Budget/Avis Car Rental Fuel Scam
Just want to share the scam I encountered today when returning my budget rental car.
When I rented the car and signed the agreement, I signed that the fuel was at 8/8 when I rented it out and if I returned it below the 8/8 I would pay $5.39 a liter to refuel it. Standard practice for most rentals.
When I returned it they decided to pull the when you rented it the fuel was at 50 gallons (yes gallons) and I returned it at 48.8 gallons. Therefore I would need to pay a charge for the fuel. This was despite the fact that I produced a receipt showing I filled up the car less than 1 kilometer from the airport less than 5 minutes before returning the vehicle. The fuel gauge on the car read full. But they still said oh well and charged my card.
This seems to be common practice and is not legal under NZ consumer law. If you get one of these charges I would urge you to dispute it and not tolerate it.