Rental car - checking for FULL TANK

By looking at the fuel gauge.

As long as the needle point to "F", you should be OK.

Uh, with the dashboard gauge as far as I can tell. Usually, when I rent a car, the clerk marks on the form the gauge reading when I take the car.

Once, I got stuck with a Buick. The only good thing about it was that the needle did not drop at all during my driving (probably 50-60 miles), as far as I could tell. I returned it without adding any more fuel. They did not bill me for any gas.

I think you're overthinking the problem.

Last year we needed to catch a flight at SFO early morning. Shuttle van from San Jose is over $30 a person and a rental car was like $50 for a day. Guess what we did. Obviously the 50-odd miles didn't make a dent in the gas gauge indicator so the gas cost to us was zero!

I should add that some rental companies (like Avis) allow a car rented in SJC to be returned at SFO as a local rental!

That's sems to be true when I rent a car; usually they compare the initial to the final reading in increments of 1/8 of a tank.

In other words, they use the indicated reading at face value without attempting to account for the accuracy and linearity of the gauge.

Rental-car fueling fees used to be a notorious consumer rip, and savvy travelers noted the location of the nearest cheap gas station as they left the airport. Now, at least with some companies at some locations, they offer a decent price on that last fill-up if you sign up for it in advance. It's not exactly the cheapest gas in town, but it's okay, and it's sure cheaper than missing your flight.

Cheers,

--Joe

In my experience, though, you have to pre-pay for a full tank. That means you only get your money's worth if you return the car with an empty tank, which isn't always easy to do.

Approximately 11/19/03 15:36, Ad absurdum per aspera uttered for posterity:

Some just allow you to mark down the fuel level and take your word for it. At least have never had a bill increased later over any guage disagreement. Some will also ask if you bought gas, not sure why. And others go over the car with a fine tooth comb just looking for something to complain about.

Prepaid fills aren't quite as big a ripoff as the old fuel charges, but they still aren't as cheap as a normal gas station a few miles from the airport. "Few" as in close enough the guage stays at full.

Approximately 11/19/03 15:44, Matthew Hunt uttered for posterity:

Some of the big 3 locations do tell you this in advance, at least I always seem to rent places where they do.

At Enterprise in Miami last month we paid about 10 cents a gallon over pump price for their gas. I thought it was a great deal, we let them refill the car.

I have only rented vehicles from three companies, two car rental places and U-Haul. Both of the car rental places went over the car with a fine tooth comb. One may have been force of habit (I may have bent the front sub-frame, but I certainly hit the $500 deductible on my road hazard insurance*) and the other was so that they would know what new dings the next guy put on it (I payed the extra $20 for the optional zero deductible). U-Haul seems happy to see the return of the truck with a comparable fuel reading.

• OH! Were they pissed about that! I suffered a computer assisted skid (cognitive dissonance: Do not touch brake during skid vs. Tap brake to disengage cruise control) and bounced the vehicle in and out of a ditch. I found out later that the reason for their bad feelings was that rental franchises self insure [pay for all repairs/replacement out of revenues], and the vehicle had less than 700 miles on the odo, when I returned what was a new car.

Approximately 11/20/03 08:20, Richard Bell uttered for posterity:

I've never had any of the bigger corporate Hertz, Budget, Avis, etc. places even bother to look at the car upon checkin. I guess if any of the lot staff directing traffic were to observe big new dings they might flag the car, but haven't even had them ask about damage.

Enterprise, on the other hand, goes over the car with a magnifying glass at all of the norcal neighborhood type locations.

They ask you if you filled the tank. If you say yes and if the gauge says full then you won't be charged for fuel. (sometimes they even ask to see a receipt from a gas station that's within a close time window to when the car is returned).

If you say no, then they ignore the gauge and compute your fuel use based on miles driven. It's computed based on their gas price and a formula for mpg. (their gas price is about double the market price).

I've never had a rental agency offer this to me. What they offer to do is let you pre-pay for gas in advance. You have to pre-pay for a tank full. Unless you are willing to run the car down to fumes, you end up paying more than filling it yourself.

------------- Alex

If I pay cash, I never get a reciept. So they won't ever be seeing a reciept. If they gauge says F I know I won't be paying for any gas based on any computations.

-------------- Alex

I'll have to put my vote in...usually, they just ask or once in a while, they bother to look at the gauge, but I've never seen any company do more than that. They are usually in as big of a hurry to get the car back as I am to give it back.

On a side note, I almost always drive 20,30, 40 or more miles before the needle even falls away from full. And 9 times out of 10 when I notice someone filling up a rental car, they are always "topping it off" I guess it's just a habbit. For me, as soon as I hear gas starting to gurgle into the fill neck, I cut off the pump...why give them free gas!

Corey