Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > Los Angeles
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 12-10-2015, 10:23 AM
 
51 posts, read 85,136 times
Reputation: 52

Advertisements

Now here's a question...

We are back in LA in a few weeks and have a great price on a week's rental from Hertz @ LAX, with a full-size (FCAR) - a Chevy Malibu or similar - reserved.

In the spirit of being on the front foot with car rental agents (based on years of bitter experience) I like to understand in detail the various insurances and other options they'll try to upsell me, so that I'm ready to say "Nope, nope, nope..." or even on occasion "OK, we'll take that"

One the things listed on the Hertz website (and on my reservation) is the Fuel Purchase Option (basically paying for a tank of fuel up front and returning the car empty). I simply want to find out the approximate cost of taking the FPO but that information appears to be a state secret
  • It's not shown anywhere on my reservation on or their website
  • I called CS and they didn't know - said "call the location".
  • I called the location but they never pick up...
  • I even tweeted @Hertz, but some days have gone by without a response...

So, does anyone have recent experience of taking the option ? If so how much did you pay ?

If any one has the LAX station manager's email I'll also happily drop that person a line asking the same question...

Thanks in advance !
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 12-10-2015, 10:40 AM
 
Location: Laguna Niguel, Orange County CA
9,807 posts, read 11,134,777 times
Reputation: 7997
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brit_Tourist View Post
Now here's a question...

We are back in LA in a few weeks and have a great price on a week's rental from Hertz @ LAX, with a full-size (FCAR) - a Chevy Malibu or similar - reserved.

In the spirit of being on the front foot with car rental agents (based on years of bitter experience) I like to understand in detail the various insurances and other options they'll try to upsell me, so that I'm ready to say "Nope, nope, nope..." or even on occasion "OK, we'll take that"

One the things listed on the Hertz website (and on my reservation) is the Fuel Purchase Option (basically paying for a tank of fuel up front and returning the car empty). I simply want to find out the approximate cost of taking the FPO but that information appears to be a state secret
  • It's not shown anywhere on my reservation on or their website
  • I called CS and they didn't know - said "call the location".
  • I called the location but they never pick up...
  • I even tweeted @Hertz, but some days have gone by without a response...

So, does anyone have recent experience of taking the option ? If so how much did you pay ?

If any one has the LAX station manager's email I'll also happily drop that person a line asking the same question...

Thanks in advance !

I think the fueling option is just another way to charge you more. With a GPS you should be able to plan to refuel close to where you drop off the car.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-10-2015, 12:12 PM
 
4,538 posts, read 10,624,896 times
Reputation: 4073
Gas in LA is as cheap as $2.45/gallon and generally is $2.60-2.80/gallon if that helps.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-10-2015, 02:02 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles (Native)
25,303 posts, read 21,443,353 times
Reputation: 12318
I think the refuel option is a way for them to make more money. It's hard to time it where you return the car empty..unless you are constantly just getting gas when you 'need it' which would be a hassle.

As JohnG72 mentioned gas is historically cheap right now even in L.A .

Also I'm not surprised with the lack of customer service , the car rental places are notorious for this.

If you didn't prepay at Hertz you might want to check Fox Car rentals LAX for your dates..I just got a standard size car( Kia Optima) for 3 weeks for $200 (including taxes,fees)

It's amazing how much car rentals can fluctuate depending on the time of year or the particular rental agency.

The downside is that the employees really aren't that friendly..and I had an hour long wait last time!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-10-2015, 04:34 PM
 
242 posts, read 493,157 times
Reputation: 197
Quote:
Originally Posted by jm1982 View Post
It's hard to time it where you return the car empty
Exactly.

Far easier to gas up at the end than it to return it empty.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-11-2015, 04:35 AM
 
4,235 posts, read 14,056,700 times
Reputation: 4253
lots of gas stations in the area.....give yourself a few extra minutes before returning the car and fill up.....save the receipt in case they ask for it (small likelihood)....

no need to do this FPO thing....
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-11-2015, 11:51 AM
 
581 posts, read 920,281 times
Reputation: 506
Be forewarned that gas stations near the rental car returns charge way more than outlying stations.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-11-2015, 11:56 AM
 
Location: Los Angeles (Native)
25,303 posts, read 21,443,353 times
Reputation: 12318
There is an arco near the airport that is pretty cheap .

https://m.gasbuddy.com/touch/?usite=...ationList_page
That's helpful for finding cheap gas in LA
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-11-2015, 02:14 PM
 
1,855 posts, read 2,916,788 times
Reputation: 3997
Did they give you a hertz donut?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > Los Angeles
View detailed profiles of:

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 08:33 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top