6 Lurking Foreign Car-Rental Fees You Might Not Know About

1.) Premium Station Fee- often applies to places you would naturally pick up a rental car: major airports/ train stations.

Cost: Varies- percentage of the rental fee (example: 20% of the cost in Germany) or a flat rate (example: about $57 in Spain).

2.) Crossing a Country Border- (example: picking a car up in Rome and dropping it in Paris)

Cost: Varies- can be as low as $70 and as high as $4,000 depending on how far you travel between pick-up and drop-off locations.

3.) Road Tax/ Vehicle Licensing Fee (VLF)- a permit/ license for driving in Europe

Cost: Unavoidable, but not bank-breaking, about $5/ day.

4.) Late Return- bringing the car back more than 29 minutes past your scheduled return time

Cost: Returning 30 minutes late will result in a charge for an additional full day!

5.) Winter Tires- essential for icy European roads- make sure to request them in advance even though you'll have to pay extra for them (better to spend a few extra bucks than spiral out of control on the Autobahn)

Cost: Varies- about $4-$20 dollars a day (maxes out at $170 for the trip).

6.) Non-Full Gas Tank- not making sure the gas tank is full before dropping off your vehicle

Cost: Usually a fee ($12 for Avis in France) in addition to the outrageous (and then further inflated by the car-rental company) per-liter of gas cost in Europe.

This list is from Budget Travel. Here is the original link: http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/05/travel/foreign-car-rental-fees/index.html?hpt=tr_c2

Avis Budget Pulls Offer to Acquire Dollar Thrifty

Rental car companies have been kicking up consolidation efforts in recent years. The long drawn-out saga of who will acquire Dollar Thrifty, Hertz or Avis Budget (is it just me, or are these rental car companies starting to sound like they are law firms?) is possibly near a conclusion. Avis Budget has bowed out of its bid for Dollar Thrifty, leaving only Hertz with an offer on the table (currently valued at roughly $2 billion).

For more on this: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Avis-Budget-drops-bid-for-apf-768555982.html?x=0