a new Mustang. Since
they didn't have one, I didn't NEED anything but basic transportation. So, I elected to get a "cheap car" once at the rental
counter.After a day at Kennedy Space Center and a day at Disney - I was driving to visit family/friends who live there and drove
their car .

- Bobb - wrote:

They were not in the same class. The only reason that I had reserved
a Mustang was that I wanted to drive a new Mustang. Since they didn't
have one, I didn't NEED anything but basic transportation.

Ah, that makes sense.

--

- RODNEY

- Bobb - wrote:

So you made a mistake. Always check the car before leaving the parking lot

Keith
You're right - but I THOUGHT I was going to review everyhting with him as I left the parking lot ( like most places have the
guard/gate just before the 'spikes'.) At Orlando, they did not have anything there - just drive out. ( Surprised more cars don't
get stolen)

Bobb, This is usually the rule that I follow. If they give you the
keys at the counter, you will not likely see a guard at the exit. If
they send you to a stall, and the keys are in the car, you will most
always have a guard / gate to pass through. This is true at least 90%
of the time.