Budget Car Rental -- small print surprise

Maybe it has been there all this time, but in the Terms and Conditions now, it reads if you don't show up for your reservaton and don't cancel it -- there is a $75 charge. Wonder how they know your credit card if you didn't give it to them, hmmm.

We always cancel but in case some of the Tuggers out there don't .... be aware!

Cathyb said:

Maybe it has been there all this time, but in the Terms and Conditions now, it reads if you don't show up for your reservaton and don't cancel it -- there is a $75 charge. Wonder how they know your credit card if you didn't give it to them, hmmm.

We always cancel but in case some of the Tuggers out there don't .... be aware!

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That sounds new to me. At least I hadn't heard of it before. I always try to cancel any reservations I have once I find a cheaper price but who knows, when you have 5 or 6 reservations at any given time it would be easy to miss one sometime. I always try to print my reservations and put them in a vacation file for that particular vacation but, every now and then I run out of ink and if I'm not thinking forget to print it later.

Thanks for the warning. I've never heard of a cancellation fee on a car rental reservation before. In fact, they don't often even take a credit card to make the reservation.

Sheila

That doesn't surprise me.

I think that's a probably a good idea,(from the rental agencies perspective), because a reserved car is not available to rent.

Skinsfan1311 said:

That doesn't surprise me.

I think that's a probably a good idea,(from the rental agencies perspective), because a reserved car is not available to rent.

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Trust me when I say, if it's on the lot and someone arrives wanting to rent it, they'll usually rent it. I've been "upgraded" enough to know they don't hang onto a car just because there's a reservation.

It's rare that a rental car agency ever rents every car on their lot. Because of this, they know they'll always have something available. Tourists are going for the cheapest rental they can find so they'll get whatever the rental car agency has when they get there, even if it's a van when they rented an economy car.

This really just sounds like a revenue enhancer to me.

"Upgrades" are often not welcome, and not only because the bigger cars suck more gas. My former wife reserved subcompacts because she couldn't reach the pedals of many bigger cars, and occasionally had to pitch a 4'11" fit to get something she could drive.

isisdave said:

"Upgrades" are often not welcome, and not only because the bigger cars suck more gas. My former wife reserved subcompacts because she couldn't reach the pedals of many bigger cars, and occasionally had to pitch a 4'11" fit to get something she could drive.

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I agree. There's a reason why I rent a smaller car. I don't usually need the room and I prefer better MPG's. Still, they consider it an "upgrade".

Renting a car is getting to be like booking a flight. When you book a flight you never really know the schedule until the day you leave. With rental cars, all you really know is you have a car rented. You never know what class it is until you pick it up.

dougp26364 said:

I agree. There's a reason why I rent a smaller car. I don't usually need the room and I prefer better MPG's.

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I once rented a small car in which to do some camping in Northern California. By the time my flight landed at SFO, all they had left on the lot were huge behemoths... aircraft carrier class. I was embarrassed driving that to the campground at Yosemite. In San Francisco, I was afraid going up a hill, that if I had to stop, the thing would just slide back down the street.