Thrifty $1 per litre fuel offer

[albatross710]

Hi,

One of my workmates just got stung with a Thrifty offer, prepay for your fuel at time of checking-out the car and return the car with an empty tank, works out at $1 per litre.

Sounded really good until he realised on return that he had only used about one third of the tank. He effectively paid about $3/litre.

Lesson is: If you wont use the full tank, then pay for petrol upon return.

There must be one happy Thrifty sales agent with a good bonus this month - I bet she was cute to have pulled that one off.

Alby

[lovetravellingoz]

Stung would seem a bit harsh.

I was offered and took a similar offer with Hertz in Cairns recently.

The offered was clearly explained to me including the caution that to work for me that I should try and return it near empty...so the onus is on the taker to work out their rough petrol use on the spot.

It would not surprise however if such deals are only offered at Airports where they find that they often get returns with more than a third of a tank often....and so hence make money out of it.

In my case I thought about a quarter to a third of a tank would be break even....and I returned it with just under a quarter of a tank.

However I also had a very early morning flight....so value to me was also not having to spend time filling up and this was actually the clincher for me.

A minor plus was also earning the xtra FF points on the fuel as was part of the total Hertz spend..

[medhead]

a bit of circle work the night before returning a car usually deals with any excess fuel issues

[albatross710]

considering syphoning and selling it off to other rental returners?

[2muchplastic]

I would agree that stung seems a bit harsh. He's been offered, and purchased, a tank of fuel at a reduced rate. Just because he didn't use it, doesn't mean that he was stung!

There's probably not a lot you can do in those circumstances though, short of siphoning and drinking the damned stuff. Or maybe 300 laps of airport road - keep going round and round the nearest roundabout until you get dizzy?

[Traveller F]

G`Day,

Another word of advice to remember when hiring with Hertz in the UK. A small sign at the pick-up desk : “If the vehicle is returned with less than 50 miles driven a charge of £15 will be added to customers account. Customers are advised to provide a receipt that fuel has been purchased prior to returning the vehicle”.

I returned a car recently, showed the receipt at the return counter and was assured that this had be noted. Checking on my credit card bill next month I noticed that I had in fact been charged the £15. After contacting Hertz complaining about the charge and offering to fax a copy of the receipt they said this would not necessary, apologised that I had been charged and I would be refunded asap and as a “gesture of good will” they would send me a voucher for an upgrade on my next rental…..(well done Hertz for customer service) they also explained that the reason behind the £15 charge for the “under 50 miles driven rule” was that renters were returning cars still with the needle showing full on the gauge but of course not completely full and this was not fair on the next renter.

So keep those receipts (just in case) till the final bill has been paid!.

Kind regards, Traveller F