National Car Rental
As you can imagine with all the travelling we do that from time to time we require a rental car. For the last number of years I have been loyal to National Car Rental. Typically my car rentals have been in Vancouver, Nanaimo and Edmonton. Recently I rented a car in Vancouver when we flew back (from Las Vegas) for the Vancouver GOLFEXPO. I have earned a number of “free” rental cars over the years, but now I am wondering at what price?

Rental Car Fees
Maybe I never paid attention before but I was looking at the invoice from that Vancouver car rental (with National Car Rental). Holly crap… there are a lot of extra fees (my invoice is below)!

Keep in mind the drop-off was on Sunday at 4pm, but of course they were closed and I was charged until 8:26am the next morning. If you see the invoice times it would appear that I had the car for 3 days, according to their invoice I had it for 2 days and 19 hours but in reality I had it for 2 days and 2.5 hours. Well that sucks for me I guess!

Rental Car Charges

  • Refuelling Charge – OK that one is one me. I was in a hurry and didn’t have time to gas the car up. $22.41
  • Province Vehicle Rental Tax – what the hell is that? $4.50
  • Premium Location Charge – I picked the car up at the airport?? $40.83
  • Provincal Sales Tax – fair enough, we all have to pay that. $18.95
  • Vlf Rec – I honestly have no idea what this is?? $2.70
  • Goods and Services Tax – again, fair enough, we all have to pay this. $14.88
  • Customer Facility Charge – again, what the hell is that? $15.00

Total extras without tax = $85.44 (25.8% of the total rental cost)
Total extras with tax = $119.27 (36% of the total rental cost)

Premium Location Charge??
This one is the most puzzling to me… 17.21% is the listed fee. However if you calculate it on my rental cost only it comes to $36.51. If you calculate it at the same percentage on my rental fee PLUS the refuelling charge it comes to $40.36 (notice that both of these are less than what I was charged). One step further, if you calculate it on all EXTRA fees (not including PST or GST) it comes to $51.21. So what the hell? None of these match what I was charged?? 

I am brand loyal, sometimes to a fault, but this blog will serve as the basis for my email to National Car Rental. I will post an update when I receive a reply. In the meantime I’ll be looking for a new Rental Car Company to take my business to!

 

We, Jeff and Tara Ciecko of CK Golf write two blogs, one is our 19th Hole Blog where we share personal experiences and the other an Industry Blog where we comment on general business and internet marketing best practices, sales strategies and give golf industry related opinions. We have owned CK Golf  for 9+ years and provide business services to the golf and other industries. As of August 2016 our life and our business is ‘location independent’. Our 19th Hole Blog is about the places we visit and the things we do. If you have any questions or comments, or happen to be in the same location as us please reach out and contact us anytime.

Related Posts