A traveler was charged almost $600 for returning a rental car a few hours early

European rental agencies are strict! I once rented from Europcar at CDG and got the car at 10am. I returned it a week later at 10:10am and got hit for an extra day. No grace period whatsoever.

“They also charged him border fees when he didn't actually cross the border.”

He did actually cross the border. The article even explains why. He rented from Budget Switzerland, picked up the car in Switzerland and then drove it to France.

Yes, that was a mistake on my part, and I edited it to add some more information, but the point was that the traveler didn't realize there were two cities and that Budget could have easily clarified this when booking. The article further noted that Hertz and Enterprise DO give the traveler the option for both cities there.

Yikes. If there's ever a lesson to read the fine print, this is it. Admittedly, even doing so I'm not sure it would have computed in my brain that Budget would do that.

Mardee, thanks for sharing. I hope everyone reading the forums who are planning to rent cars sees this post.

So many travelers think car rental is the same everywhere and don't understand the gotchas- rental terms, ZTLs, tolls and more.

And so many travelers don't bother with reading the terms and conditions when booking anything until there's a problem.

Admittedly, even doing so I'm not sure it would have computed in my brain that Budget would do that.

Allan, yes, it doesn't really make Budget look good. I'll be honest, after my last rental experience with Budget in Cleveland last year, I'm not so sure I would rent with them again anyway. The whole process was just a hot mess, and I had to wait in line for almost an hour to pick up the car.

Jean, I agree. It's always about the "gotchas." Yes, people should definitely read the fine print, and Allan's thread about that really drives it home as well, but you would think that companies could at least clarify this. That's one of the reasons why I like Arnold Clark so much in the UK. I will always rent from them because they take the time to explain everything. It's really amazing how much time they will spend going over this to make sure that the customer understands it.

It’s baffling because some agencies will let you use the weekly rate for a four day rental if that’s cheaper.

There’s always the note in every policy saying early returns could increase the price. That’s the reason for deciding this June not to book an overnight near Heathrow and return the car the night before. So will get up at 5:30 am to head to Heathrow instead. I was thinking I might get hit with a storage fee returning early, it happens, hadn’t thought about the rate changing.

What a shame for the renter. He’d have been financially better if he parked the car outside rental office for 3 1/2 hours before turning in the key. That Budget office must’ve not wanted too much inventory on its lot, and wasn’t very eager to get the car back.

Rentals right on a country border can clearly come with potential snags, if inadvertently crossing the border results in problems.

Ouch. I would do the same thing and I would pay the same price. Its why i dont rent cars in Europe. I just know it wont go well for me.

"Admittedly, even doing so I'm not sure it would have computed in my brain that Budget would do that. "

As Allen says, the disconnect hitting a lot of people is not believing "they would do something like that". That and reading through the large amount of fine print for "gotchas". Hard to say how much of this is deliberate to extract more out of customers. I'm getting less and less willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

He’d have been financially better if he parked the car outside rental office for 3 1/2 hours before turning in the key.

Cyn, it was actually even less time. In the article, the author said that if Brendan would have waited just 10 minutes to return the car, he would have been off the hook for that extra charge. He explains why in the article, but I'll let you read it if you're interested.

if Brendan would have waited just 10 minutes to return the car

I didn't read it but,

That makes the counter clerk a real jerk too.

He could have told him, Hey go get a cup of coffee and come back in 10 minutes. It'll save you big bucks.

Mardee, wow! Thank you for the unlocked article. Almost $60 a minute for that extra charge … that’s cruelly steep.

So how early is too early? 1 hour? 30 min.? Not being familiar with the roads, or local traffic conditions, sometimes is it impossible to return EXACTLY on the hour, so it makes sense to try for an earlier drop-off rather than a later one.

Budget really went out their way to create a lot of negative press.

Sometimes 'doing the right thing', means not following/doing the technically correct thing.

When I have read a rental contract in detail it has had wording to the effect that "an early return gets no refund", but that has been US rentals, not Europe .

This just emphasizes the everything wrong with our system. Companies should only be able to charge you for something that actually costs them money. Picking a seat does not cost the airline anything (they have to assign you a seat anyay. even if they don't ask you which one), but they make a lot of money, a lot of money, from allowing you to pick your seat. In the spirit of free market, I think companies should have to apply the same markup from actual cost for all features, tickets, meals, baggage, whatever. For what they charge for baggage check, they could hire a homeless person to personally carry each bag out to/from the plane and still make money.

How does returning the car a few minutes early cost the company any money. Nothing! Then they shouldn't be able to charge you for it. In fact, if they actually rent the car out again, even touch it to clean it, before the return time, they should be severely fined for fraud (if they rent it out before your rental time is over, they are committing fraud, double charging). Maybe they should even go to prison for it.

The way to avoid this problem is just to never rent a car in Europe.

We travel to Europe for enjoyment, and there isn't anything about renting a car there I would classify as enjoyable. Why spend all the money to go to Europe and experience a pain in the anatomy? Between planes, trains, busses, taxis, and car services, I can get to just about anywhere. If I can't get there, so be it. Lots of people have lived very full lives without ever going there.

We travel to Europe for enjoyment, and there isn't anything about
renting a car there I would classify as enjoyable.

I'll have to counter that. I enjoy public transit when available, but two of my favourite European adventures wouldn't have worked without a car. 2 weeks in SE England from Salisbury to Canterbury, and a week in the Dordogne, France. Driving was a bit stressful at times but we had no issues with the rentals and the memories far outweighed any stress in driving.