Budget Wants Gas Receipt on Low Mileage Rentals

The fuel gauge on most rental cars barely moves after a fillup until the car's been driven 30-40 miles. Cheapskate renters sometimes abuse this quirk, returning a car they've barely driven without topping off.

Budget has gotten sick of this practice. And so they've added this language to their rental agreements:

Translated: Budget now presumes that renters who put less than 75 miles on their car do not top off the tank, and therefore Budget charges those renters $13.99 (plus applicable tax, naturally). A renter can get out of this charge, however, by presenting a recent fuel receipt.

The gas usage has become a much bigger deal now that gas is so expensive. I haven't owned a car for 35 years, so I have rented hundreds of times. So often, when you get in the car, the gas guage is just touching "full" as the last person filled up some distance from the drop-off location (or not at all if they only drove a few miles).

I always bring the car back "full" as I never drive more than a few miles from the last fillup. It is the right thing to do, even though I often wind up returning it with more gas than I started with. Since gas is so much cheaper in New Jersey than in New York City, most everyone tries to get gas just before crossing the Hudson. If I am going directly to the rental location after crossing the Hudson (up to 15 miles, depending on where I cross) I won't add more gas in New York if the guage hasn't moved.

I liked the old days when gas was $1.00 and you didn't care whether you got gipped out of a couple of gallons. Now a couple gallons is more that $7.00. The price of gas has made me start using public transportation for many of my Atlantic City trips as opposed to renting cars (even freebies).

These days, I usually go to New Jersey to pick up cars. The rates are much lower than NYC and I use on "off-airport" location that avoids about 10-15% in extra taxes. The problem I have in this location is that the cars may not have full tanks. It is really a pain to try to return a car with 1/4 tank of gas, especially in New Jersey where you can't pump your own gas and you have to guess how much to tell the attendant to pump.

Ned in NYC