More car rental madness: a $10 “transaction fee” and other absurd price games

Oh, how creative! Here’s a surcharge I’ve never come across — a $10 “transaction fee” for a car booked through Thrifty’s website in San Francisco.

What’s a “transaction fee”?

I asked Thrifty. It didn’t respond.

I checked Thrifty’s site, but there’s no mention of it. I tried booking the same car through Expedia, and found it again, so it’s not related to the Thrifty website transaction, per se.

No other car rental companies at SFO have a “transaction fee” although they do have suspiciously similar “transportation” fees of $20 per rental. I’m left to conclude that Thrifty and other car rental companies are passing along the cost of an airport shuttle to their customers.

And that’s been going on for a while.

But while we’re on the subject, let me say that they’re not being very up-front about it. If you book through an online travel agency, it’s almost honest. Here’s the Orbitz matrix:

Why can’t they just quote the all-in price? It’s not as if we’ll ever pay the “base” rate, right?

The car rental company sites, on the other hand, are just pure bait-and-switch.

Here’s a quote for a Thrifty car in San Francisco.

Oh wow, $15 a day. What a deal.

But wait! Go to the next screen and …

Friends, the only reason the government hasn’t cracked down on these price games is that you don’t have to pre-pay for a car rental and you don’t even have to honor your reservation.

Car rental companies should quote a full price when you ask for a rate, not a base price that more than doubles at the end of the transaction.

/End rant.

(Photo: Tech No pal/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • John M

    One reason that they don’t quote you the all inclusive price is that it’s easier to sell you on renting a car for $110.00 a day, plus taxes and fees, than it is to get you to pony up $158.00 upfront.

    Another reason for not lumping it altogether is that corporate discounts are calculated from the base rate because the car rental companies cannot discount taxes and all those fees.

  • Jonathan

    I’m going to sound like a broken record here, but the auto rental agencies had better be careful about these ludicrous fees and their policy regarding post-rental inspections revealing damage days after the return. At some point some political hack is going to realize that this is something that is pissing off a lot of potential voters and they will push through legislation giving the Feds jurisdiction over the agencies with tons of new regulations to follow.

  • Robyn

    I could not agree more. Great rant!

  • BucksterSF

    I particularly love the “Vehicle License Fee.” What’s that, for the license plate? You gotta be kidding me. What’s next:

    Oil Change Maintenance Fee: 0.45 per day
    Windshield Safety (washer) Fluid Fee: 015 per day
    Reservation Counter Lunch Fee: 1.25 per day
    Concession Utility Fee: 3.00 per day
    Agreement Sleeve Fee: 5.00 per rental
    Free Map Fee: 4.50 per rental

    I could go on all day…… Maybe I shouldn’t give them ideas.

  • http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/members/sc-flier.htmls SC Flier

    Another reason that the government hasn’t cracked down on these fees is that the governments are the recipient of many of the fees. Airport concession, state tax, tourism surcharge, etc. all go to governments or outside agencies.

    The solution isn’t simple, though. Some portions are going untaxed, so rolling them into the base charge could end up costing customers even more in taxes if the tax rates remained the same. Suppose that that $20 fee were included in the base rate; now you’d have to pay additional taxes on that for the three percentage-based taxes. Currently, that $20 portion is not itself being taxed.

  • BillC

    It must be a San Fran thing. I just did one in Ottawa, ON and there was no transaction fee. It was not at the airport.

  • Raven

    Just another reason I refuse to travel to SFO. Look at those taxes! Between the dirty, crystal gripping hippies in the streets smelling of weed, the expensive surcharges on all restaurant meals…ridiculous.

  • Bill

    I go on the hertz website, they display the total including all taxes and fees before I rent. It is generally pretty accurate. I don’t have a problem with it.

    I’ve had about 12 car rentals with Hertz this year and actually they’ve treated me very well.
    I’ve never had a problem with Budget or Avis either…

  • Lauri

    I notice many of the add-ins are taxes. I remember reading that gas stations aren’t allowed to list their price and then the amount with taxes, so why are others allowed to do so? I know the price probably varies by city how much is paid, but I’m sure the website could be configured to handle it.

