The best fuel option when you rent a car

Whenever you rent a car, you're on the hook for the gasoline. You usually have three payment options; which one to choose depends on how much you'll drive, and how pressed for time you'll be at the end of your trip.
Here are the three principal options, along with the pros and cons of each.

 

 

The standard approach: Start and finish full

The standard procedure is for the rental company to give you a car with a full tank of gas and require that you return it with a full tank. Occasionally when you pick up a car it will have only a partial tank (as indicated by the gas gauge); then you're supposed to return the car filled to the same point.

In this scenario, you pay for only the gas you use, and you pay only the going price for that gas. But you have to stop to fill up just before you return the car—sometimes a serious inconvenience if you're late getting to the airport or if you have a hard time finding an open gas station near the rental return office.

 

 

The easy way: Pay car company fuel charges

You can opt to bring back the car without filling the tank. Then the rental company refills it and charges you for the gas.

This approach avoids the hassle of a last-minute refill. But you pay a stiff price for that convenience. A rental company's refill charges are almost always substantially higher than prices at gas stations in the vicinity. You may be looking at rates as high as US$3 or even US$4 a gallon.

You also may have to wait at the rental return station a few extra minutes until the refill charges are totaled up and added to your bill.

 

 

Sometimes cheapest: Pay up front

The newest approach calls for you to buy the gas in the tank from the rental company at the time you start the rental. Sometimes it's a full tank, sometimes a partially full one—say 10 gallons, or maybe half a tank.

Either way, you pay a posted price per gallon, a price the rental companies claim is at or below the going market rate in the area. You fill the car or not, as you need to, while you have it. When you return the car, you receive no credit for whatever gas remains in the tank.

This approach avoids both the last-minute fill-up and the inflated refueling charge. But on a short rental, you may not come close to using all the gas that's already in the tank; and then you've paid for fuel you haven't used.

On a long rental, it's hard to manage your gas so precisely that you finish your trip just before the tank runs dry. And whatever gas remains in the tank is, in effect, your gift to the rental company.

So it makes sense to buy the gas that's in the car only if you know you'll use it all and can estimate your use accurately enough to return the car almost empty. It may also be the right choice if you know ahead of time that stopping for a last-minute fill-up will be difficult.

 

 

Rule of thumb: Stick with the standard

For most renters, the standard option remains the best: Start out with a full tank, return with a full tank. You don't overpay; you don't donate any gas to the rental company. And using this approach, if the tank is near full when you're ready to return the car, you're free to decide that the convenience of avoiding an extra refill stop justifies paying the rental company a few extra dollars to fill the car for you.