Car Rental: Beware of Early Returns Fine Print

We are tooling around Kaua'i in an Alamo rental car. I sure hope that we have no unanticipated reason to return it early. In the most recent Tripso travel report, consumer columnist Christopher Elliott shared the plight of a couple who had to return their car three days early due to a death in the family and were charged a whopping $513, which they discovered when receiving their credit card statement. They had booked their car on Alamo's website, and understandably were shocked at the differential.

"The early-return policy on Alamo's Web site says something about a fee of $15 per day for early returns, but our weekly rate was raised from $152 to $513. My husband and I were not made aware of the higher charge when we returned the car. We did not authorize it or sign a receipt agreeing to pay that amount. Alamo claims that we broke our contract when we returned the car early, but I feel this is a classic case of bait and switch," the aggrieved traveler from Michigan wrote to Elliott.

Elliott replied along that vein that I would have if I were an ombudsman, "Raising your weekly rate by $361 because you returned your car three days early makes no sense. If anything, Alamo should be offering you a refund for bringing one of its vehicles back early, thereby allowing the company to rent the car to someone else."

He investigated and discovered that a couple of years ago, Alamo "made a small but significant change to its return policy." In addition to the a $15-per-day early-return fee, which most travelers would probably find acceptable, Alamo now recalculates the rental rate and charges the usurious rate that they impose on walk-up customers who rent without prior reservation. "In other words," Elliott explained to the travelers, "you would owe Alamo the penalty plus the rate difference, which in your case is an extra $361."

He likened the policy to airlines whose discounted, advance-purchase fares carry a hefty rebooking fee and the likelihood of a substantially higher fare for changed tickets. He noted that, "You could have prevented this excessive surcharge by carefully reading the terms of your rental contract and asking about the early-return fee when you made plans to go home early. If you had asked, you might have been able to explain your situation to a manager, who would almost certainly have adjusted your rate in a more compassionate way."

When contacted by Elliott, who writes a nationally syndicate columnist and also is the ombudsman for National Geogrphic Traveler magazine, Alamo agreed to honor the original weekly rate and issued a refund. The moral of the story. Yes, read all that 4-point type if you can (but who ever does?). Yes, explain any such unexpected situation to the highest-ranking manager at any airport or car rental location and hope that they will accommodate your needs on the spot. Also, if you have travel insurance, check whether it will cover a situation like this and let the insurance company and the car rental firm duke it out. If all else fails, turn to an influential ombudsman who can cut through the red tape.

The aggrieved and astonished traveler did not indicate where this stealth overcharge took place, but I sure hope it wasn't on this Hawaiian island, where if anything, Alamo is short of some categories of cars.