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Too soon old,
too late smart
posted
This may keep someone from getting cheated.

You are required to top off the fuel tank before you return the truck or the rental company will do that for you for a hefty price.

My nephew dropped of a box van just after closing time at a local dealer and later got a charge on his credit card for $160 for refueling the truck.
Unfortunately for the unscrupulous dealer, my nephew had taken a photo of the truck dash. In the photo, with a time and date stamp, you could see the odometer reading, the fuel gage showing a full tank and the dealer’s sign and phone number while the truck was parked in front of rental store. The kid had also kept his gas card receipt for the gas he bought for the truck. After seeing the photo, the parent company made the charge go away. Without that proof he’d have been out $160.
 
Posts: 4757 | Location: Southern Texas | Registered: May 17, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Tinker Sailor Soldier Pie
Picture of Balzé Halzé
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quote:
Originally posted by Sportshooter:
Without that proof he’d have been out $160.


Not necessarily. I have no doubt AMEX would've taken care of me had I disputed the charge.


~Alan

Acta Non Verba
NRA Life Member (Patron)
God, Family, Guns, Country

Men will fight and die to protect women... because women protect everything else. ~Andrew Klavan

 
Posts: 31172 | Location: Elv. 7,000 feet, Utah | Registered: October 29, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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"After seeing the photo, the parent company made the charge go away."

Hopefully a large load rolled down hill to the local company.
 
Posts: 7541 | Location: MI | Registered: May 22, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of Kuglespritz
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quote:
Originally posted by Sportshooter:
This may keep someone from getting cheated.

You are required to top off the fuel tank before you return the truck or the rental company will do that for you for a hefty price.

My nephew dropped of a box van just after closing time at a local dealer and later got a charge on his credit card for $160 for refueling the truck.
Unfortunately for the unscrupulous dealer, my nephew had taken a photo of the truck dash. In the photo, with a time and date stamp, you could see the odometer reading, the fuel gage showing a full tank and the dealer’s sign and phone number while the truck was parked in front of rental store. The kid had also kept his gas card receipt for the gas he bought for the truck. After seeing the photo, the parent company made the charge go away. Without that proof he’d have been out $160.


Thank you for your post, I also took photos as well a few moths ago when turning in a rental truck after-hours. Although I did not have the problem your nephew did. He clearly avoided a lot of BS and phone calls by being proactive.
 
Posts: 771 | Location: Michigan | Registered: March 09, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Just curious: Did you have any communication with the locals RE: this and if yes, what was their response?
 
Posts: 3534 | Registered: August 19, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Good to know. Thanks.

I'm about to rent a utility trailer for a couple of days. Wonder if there are any hidden charges for that.....




"Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it." L.Tolstoy
"A government is just a body of people, usually, notably, ungoverned." Shepherd Book
 
Posts: 13228 | Location: In the gilded cage | Registered: December 09, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
אַרְיֵה
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quote:
Originally posted by konata88:

I'm about to rent a utility trailer for a couple of days. Wonder if there are any hidden charges for that.....
Just be sure to refuel it before you return it. Wink



הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים
 
Posts: 31714 | Location: Central Florida, Orlando area | Registered: January 03, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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A number of rental companies now require a fuel receipt within 10 miles of the drop point. The time and date stamp will verify when the fueling was done. A picture is a good idea, but doesn't need to be with the drop point identification in the background. Photograph the instrument cluster, showing the fuel indication and the odometer miles.
 
Posts: 6650 | Registered: September 13, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by konata88:
Good to know. Thanks.

I'm about to rent a utility trailer for a couple of days. Wonder if there are any hidden charges for that.....


Make sure there aren't hunks of mud or something really dirty left behind.
 
Posts: 889 | Registered: December 20, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
If you're gonna be a
bear, be a Grizzly!
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quote:
Originally posted by konata88:
Good to know. Thanks.

I'm about to rent a utility trailer for a couple of days. Wonder if there are any hidden charges for that.....


Check the tires. My son in law rented a U Haul trailer and they tried to charge him for a tire when he dropped it off. He went less than 50 miles and returned it to the original store. I don't know how they resolved it but I know he didn't have to pay any extra.




Here's to the sunny slopes of long ago.
 
Posts: 3640 | Location: Morganton, NC | Registered: December 31, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Too soon old,
too late smart
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quote:
Originally posted by nasig:
...Did you have any communication with the locals RE: this ... ?


No communication at all. He figured the corporate office could do a better job of sorting out one of their agents. As always, YMMV
 
Posts: 4757 | Location: Southern Texas | Registered: May 17, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Why don’t you fix your little
problem and light this candle
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When I rented from Penske they had a spot on the form next where we checked fuel pickup and return levels. Then we both initialed it.



