If you break the terms of a contract, you should be expected to pay a penalty, right? Not according to ABC's "Good Morning America."
"Good Morning America" criticized fees charged to customers who return rental cars without a full tank of gas - part of a standard car rental agreement.
"The only thing more expensive than gassing up your car these days is not gassing up your rental car," reporter Elisabeth Leamy explained to viewers on August 29. She said companies across the nation charge as much as $8 per gallon for cars returned unfilled.
Leamy pointed to attorney general Doug Gansler's fight in the state of Maryland, where he threatened to sue rental companies unless they charged "reasonable rates." He called the fees "wrong and outrageous."
Leamy didn't say what would constitute a "reasonable rate." But in Maryland, Gansler negotiated an agreement that the fee would not exceed 35 percent of the local market price for full service gasoline, or a flat rate of $10 per vehicle, according to a June 12 report in The Washington Post.
But there are reasons for the fees, including common courtesy and losses incurred by the companies when a car is returned without a full tank.
—Paul Detrick is a research analyst at the Business & Media Institute.
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I wonder if this was
August 29, 2008 - 16:06 ET by Eileen RightI wonder if this was prompted by ABC incurring major charges after the DNC group hug in Denver.
question
November 13, 2008 - 15:14 ET by tiberiuHave you seen the new Jaguar auto parts on the market? If you haven't already please do and we can talk after.
Yes, it's a steep fee
August 29, 2008 - 16:06 ET by NorthCoasterbut if you fill it up yourself, you pay the current cost at the pump. Rental companies have to send someone out to gas the car up, hence the extra fee. The fee is a dis-incentive to renters who might otherwise bring the car back with a tank full of fumes. It's just like cleaning up after yourself because someone eventually has to take care of it.
If you run late and don't have time to refuel, pay the fee and don't complain. You should have left for the airport sooner.
More whiners! Didn't you learn anything in Kindergarten?
ABC has gas
August 29, 2008 - 16:23 ET by Copperhead RidgeSome producer must've been rung up on a fuel charge lately.
The little crappy car repair place where I take my truck for service has the exact same policy if they have to fuel some piece of crap up to test drive it.
It's the rules. Live with it!
I'm willing to bet if you talked to the people who put this story together they probably have some HOPE that King Hussein will CHANGE this policy with a federal program.
Also, I'm sure women and blacks are hardest hit by this policy.
When I was out of town a few
August 29, 2008 - 16:23 ET by Chris NormanWhen I was out of town a few months ago, I fueled up my rental car at a gas station and when I got back to the return at the airport, their posted gas per gallon was less than I paid by about a nickel a gallon. See, ABC, I can pull out anecdotal evidence, too.
McNotObama '08
Hmmmm....I don't understand....
August 29, 2008 - 16:35 ET by trak65There seems to be no explanation of why this is George Bush's fault! Must have been an editing mistake.
One of the major rental
August 29, 2008 - 16:40 ET by CooltomOne of the major rental chains has been advertising local market gas prices for filling up at the rental car pumps for months. Amazing how the free market can respond to a gas crunch a lot faster than the guvment. Just about every market has some company offering free gas cards and the like. Heck, even Netflix is saying on their radio ads that DVDs through the mail saves on gas.
Simple solution
August 29, 2008 - 16:58 ET by UnsaneDon't like the contract? Don't sign it.
Problem solved.
(Except that personal responsibility and freewill are concepts lost on ABC, apparently.)
Whoever casts a vote for Obama-Biden is nothing more than a common thief. Whoever fails to vote against them is nothing more than a moral coward.
more infantile whining
August 29, 2008 - 17:20 ET by wizardjrAdults read the contract and pay the fee (fine?) if they slip up. Boomers and other self centered turds (present company excepted) expect Mommy and Daddy to keep the mean man from punishing them for deliberately incurring the penalty. This is merely a minor example. So now the government will force the companies to do something that will wind up raising everyone's prices. You don't think the costs are going away magically do you? So, because of infantile thumb suckers we will all have to pay their burden. Great. Thanks a$$hats.
Geez Louise!
August 30, 2008 - 09:12 ET by on-the-rocksWe "mainstream peons" have known for years that they will charge you out the wazoo for gas if you don't return the tank to the original level (which is recorded before you leave). They will do the same thing if you bring the car back dirty. Refilling and washing the car are just part of the deal.
The small rental place we use generally has two employees on duty at a time. If a car has to be driven off-site to refill, that ties up one of the employees. The same thing if the car has to be washed out back of the office.
The suggestion that Leamy or a producer got stung in Denver sounds plausible.