  • BucksterSF

    @Raven – I live in SF and you forgot the “homeless” urinating and defecating in the streets. There are actually legal and advocacy groups that complain because these “poor individuals” (who are mostly junkies) have to do this.

    But seriously NorCal never met a tax they didn’t like. Most people here are of a different political bent than me and they cannot understand why people don’t support higher taxes.

    But to the other points here, don’t expect relief from the government. They are – local state and federal – recipients of this cash. No way they’re cutting their income stream. It’s up to us to change it.

    Coming to SF? Fly into OAK or SJC.

  • Brooklyn

    The only time I use Hotwire is to book a rental car; they give you the full price up-front. They could, I suppose, stick me with a car rented from a site at some distance from the airport, but it hasn’t happened yet. Actually, I’ve gotten Hertz every time.

  • LadySiren

    @Raven As a former Marinite, I got a good laugh from your description, although I might’ve changed “hippies” to “hipsters”…

  • http://www.best-car-rental-tips.com Paula

    In Thrifty’s Car Rental policies, re: fees.. they state

    “At most THRIFTY locations, the renter may incur one or more of the following charges and fees: (i) an (airport) concession recovery fee or off-airport access fee; (ii) an (airport) consolidated facility charge; plus, frequent flyer surcharges, and vehicle license fees which are the estimated average per day per vehicle portion of our total annual vehicle taxes, licensing, titling, and registration costs, and other governmental fees or charges on top of the daily rate and any optional products and services the renter selects. These charges are calculated either as a per day or a per rental charge. ”

    No mention of transaction fees or transportion fees… but then this is what really caught my eye!!

    “R. New York Resident Surcharges:

    Higher rental rates for New York City (Brooklyn, Bronx, and Queens) residents renting in New York, Newark, NJ, and Philadelphia may apply as follows:

    ■For Brooklyn residents, the rates will be $55 higher per day.
    ■For Bronx residents, the rates will be $53 higher per day.
    ■For Queens residents, the rates will be $11 higher per day.”

    So someones is charged a surcharge based on where they LIVE, not where they rent??? This one seems crazy to me!

  • Dr Bill Toth

    buyer beware and when enough people write letters to the companies and the agencies that regulate them…or as Jonathan says some political hack decides to really run with the story…then maybe things will change.

  • PauletteB

    The ridiculous car rental fee scam (and the fact that I refuse to drive an automatic) is one of the reasons I avoid fly-and-drive vacations in the States. Fortunately, I love to drive and live in an area that makes everything from the Smoky Mountains to the Canadian Maritimes and west to Niagara Falls feasible for a driving vacation. If I have to rent a car, I’d rather do it in Australia.

  • MVFlyer

    Or, you can pay less than half that by going to a city rental location: for example, there’s a Hertz office in South San Francisco about 3 miles from the airport with cars around $50 all in, and no ridiculous $20 transportation fees or concession recovery fees. Probably about a $10 cab ride from the airport.

  • Joe Farrell

    the even more evil thing is that if I fly into SFO and rent a car from the signature Fixed Base operator and pay $39.99 a day for a mid-size through luxury car 365 days a year with ZERO transaction fee and the only charge is the calif sales tax and car licensing fees. . . while I could never fly into SFO and would use Oakland since it is much more GA friendly, if I needed a car it would be $34.99 a day at OAK. Plus, if I want to rent a cheaper car, Hertz will drop a car at the GA side of the airport for free and once again there is only the sales tax and licensing fees. . ..

    The transaction fees and tourism taxes only apply to rentals at the ‘centralized vehicle rental location.’ Enjoy.

  • Jack Bauer

    Dear car rental companies,

    Get Bent!

    Signed,

    Jack

  • http://www.clarkecomputer.com Charles Clarke

    I’m surprised no one else has pointed this out…

    It’s a $20 transaction fee, not $10.

    At least they disclose it up front. You still have the option of going elsewhere.