Excessive late fees
August 21, 2022 7:39 AM Subscribe
I accidentally made a car rental booking for a day short of what I had planned. The rental car company policy says I have to pay a huge late fee. This is in the USA (North Carolina). I am about to return the car 24 hours late. Any ideas for how to avoid the fee ?
Seriously, I’ve had no problem adding an extra day to my rental with no extra fees. Just call them.
posted by Cyber666 at 7:57 AM on August 21, 2022
posted by Cyber666 at 7:57 AM on August 21, 2022
KEEP EVERYTHING, every receipt, every note from every call. And keep it forever. This isn't just a weird news story - it happened to someone I know.
posted by nkknkk at 8:06 AM on August 21, 2022
posted by nkknkk at 8:06 AM on August 21, 2022
Response by poster: Thank you! The automated system said I had to pay $1000+. But I just showed up with the car and they didn't even charge me for the extra day!
posted by rouleur at 8:38 AM on August 21, 2022 [19 favorites]
posted by rouleur at 8:38 AM on August 21, 2022 [19 favorites]
The paper contract (you kept the paper contract, right?) should spell out the rate for extra days, extra weeks, etc. If you were already paying for a week (say, if your booking was for five days but you kept it for six) then you might only be on the hook for any local taxes or fees that charge by the day no matter what. If you rented in a jurisdiction that doesn't have any local taxes or fees, then your existing rate might just cover the extra day.
On the flip side, they may discover the billing error and charge you later based on whatever was on the contract. You really should check it to be sure. I think that's one of the places they always make you initial the contract before you sign it, so look for your initials.
posted by fedward at 10:05 AM on August 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
On the flip side, they may discover the billing error and charge you later based on whatever was on the contract. You really should check it to be sure. I think that's one of the places they always make you initial the contract before you sign it, so look for your initials.
posted by fedward at 10:05 AM on August 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
FWIW, I recently had a similar experience with two different hotel reservations. The website wouldn't let me cancel or change my bookings without a huge fee, but I just called each hotel directly (not the corporate helpdesk number) and the person working the front desk changed things without any issue.
posted by neushoorn at 10:19 AM on August 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by neushoorn at 10:19 AM on August 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
Not clear how you made the reservation. The following may apply.
I made a reservation with Avis through AARP-Expedia for X days. Then it was decided that we only needed the car for X-1 days, and I phoned Avis to tell them I was going to return it 1 day early. I expected this to be fine with Avis. I didn't even expect a refund. However, Avis told me there would be a huge penalty for returning a day early, because reservations thru AARP-Expedia receive a "corporate rate" and a rigid car-availability schedule which cannot be changed in any way.
My solution was to cancel the "corporate" reservation and make a fresh reservation direct with Avis. They still had enough availability.
And not use AARP-Expedia ever again.
posted by JimN2TAW at 10:49 AM on August 21, 2022
I made a reservation with Avis through AARP-Expedia for X days. Then it was decided that we only needed the car for X-1 days, and I phoned Avis to tell them I was going to return it 1 day early. I expected this to be fine with Avis. I didn't even expect a refund. However, Avis told me there would be a huge penalty for returning a day early, because reservations thru AARP-Expedia receive a "corporate rate" and a rigid car-availability schedule which cannot be changed in any way.
My solution was to cancel the "corporate" reservation and make a fresh reservation direct with Avis. They still had enough availability.
And not use AARP-Expedia ever again.
posted by JimN2TAW at 10:49 AM on August 21, 2022
When we rented from National on a recent trip, we realized we needed one more day - it was no problem to call the 800 number, give them the reservation number, and add a day. They charged us a day's rental but that's fair.
posted by TimHare at 5:47 PM on August 21, 2022
posted by TimHare at 5:47 PM on August 21, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by zeikka at 7:49 AM on August 21, 2022 [9 favorites]