What Everyone Needs To Know Before You Rent A Car On That Next Business Trip: Hidden Fees, Overcharges & Blacklists

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Typically when I return a rental car the attendant asks if I want to keep the charges on my credit card and then he or she prints out a receipt for the total due. It's always more than I think it should be. But, because I am usually concerned about going through airport security I throw the receipt in my briefcase and promptly forget about.

Okay, that's not true. If I am expensing the cost to a client, I typically forget about it and throw the receipt into my briefcase. I don't think about it until I have to bill the client for my expenses.

Yesterday was different. I was traveling for business but it was my own business and my own credit card that had to cover the costs. Yesterday when the attendant asked if I wanted to keep the charges on the credit card I used when I took the car, I said,"No, I'll put it on a different card inside."

That's when things started to get interesting.

I had rented the car for six days and the amount I thought I was paying was $165. However when the counter rep gave me the total it was $283.12. After a 30-minute negotiation my final bill was $256.62. Don't even get me started on the ridiculous amount you have to pay in taxes and fees. 

Had I just accepted the amount when I returned the car I would have paid $26.50 more than I was supposed to, and the worst part, I wouldn't have even realized what was happening.

It's the old hidden fee routine. I won't bore you with all the details but I extended the contract two days and they tacked on $20 late check in fees because I extended the contract. Does that make any sense?

Then they miscalculated the taxes and that accounted for the additional $6.50 overage.

So let's say that I wasn't the only customer yesterday who had a $20 added into their bill.Over the course of a day, at a busy airport, we're talking real money.

The thing is I don't want to have to review an itemized car rental agreement every time I return the car. I want to trust them. I want to believe that all the fees are fair and disclosed.  I love being able to say," keep it on the credit card," and then take the small receipt and put it in the brief case, no questions asked.

But that is irresponsible. Whether it's my money or my client's money, I need to be a good steward,and allowing hidden negotiable fees to be unnecessarily charged to a credit card is complete insanity.

It's inconvenient and time-consuming to have to go to the counter, wait your turn,and then start a negotiation.  Travelers don't want to put in the time or aggravation to negotiate $25.00 and I believe the car rental companies count on us being late and in a hurry and not willing to fight over $20.

However, from now on I will say, "I'll pay at the counter."

Last year I rented a car from an off-brand car rental company and was told I had to buy the insurance. I pushed back and said I knew I didn't have to and the woman said it was a state law. Naively, I didn't put up much of a fight.I should have. From what I can tell there are no states that say you have to purchase the insurance from the car rental company.

When I was negotiating yesterday, the manager of the car rental company I was dealing with said that taxes and fees were 35%.When I showed her that the additional $120 she wanted to charge me was greater than 35% she backtracked and said, "well that doesn't include some of the additional fees."

Even 35% seems outrageous to me. If I could reduce those fees and taxes by renting at a different location and if the airport shuttle would drop me off at the different car rental location, I would boycott airport car rentals.

That's the advice Lisel Hlista gives. Hlista does a videoblog called The Tightwad Traveler.