Whether they can "make a case" for it or not, is irrelevant. I'll bet that the rental contract has language binding the customer to those terms, and, once the customer agrees to that by signing the contract, the only case that the rental company needs to make is that the customer agreed to pay in the event of loss of use, they have a signed contract to prove it, and therefore they are due the money.
Just to clarify one thing. All the rental companies that offer buying a full tank of gas upfront that I have dealt with offer this at a price that is either average or sometimes better than you can get at gas stations near the airport. If you choose not to take the offer and return the car partly empty, then they charge a much higher rate for gas.
I always take the tank of gas upfront option if I'm pretty sure I'll be driving enough to use up close to a tank or more of gas. Then, you just bring it back close to empty, don't have to refuel at the end, and got a good price for the gas. If I'm only going to drive less, then I refuel before the airport.
Hah... If I have a mechanical breakdown, I'm thinking that the rental company should be compensating me, not the other way around.
Lots of car not only have the lighter socket, but an additional one for accessories. That is becoming standard. The lighters were taken out more as a cost savings. I recall one car listing a "smokers option".
Not true. If customer demands a car of that type, and they don't have it they can/do lose money for loss of business. Not everyone wants a compact car or an suv.
Even when they do add "accessory sockets," they can still be a cost savings vs real lighter sockets. Even when I use the big inverter that runs my laptop, TV, and camera charger, it draws a fraction of the power of an electrical-resistance lighter, and it doesn't need the thermal protection around the socket.
Unfortunately they don't see it that way. They see it as you broke it.
Here's the deal. Take the insurance. You walk up to the counter, and turn in the keys. You walk away. It makes it all a simple transaction for a few bucks more. Anyone who is so cheap should have to endure all the bullshit that their cheapness brings down on their head.
Steve
OK, but I think you said that if you will only need a half tank at the end of your rental, it's not a good idea to buy a full tank in advance.
Aha! I didn't realize there were two prices from the same place. Thanks for clarifying that.
But what if you use 20 and 1/8 tankfuls. Don't they charge you for a whole tankful even though you only need 1/8th? If not, I'm still confused. If yes, it seems like a very bad deal, even if they do charge an average or low rate per gallon.
That makes sense. But I would think Jeff is right, that they'll use the same lighter they use when they're walking down the street and don't have a car with a cigarette lighter under them.
Surely only the most disorganized smoker goes out without a lighter, and if he does, he can buy one or get matches at a 7-11.
Do the car companies try to penalize someone who smokes in their cars? What if I rent a car and have to give my boss a ride and he smokes? Would I have to stop him or pay for it afterwards?
It's not your place to spend other people's money.
There is a constant theme here, including regarding home repair, about doing things right, as if the people who don't want to do that are cheap. Maybe they need their money to support their kids, or their parents, or to give charity, or for when they are out of work, sick or old, for a nursing home if it gets that bad.
Not everyone expects their children to support them in their old age, and a lot of people don't like the instructions they are given, that they should spend down all their money until they are poor enough that medicaid will pay for their nurses. Some people want to pay their own bills with their own money, and not sponge off of all the other taxpayers. It's one thing if they worked hard and didn't waste their money when they had it, and still can't afford medical expenses, but it's sponging if they spent more than they needed and then depend on others later.
When they drive they have liability insurance, because they can do a lot of damage if they hit a person and it will take all their savings or more to pay for that. Plus in most places it's the law.
But even if the car is out of use for a month, plenty of these people have enough money to pay for that. When they don't buy this loss of use insurance, they act as self-insurers. On average it's a lot cheaper to be a self-insurer becausae one doesn't have to pay for all the paperwork and the profits and waste of the insurance company.
Of course it is more convenient to take the insurance, then turn in the keys and walk away. Some people give up convenience because they are short of money. You'd probably also look down your nose also at those who buy homes they can't afford who lose them when interest rates go up. You have an upper limit and a lower limit for other people's spending.
I suspect you want people, even those with less money than you, to live your standard of living, and claim they're cheap when they won't buy things you'll buy, and profligate when they buy things you can't afford.
Doh't insult people you don't know by calling them cheap. (Don't insult people you do know either, for that matter.)
"mm" wrote
I think that would be true. If they say don't smoke in the car, I bet they have provisions for you to pay up if you stink the car up. Last time I stayed in a hotel, I saw that the fine for smoking in the room was no joke ... $250 I think.
I rented a car once that had reasonably low mileage, but you couldn't drive it with the windows closed, it stunk of cigarette smoke that bad. I am not one of those, ooo I detect a whiff of smoke, I mean it *reeked* that much. Man.
I could see where someone might rent a supposedly non-smoking car, get in and there's a little smoke stench and they say Give me a different car. I can't really blame the car rental people for taking out the lighter. Still, to take out the fuse, that does seem to be going a little far.
nancy
What! Seriously? If true, I know that is new.
Yes, they would. But you don't have to always fill the tank. On the last fill, if you figure you're only gonna drive another 100 miles, you just put in whatever amount you figure will result in the car going back with not much left, like 6 gallons.
I wouldn't be surprised if smokers carry the removeable part of a cigarette lighter. Heck they may start carrying the fuse too.
I don't travel that much, and I also stay whereever I find a motel along the road. I keep a list or look for a nice one. The most important thing is that the windows should open. So I've gotten to taking with me a little clock-radio, and I'm thinking I should take a universal remote for the tv. And a copy of the tv-section from my local paper, which will have all the network programs if not the local ones. Easiest would be the Sunday tv schedule for the week.
I carry an enormous variety of things in my own car, including plates, flatware, and especially salt and pepper.
One time, about 6PM in the summer, my car stalled and woulnd't start between 6th and 7th on 47th street in NYC, and I didn't want to wear good shoes while I crawled under the car, so I went barefoot for an hour while I worked on the car. The street was nice and I didn't even scratch my feet. But since then I carry a really old pair of sneakers.
I couldn't risk it.
I've run out of gas 16 times iirc. I almost won a weekend for two in Las Vegas to appear at some convention or something to illustrate running out of gas. But the last time was at least 11 years ago. I try real heard not to do that anymore.
Strangely, most of the times I ran out of gas it didn't cost me more than 5 minutes, and never more than a half hour. I know that can't last forever.
Twice!!, I ran out on the Brooklyn Bridge, heading to Brooklyn, and each time I coasted down the bridge across Tillary and into the SAEEWAY gas station. Once on the BQE heading towards Queens just past Washington AVe. and I coastee along the xway, down the next ramp and right into a gas station. Once in western Illinois, where I didn't want to get off the interstate and I got to my destination town, Chadwick, and ran out of gas just as I crossed the sidewalk while going into the gas station. Coasted to the pump.
I remember some more, but I've forgotten some too, or I might have won the contest.
I don't want to get anywhere close to empty anymore, because I have
100 reasons not to stop for gas.
try not to now too. in most cars now, the fuel pump is cooled by the gas flowing through it. no gas, no cooling. you could find yourself needing to replace the fuel pump.
It is true and has been for years. The rental company's position is that they could have rented that car while it's in the shop being repaired, thus you cost them revenue.
-- "Tell me what I should do, Annie." "Stay. Here. Forever." - Life On Mars
You ubderstand that the counter clerks get commissions on the upsells, right?
Thats why the hard sell push/
Jet fuel. JP whatever.
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