10 Things Rental Car Companies Won't Say

Rental-car customers are paying more, due to an unprecedented slew of taxes and fees. But that extra money doesn’t go to the rental car companies; it goes into city and state coffers, where it’s used to fund municipal projects. For example, in 2005 car rentals in Arlington, Tex., were hit with a 5 percent tax to help pay for the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. Car rentals get tapped as fund-raisers because local politicians won’t feel the repercussions at the voting booth. “They’re taxing people who are flying in from someplace else,” says a Hertz spokesperson. “These people can’t and don’t vote locally, so there’s no harm for them.”

But there’s a way for consumers to dodge some of these fees: Pick up your car in town, not at the airport. In 2005 Travelocity found that taxes and fees were 45 percent lower for off-airport rentals. An added bonus, according to Neil Abrams, president of Abrams Consulting, is that you’ll save on rates, too: On average, they’re $10 cheaper per day in town.