Rental car gas prices hit more than $9 a gallon

http://travel.usatoday.com/news/story/2011/05/Rental-car-gas-prices-hit-more-than-9-a-gallon/46778642/1

Talk about 'range anxiety' -- wonder what they'll do for the future EV's that they rent --- with our limited experience with the LEAF who would want to take a chance returning the rented LEAF with close to no charge left (assuming one opted for the 'prepaid' option mentioned for ICE cars) -- also wonder what the equivalent fee to the $9/gal for electricity would be? This is good to know as I haven't had to rent a car in a few years and will do so out east in about six weeks --- I still remember seeing something like a $2/gal charge on top of local prices if you neglected to return the car full; this tops that big time.

In the comments section of that article, "Orlandojon" says:

The reason rental companies charge that high fill up rate is so customers will gas up the vehicles prior to return. It's a penalty designed to save them the trouble have having to hire people to stand their and pump gas in hundreds of vehicles a day, not to mention having to have tanks, pumps and such to get the job done.

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That hits the nail on the head. You only pay that high price if you fail to fill up the car's tank before returning it. The rental company is not in the business of selling gas. They don't want to sell gas. What do you do if you have something you don't want to sell, but people want to buy from you? You set the price high.

Only Hertz is over $9. The rest are lower.