This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it. -Rear Admiral (Lower Half) Joshua Painter Played by Senator Fred Thompson
 
Posts: 3694 | Location: Central Virginia | Registered: November 06, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
sick puppy
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quote:
Originally posted by redstone:
When I rented from Penske they had a spot on the form next where we checked fuel pickup and return levels. Then we both initialed it.


Yep. I wont do the drop-off keys into the box thing, for these very reasons. I want to be 100% done and signed off before i leave the lot, and so far i have been, in the 4 or 5 times ive rented trucks. It just takes some planning, giving yourself extra time, and knowing the hours of the rental place.



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While you may be able to get away with bottom shelf whiskey, stay the hell away from bottom shelf tequila. - FishOn
 
Posts: 7547 | Location: Alpine, Ut | Registered: February 17, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Always do the photo and gas receipt on a rental vehicle. I've found airport drop offs are horrible about that.
 
Posts: 17326 | Location: Lexington, KY | Registered: October 15, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Tinker Sailor Soldier Pie
Picture of Balzé Halzé
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quote:
Originally posted by Fredward:
Always do the photo and gas receipt on a rental vehicle. I've found airport drop offs are horrible about that.


That seemed to be a thing like two or three years ago, but even so I've never been asked by a Hertz employee to see my gas receipt. One of the benefits of having status with Hertz I guess as they just don't seem to care.


~Alan

Acta Non Verba
NRA Life Member (Patron)
God, Family, Guns, Country

Men will fight and die to protect women... because women protect everything else. ~Andrew Klavan

 
Posts: 31172 | Location: Elv. 7,000 feet, Utah | Registered: October 29, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Go ahead punk, make my day
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I photo all rental vehicles before and after, as well as take a photo of the dash for mileage and fuel levels. Just a quick snap of front / back / sides, and a close up if it had any dings before I got it.

Helped once when I had a 1-way rental and returned it at a smaller regional airport before the agency opened up. Several days later I got some hate email saying it hadn't been returned, but a photo showing the vehicle in the exact location it was left (one of the companies numbered rental parking return spots) changed their turn really quick.
 
Posts: 45798 | Registered: July 12, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
For real?
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I actually bodycam my rentals. I turn it on at the desk while I finish signing then walk out and do a walkaround outside and inside the vehicle. I do the same upon return. I gas up with the bodycam, return and do another walkaround. Hertz recently tried to ding me for a scratch, I gave them bodycam footage from initial walkup and noted the scratch on it. I told them they didn’t do a good job of cleaning either because my kid found a bag of weed in a backseat pocket.



Not minority enough!
 
Posts: 8249 | Location: Cleveland, OH | Registered: August 09, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Mensch
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Which company?


------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Yidn, shreibt un fershreibt"

"The Nazis entered this war under the rather childish delusion that they were going to bomb everyone else, and nobody was going to bomb them. At Rotterdam, London, Warsaw and half a hundred other places, they put their rather naive theory into operation. They sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind."
-Bomber Harris
 
Posts: 16153 | Location: Ivorydale | Registered: January 21, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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And check the mileage before and after. I rented a U-Haul to move from one storage garage to another seven miles away. The whole process took me less than an hour. When I returned it, the clerk said, "Oh, back so soon?" They wrote down that I had gone 60 miles. Nevermind, I hadn't been gone long enough to drive that far, let alone drive that far AND clear out one garage full of stuff, load it into the truck, unload it, return and refuel. I filed a complaint with the state, gave them a map of my route, etc. State investigator said the truck was already 1500 miles away, so they couldn't examine it, but that those companies often put smaller spec tires on their trucks to make drivers think they're driving faster than that they are, but that that also racks up inaccurate higher mileage. Not sure any size tires could make a 15 mile trip look like 60 miles.
 
Posts: 3824 | Location: Cave Creek, AZ | Registered: October 24, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Mensch
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quote:
Originally posted by Rick Lee:
And check the mileage before and after. I rented a U-Haul to move from one storage garage to another seven miles away. The whole process took me less than an hour. When I returned it, the clerk said, "Oh, back so soon?" They wrote down that I had gone 60 miles. Nevermind, I hadn't been gone long enough to drive that far, let alone drive that far AND clear out one garage full of stuff, load it into the truck, unload it, return and refuel. I filed a complaint with the state, gave them a map of my route, etc. State investigator said the truck was already 1500 miles away, so they couldn't examine it, but that those companies often put smaller spec tires on their trucks to make drivers think they're driving faster than that they are, but that that also racks up inaccurate higher mileage. Not sure any size tires could make a 15 mile trip look like 60 miles.


I work for U-Haul. Most likely someone fat fingered the miles.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Yidn, shreibt un fershreibt"

"The Nazis entered this war under the rather childish delusion that they were going to bomb everyone else, and nobody was going to bomb them. At Rotterdam, London, Warsaw and half a hundred other places, they put their rather naive theory into operation. They sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind."
-Bomber Harris
 
Posts: 16153 | Location: Ivorydale | Registered: January 21, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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