Please check out this update to the story.
> Read More: This Is Why People Hate Rental Car Companies…
A story from consumer advocate Christopher Elliott caught my eye detailing how a man was purportedly charged $932 for returning his car to Terminal 1 instead of Terminal 2 at Minneapolis St. Paul Airport (MSP). But I think there is something else going on here.
One-Way Car Fee, Not Wrong Terminal, Explains $932 Fee From Thrifty Car Rental
A consumer contacted Elliott, who writes the nationally-syndicated Travel Troubleshooter column, complaining about a $932 charge from Thrifty Car Rental. He claimed he was charged the $932 fee for dropping off his car in the wrong terminal at Minneapolis, which are 3.8 miles apart.
“A $932 charge for such a short distance and honest mistake is too harsh and abusive.”
Elliott agreed and helped the man get a refund.
One small problem: it isn’t clear to me he was due a refund.
First, Thrifty doesn’t care if you return the car to Terminal 1 or 2 at MSP. Its website and contract do not distinguish between the two drop-off points. Second, the column also notes the man picked up the car in Santa Ana, CA and returned it in Minneapolis.
That’s called a one-way rental and always carries a hefty drop-off fee. Elliott just didn’t get it, buying the consumer’s mistaken belief that the fee came from returning to the car to the wrong terminal.
“It’s true, car rental companies routinely charge extra fees when you drop a vehicle off at the wrong location. But almost $1,000 for four miles seems excessive. That works out to $245 per mile. Come on!”
But a little detective work would have quickly solved the problem.
I went to Thrifty’s website and searched for a one-way car rental from John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana (SNA) to Minneapolis Airport (again, there was no difference between Terminal 1 or 2, the only option was MSP Airport).
Note the deceptively-low bolded price for a one-week rental and the total taxes and fees below. What could cause the price to go up so much?
Aaha! A one-way drop off fee…at a price of $932.
Mystery solved. Even to the very dollar…
You see, the problem was not that the man was charged for $932 for dropping off his car at the wrong terminal. Instead, he was charged $932 for picking up his car in California and dropping it off in Minnesota. That is standard amongst rental car companies in the USA. Whether he was informed of this fee in advance is a totally different question.
Why so high? Thrifty charges 49 cents per mile between origin and destination for its one-way fee and there’s quite a distance between the two airports:
CONCLUSION
Do you ever wonder why so few people trust the media? Perhaps it is because even mainstream travel writers often appear not to due their due diligence. The first takeaway is that it is very pricey to rent cars on a one-way basis. The second is that a man was not charged $932 for returning his car to the wrong terminal at MSP. There’s something else going on here.
Say what you want about Chris Elliott, but you have to applaud the consumer for his hustle. It certainly worked for him.
Agreed.
May be fake news. But rental car companies are pure trash. They are the ones that have been so bad to the customers. So when someone reads this. They think “I could see a rental car company doing that”.
I agree they are pure trash. But when we don’t call them out for their actual transgressions, we make them look better.
Well, if what you wrote is what really happened he should apologize quickly to avoid being sued by Thrifty. I never read his blog but a quick search on this news he managed to get it a lot of attention including some regional newspapers and of course the main newspaper in Minneapolis.
Can we stop using the term “Fake News” and just call these misinformed stories what they are: LIES.
If I never see the phrase “fake news” again, it won’t be soon enough. Just say inaccurate, misleading, click-bait, etc.
The consumer in this scenario was an idiot. Any number of aggregator websites would have provided a comparison of one-way options, and in the case of Enterprise in particular, they don’t even have to be airport based.
All that being said, this is where Silvercar excels. You know the price up front, no question, no doubt. Wish they’d have made a stronger go, or committed to another shot as travel rebounds. (They wouldn’t have been good for this one-way trip scenario, but the clear price/no hidden fee/taxes/surcharges is extremely refreshing!)
I get that using the term “fake news” is an attempt to drive page views, but by using it, you’re accusing Elliot of deliberately writing something he knows to be wrong. There’s a difference between making a mistake and an intentional lie. Ironically, you’re just as guilty as “the media” by accusing him of doing so
Sorry, but your narrow definition of “fake news” is not one that I share. Was this passed off as news? Yes. Was it fake, as in wrong or false? Yes. It should never have been a story in the first place. I reject your twisting of the term and find the phrase highly appropriate here considering how many media outlets across the country carry his syndicated column.
Hello Matt. I was curious about the story so I read the article you referred to as well as went to his website which doesn’t have further information the story (elliott.org).
I did some googling and found this:
https://quicktelecast.com/wrong-thrifty-rental-car-drop-off-cost-932/
Dated November 30th:
“After you contacted the Thrifty executives, a representative called you and promised a full refund of the $932 fee. This time, you got it.”
So here I am wondering in that yes, you managed to get a quote for $932 for one-way fee which is strikingly similar to the “different terminal” fee the OP is griping about, but I don’t see in the articles the total amount he was expected to pay. Was it possible this was added ONTO the other one-way fees? It’s interesting that Elliott claims that the matter was referred to a state attorney who looked at the case AND apparently, Thrifty issued a refund without a disclaimer “well, that’s what happens when you rent a one-way car to halfway across the country”. So multiple eyes have been on this.
