Fighting fine print with fine print: If Thrifty can charge me a $20 no-gas-receipt fee, why can't I charge Thrifty a $20 no-receipt fee?
Thrift.com
I'm constantly amazed at the unfair contracts consumers are forced to sign during simple transactions with large corporations. Lawyers load up standard-form contracts with one-sided, take-it-or-leave-it terms, often called "contracts of adhesion." I'm in a crowd that believes one-sided contracts where there's unequal bargaining power aren't contracts at all, and so they shouldn't be enforceable.
Sometimes I run across an example that really makes the point. Here's the short story:
I rented a car recently from Thrifty, which demands consumers provide a receipt proving they filled the gas tank before returning the car. In my case, the receipt had to be from a station within 10 miles of the car rental facility, or I would have been charged for two $10 gallons of gas -- even if the tank was full!
But when I returned the car to the facility, a funny thing happened. Thrifty couldn't give me a receipt. The woman who checked me in (and inspected the car) said her machine wasn't working, and couldn't print receipts at that moment. When I asked where I could get one, she said Thrifty would email me. As far as I can tell, that never happened. I had to leave the car and just trust that I wouldn't be hit with any excess charges.
Now, what are the odds that I could get a $20 fee from Thrifty for that? Right. But I'll try:
Thrifty, my policy is to charge $20 when your company fails to present a receipt when the car is returned. The policy is clearly stated on my website terms and conditions.
There, that felt good.
We all know the car rental gasoline roulette game. You can pay for gas upfront at a fairly reasonable price, but you'll pay for a whole tank and unless you brilliantly drive back to the airport with only an ounce of gas left in the tank, you'll end up paying for gas you don't use. Or you can pay for gas when you drop the car off and pay perhaps four times the going rate. Or you can fill up the tank yourself, betting that you'll have the time on your way to catch your flight. It's a game with built-in booby traps so consumers can lose no matter which choice they make.
I'm guessing Thrifty noticed that some consumers were still beating them at their own game. They were filling the tank many miles before returning the car, perhaps before the drive to the airport, but not so far away that the gas tank gauge showed anything other than "Full" at return. So, to close that tiny gap where consumers were winning, they began demanding receipts so they didn't have to top off the car's tank when it arrived back at the facility.
I'm guessing because I asked Thrifty, owned by Hertz, to comment on this story and the firm told me it would have someone get in touch with me, but never did.
Thrifty's twist on gasoline roulette worked like this in Atlanta. A sign above the counter tells fill-it-yourself consumers to show up with a receipt proving you filled the tank within 10 miles of the facility, or pay a $20 fee (the price of two after-the-fact gallons at $9.99/gallon). Gas tank full or not. Otherwise, you'll be on a casino mobile to make up for the cost you've had to pay out for!
The policy was called out very clearly at check-in. I also found it on Thrift's website when I hunted for it, thought the actual cost isn't clear ("The renter must refill the gas tank of the vehicle within a 10-mile radius of the rental return facility and present a fuel receipt to avoid a refueling charge unless the renter chooses the prepaid fuel option.")
This struck me as unfair immediately. If the tank is full, how can the firm charge just for a lack of receipt? Meanwhile, how do consumers know that the tank is really full, and not requiring a top off, when they leave with the car? Where's the receipt from Thrifty showing the tank is really full?
As "luck" would have it, the station pump I used to top off my rental car's tank was out of paper and not printing receipts; I had to go inside and wait in line to get one. Fortunately I was early for my flight, but why should someone who was running late have to pay this "tax?"
Those of you who have rented from Thrifty (and others? I couldn't find other firms doing this, but perhaps they exist) are nodding your heads right now and asking what took me so long to complain about this. Apparently the policy has been in place and generating complaints for five years or so.
Clearly, Thrifty is hard at work trying to make sure it wins car rental gasoline roulette at every turn. But I invite you to think about my original premise again. I fail to present a receipt? That's a $20 fine. Do they fail to present a receipt? Shrug.
The very definition of a one-sided contract term.
The issue, of course, isn't the receipt. State laws requiring receipts vary, and they're very confusing, but in some places, consumers do have recourse when firms fail to present receipts. I did have the original contract from Thrifty, with the necessary pricing on it. And of course I took a bunch of smartphone photos to prove I had filled the tank, returned the car in good shape...and noting the fact that I had returned the car.
The point is the asymmetrical transaction. Our economy is full of them, because the balance of power between companies and consumers is out of whack.
By the way, a similar, but not quite as unseemly, policy that has spread to other rental car firms goes by the name "Express Fuel Option" or similar. Renters who drive less than 75 miles are automatically charged $15 or so for gas, and can only avoid the charge by presenting a gas receipt.
So I hope you are all good at collecting receipts. And good at arriving nice and early for your flight when you are returning a rental car.
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