A Pasadena, California man rented a car for two weeks but returned it a day early after his plans changed. He’d paid for the full two weeks, but returning the car early led to him being charged an extra $500, NBC Los Angeles reports. As it turned out, returning a rental car early is considered breaking the contract and allows the rental company to charge you a daily rate instead of a weekly rate. For Marc Schiler, that news came as a huge surprise.
“The way car rental companies are now, you pull up in a line, you get out and hand somebody the key, you take your luggage and they say, ‘We’ll email it all to you,’” he told NBC Los Angeles. “And it’s insane. I gave the car back a day early and I paid for the full two weeks. What’s the problem?”
Exactly, Marc. Exactly. You’d think that if you paid for two weeks and had to return the car early, the rental company would be happy to have an extra car to rent to somebody else. Switching someone to the day rate just because they didn’t keep the car for the full two weeks is just gouging them for the sake of gouging them.
As travel expert Christopher Elliott told NBC Los Angeles, that switch is “one of the oldest car rental tricks in the books.” Still, even Elliott doesn’t think it’s right, saying, “So they are well within their right to recalculate their rate if you’re returning the vehicle early. But as a practical matter, there’s just the logic of it that doesn’t seem right.”
After being contacted by the news channel, Budget did refund Schiler’s $500 but refused to answer any questions about its policies. If you do have to return a rental early, though, Elliott said the best thing to do is talk to the manager to try and convince them not to switch you over to the day rate. And at the very least, let this serve as a reminder that rental companies are not your friends and will screw you any way they can.