Elliott has made mistakes in the past, as I recall, and posted about them on his blog. But if attorney’s reviewed it and didn’t call it out, well, that doesn’t surprise me. Lawyers are human too, yes? 🙂 (that’s a gentle joke)
I’m open minded that you may be correct, but I also think you may have “jumped to conclusions”. Before calling him out as a liar or fake news, shouldn’t you reach out and ask him?
I would ask him myself but I don’t want to play telephone tag “I read on Matt’s blog that he said X is it true?”
I appreciate your comment, but drop-off fees post as separate line-items on Thrifty bills and there is no distinction between terminals at MSP. If he was charged $932 twice (highly doubtful) then not including that in the story was a material omission.
The story seems very simple to me – confusion over that line item. However, the whole Terminal 1 vs. Terminal 2 distinction strikes me as a potentially pernicious move by the consumer to score a refund he knew he was not entitled to. I don’t make that charge, but it certainly runs though my mind as a possibility.
Do you really think this story passes the smell test – even crooked rental car companies are not even going to attempt to pass off $932 charges for returning a car to the wrong terminal at the same airport.
All I’m saying is that it would be neat to confirm with Elliott what actually happened because the article doesn’t go into full detail as to the breakdown of fees/costs leaving us to play blackbox and guess. There’s a claim that both a lawyer and Thrifty have determined a refund was proper.
Let’s put it this way: If I was sitting on a jury (I’ve sat on 3) and you were asking me to convict Elliott as a dupe based solely upon your (admittedly clever) hypothesis and price breakdown, I’d probably vote to acquit him in less time than it takes to finish the doughnuts. (Yes, Fairfax County provides doughnuts which I think was rather nice.)
I’ve tried. He does not respond to me.
I’ve had a lot of experience with the person in question. I even served as a volunteer proofreader for his initial book years ago and worked closely with his moderators, so I’ve had quite a bit of contact and experience with him. He’s very mercurial and has tremendously thin skin. The slightest suggestion or correction is seen as a slight, and persisting – even when we are talking about a very clear, objective fact – earns disdain, ghosting, and eventually banishment from the site. He did that to me and at least one other person. And this is when you are volunteering many hours of your time in order to help him. He holds particular contempt for travel writers and bloggers (and anyone associated with BoardingArea – past, present, or future – earns particular spite), so your questions are unlikely to go anywhere and you’ve likely already been blocked.
Thanks for weighing in (and I noticed as much from the radio silence). I called Elliott out over a decade ago and believe the man gets so much wrong when it comes to travel. But while we may strongly disagree on the philopshy and wisdom of investing time and resources in frequent flyer programs, this is an objective error that ran in papers across the nation and really should be corrected.
That’s the non-Trump definition of “fake news.” Apparently your definition is anything that might be wrong.. Hell, his article isn’t even news – its a column
@Matthew… so if a writer makes a mistake without the intention to deceive or mislead it would still be considered Fake News in your eyes?
That happens occasionally on news articles where something printed was inaccurate. “It was 3 people, not 4” the paper prints a correction. Still fake news?
Just curious.
In your example, would three people versus four be material to the very foundation of the story?
I don’t think getting a city or airline or name wrong makes a story “fake news.” I do think fundamentally getting the story wrong, whether deliberate or accidental, makes it fake news. Again, the very foundation of this story is flawed. I’m not so interested in the mens rea as I am over the fact that this piece was passed off as news in leading news outlets across the USA, all based on an error.
It seems MaKr focuses on the narrow definition of fake news made prominent by the Russian bots trying to influence U.S. presidential elections, but it is a much wider term.
I didn’t need to read any more as soon as I saw “Chris Elliott”. 😉
Good detective work! Sad he didn’t do similar research before writing his column.
Half the people that Elliot “helps” are idiots that really don’t deserve help because they didn’t read the contract they signed. Some are legit rip-off’s, but many created their own issues.
In Europe, we simple don’t get such distances within a country (or across most of Europe, for that matter!). I expect that Thrifty and others don’t expect anybody to pay fees like this rather it acts as a deterrent to long distance one way car hire?
“Do you ever wonder why so few people trust the media?”
Not so much. It’s pretty obvious the reason is that people are disinclined to believe anything that goes against their pre-conceived (often politically-based) views. Though, it probably doesn’t help that we now have people screaming “fake news” every time [they think] a media outlet has made an error.
Matthew
Sunday 12/5 I fly from SNA to MSP for five days and need an intermediate size car to rent. Via Costco I made a res about 1 month ago. I can not believe how much the car rental rates are at MSP. Maybe you have a discount code or “connection” at MSP that can get me a decent rate. The taxes and fees for car rentals in Minnesota airports are disgusting. I need your Help- north of 65 here! (Incidentally I am renting and returning to Terminal 1-Lindbergh and flying DL.
“Fake news” is simply political jargon. I don’t think many heard the phrase pre-Trump. Now it is synonymous with him, thus all the pushback. I personally don’t give a crap how you categorize his shoddy reporting. But I expect it was calculated on your part. Anything with political overtones gets a lot of clicks. You know what you’re doing.
I had an issue with renting a car Denver to Aspen Enterprise ( after waiting over 2 hours in line) decided it was easier to take a plane to Denver so returned the car to Aspen. Got the bill=$432. I called the airport to verify we left the car (very early)and there would not be an extra fee. Told no Then they assessed me another $900 -I called wrote, called amex nothing..