Paying for petrol when picking up hire car

We have taken out fully inclusive insurance ( covers EVERYTHING)with our car hire but I have found out that we have to pay for a tank of fuel and leave credit card details when we pick up the car .

Why the CC details. I thought you only left them if you took out basic insurance and it was for a deposit..

How much can we expect to pay for the petrol without being ripped off.

Our car is from Dollar at Sanford.

Paying for petrol when picking up hire car

when we arrived we were charged $76 total rip off

Paying for petrol when picking up hire car

jmc28, was that what you were charged to ';pre-pay'; the petrol or was that what you were charged when/if you returned the car empty (without pre-paying it?)

UCC

It was on the invoice when we picked the car up. The car was returned empty.(petrol light came on as we entered the airport carpark)

We also paid for sat nav but after a few days gave up on this and used a map.

You could have declined the fuel pre-pay option then... What type of car did you rent?

Maybe the trick is to check the case prices in the US before you fly (am sure someone here can post current gas prices) and then decide whether what the rental company wants to charge you for a pre-paid tank is reasonable when you get there...?

鈥oe.gov/oil_gas/鈥ogas_home_page.html suggests that about $2.70 to $2.80 per US gallon currently. A Ford Taurus (fairly standard size car) would have a 20 US gallon fuel tank - so you are looking at $54/$56 or there abouts to fill it up. If you were charged $76 for a ful tank, then you are paying $20/$22 (so 拢10/拢11) to forego the hassle of finding a gas station near the airport and taking the time and hassle to fill it up yourself. That may vary depending on tyoe of car and rental agency etc.

So pre-paying bascially means ';is it worth paying about an extra 拢10 to avoid the hassle of filling up on the way to the airport';. For us it is, for others it may not be.

Shame that you didn%26#39;t get on with the satnav - we always get it and love it :-).

UCC

The petrol was already in the car it was not mentioned when we were picking it up .We had paid for an intermediate but was given the Jeep as it was already in the parking lot. We did get the sat nav but is got is lost more times then helped so we just used the map we had bought in the uk and I don%26#39;t remember getting lost again after that. We use sat nav in the UK (Tom Tom) but I just think it was a little bit differant (Garmin), and it always took us on the toll roads even when other routes were nearer and quicker.

petuniabell. did you take platignum hire from dollar?if so you get first fill free[bring back empty].you also are covered for multiple drivers[named]on insurance.we do it that way everytime and find it takes away all the stress etc.[no need to give them credit carddetails at sanford].

That is really odd, but you signed for $76 BEFORE you drive the car out of the airport (when you picked it up) right? So you agreed to ';returning the tank empty';, right?

Jeep is probably a 20 litre tank - so you paid about 拢10 for not having the hassle of refilling the car.

Was it Hertz you rented from? We always rent from Hertz (they have a ';Neverlost'; satnav system - which we have always found good). Ok sometimes the isntructions can be a little confusing - takes a bit of getting used to: we have never been ';lost';, but sometimes we have taken the wrong turning...

UCC

We rented from Dollar paid for gold insurance and had card swiped to pay for sat nav like I said we wer not asked if we wanted petrol or not just told it was a full tank. But you live and learn is was our first time to USA. Maybe next time will will know better.

Forgot to say when we filled up later in the week it cost $50.56

I usually get Alamo and get the Alamo Gold for an extra 拢20 that covers an extra driver and tank of fuel. It works out cheaper that way, and again you can leave the car on empty (the light came on just before we got on the freeway- I think we just made it on fumes lol!). The extra driver fee alone is very exp per day.