After Hours Car Rental Return

[nickis]

Do the car rental agencies accommodate this somehow?

Thanks to Continental and AA routing/schedule changes we now have an early morning flight returning from our vacation and we would need to drop off the car at the airport around 6am, when none of the car rental desks are open. Thrifty has the best rate, but their website won't let me book online because of the return time. Avis does let me book online even though their desk hours also show that they won't be open.

I would rather book the cheaper Thrifty car, even if I have to put in a bogus return time online just to get the booking. I don't want to book with Avis or Thrifty and have them tell me when I pick up the car that I can't return the car at 6am and have to return it the day before. If that's how it works, then fine...but I'd rather know beforehand.

Does anyone have experience with this?

Thanks

[DeniseM]

The best thing to do is call the drop-off location directly.

[helenbarnett1963]

we rent cars from Thrifty at BTV each winter. Sometimes our flight is arriving late and the Thrifty website won't let us book as it is 'out of hours' - as you have found.

We use the website to get a quote, by using a bogus arrival time. Then we phone the Thrifty depot in Burlington and check they can accomodate us and then book the car direct with them.

Don't know if it makes a difference, but the Burlington Thrifty depot is not on the airport site, and they seem to stay open much longer hours than all the on-site rental agencies.

One year they even stayed open until 11pm on New years Eve, we think possibly just for us, and were there to pick us up within 5 minutes of our flight arriving!

[skifast]

This happened to me in Austin, TX. Budget was not open 24 hours, so they had a box with envelopes to put the keys into and write the details (mileage...) onto.
Really no problem, except I found an extra $15 charge on my credit card because I had driven less than 75 miles. I really did fill up the car, and had to protest all the way up the corporate ladder to their national office to get it refunded. It was really about the principle - my credit card company offered to pay it for me, as a courtesy, when I asked them to withhold payment. I told them no, I did not care so much about the money, but the fact they had a blind charge with no info.

[nickis]

It's good to know that some locations do have a drop off box...thanks.

I should mention that this will be in Curacao...so calling and asking at the rental location is a little more difficult. My language skills are limited to English (save a few sentences of Spanish) and in Curacao it can be hit or miss as to whether the person answering the phone will be able to understand English.

[Patri]

[quote=skifast;562801]
Really no problem, except I found an extra $15 charge on my credit card because I had driven less than 75 miles.[quote]


What??? I have never heard of such a thing.

[Talent312]

... I found an extra $15 charge on my credit card because I had driven less than 75 miles.
-----------------
What??? I have never heard of such a thing.

Some rental comanies have instituted an automatic fuel charge based on the assumption that, if you drive less than 'x' miles, the gas you use may not show up on the guage, so you won't bother to fill-up and would "prefer" the car company to do that for you. To avoid the charge, they may ask to see your gas-receipt.

[Linda74]

We had to do this with Avis in Puerto Vallarta, Mx. this year. I was nervous leaving the car in case they charged us for damage, but all worked out fine.