Gasoline rip off
 

I just spent a week in Florida arriving in Orlando Airport. I've made this trip many times picking up my rental car at a satilite location for the ease of shuttle to the airport. I have been all around Florida for the previous week and found that gasoline prices were about $ 2.20 or so. My usual routine is to refuse the auto fill-up the car rental places offer and just stop at a close by gasoline station. Weeeell, yesterday I started pumping gas into my rental car and noticed that the "regular gas" price was $ 3.59 per gallon. I questioned the person at the counter and she stated that she knew that it was well out of line but there was nothing she could do about it. I mentioned to the gentleman that accepted the return rental and he also said that they were aware of it and the gasoline was just $ 2.25 a couple of blocks down the road. Doesn't this constitute price gouging? Shouldn't the state of Florida be aware of it. Or does this happen all of the time? BS

This is one of those "Buyer Beware" things. The price was posted. It was your place to notice it.

I think that price gouging is when a place of business takes advantage of circumstances that prevent the customer from going elsewhere. Such as happens during hurricanes, etc. That wasn't the case here. It's unlikely that the State would be able to control what the owner chooses to make as profit on a sale.

You don't say where you gassed up, Bob, but three weeks ago my group rented from Budget, and if we brought the car back empty, we were told up front the price would be $6 per gallon (this was Philadelphia). Local prices were about $1.99.

So yes they gouge, that's why whenever you rent a car, first thing you should do is locate a nearby gas station for fillup upon return.

Florida takes gas price gouging very seriously. It may be worth reporting to Agriculture & Consumer Services:

http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/s...3/daily32.html

Car rental agencies have always charged excessively for gas. That it why most renters return vehicles "full." This practice is not a rip-off because renters are warned of the practice--no fraud is envolved.

There is a long thread about this gas station on TripAdvisor. I haven't read it in a day or two, but if you have time, go read it and maybe someone there has contacted someone who can help.

Happytrailstoyou--This is not at a car rental company, this is at a gas station nearby.

Sometimes businesses price things at super high levels because they don't want to do that service.

Car rental agencies are not in the gas business. If you return the car with an empty tank, someone at the agency has to go get the gas tank refilled before renting it out again. It takes time out of their schedule and keeps the car out of service for an additional period time (ok, maybe 30 minutes max).

Price gas at $6/gallon and most people won't use the service. Makes it easier for them to return the car into service.

I don't think it is illegal because you are free to get back in your car and drive to another gas station.

Didn't you check the price before you started pumping? I always do.

The remark about hurricanes and disasters being price gouging was correct, I think that's the general idea.

This is a dumb complaint IMO, you bought something and didn't bother to check the price before, so then you complain that you think that place charges too much and there should be a law against retail establishments charging certain prices so that dopes who don't bother to check prices can be protected. Grow up.

Though the difference isn't usually that large, gas stations near rental returns are almost always higher than those a few miles away. You are paying for the convenience and still beating the price the rental firm would charge.

I make a point of getting gas before approaching the airport.

Keith

2 exits east on the Beeline is a Citgo or 7 Eleven that's much cheaper. Did you go to the Chevron on 436? It is a ripoff but that's capitalism. I learned the hard way, too.

The day before I return a car, I go to
www.GasPriceWatch.Com
www.GasBuddy.Com
to find out where to get buy price gas near to where I'm going to return the car.

The station that charged you a high price for gas will continue to do so as long as people like you continue to fill up at their inflated price. It's only price gouging against people too lazy to do a little checking.

When I'm looking for gas, I don't stop at a filling station unless it has prices advertised on a big sign. In my experience, when prices aren't so advertised they are excessive.

I guess I don't get the complaint.

"I started pumping gas into my rental car and noticed that the "regular gas" price was $ 3.59 per gallon. I questioned the person at the counter"

I think you're missing one big phrase in the middle there, something like "I noticed the price, and I made a decision to accept that price and fill up anyway."

Welcome to capitalism 101.

Gasoline price was available for you to see before you pumped gas, yet you went ahead anyway. How is that any different than buying a pair of jeans at a boutique store for $100 ea, when you can buy jeans at kmart for <$20.

Or rather getting the exact same can of soup at a 7-11 for 2x the price you paid at Sam's club because it's more convenient.

The gas station chooses to sell gas at $3.59 per gallon. You chose to purchase gas there.

Gasoline retailing is all about deciding what volume at a what price. Some stations would rather sell 1000 gal at 5c/gal profit compared to 500gal at 2c/gal profit. This station obviously feels it's better to sell 10 gal at $1.60/gal profit. The numbers are made up, of course, but you get the picture.

J62, you took the words out of my mouth. Thanks for being a straight shooter (and straight thinker).

I AGREE COMPLETELY. I WANT TO JOIN THE CLASS ACTION SUIT! BUT, I'd like to add on Ruth's Chris Steak House.

I COULD NOT believe it. The prices they charged! The steak was many times more than the full buffet at Golden Corral down the street! The side of asparagus cost more than a whole bunch of asparagus at the grocery store!

Talk about a rip off! Ruth's Chris! "Doesn't this constitute price gouging?"

Some restaurants charge $3 or more for a coke. You can buy one in a grocery for a fraction of that. Or you can buy a gallon of milk at a regular super market for a fraction of what they charge at a 7-11. Are those considered "ripoffs" too?

Pumping gas without looking at the price is just plain DUMB! And looking at the price and continuing to pump and then complaining about it later is even DUMBER. Sorry, but there is simply no other way to put this!

Before jumping on BobSwanson, notice that he didn't rant. His post was more of an inquiry if this was unfair, "Or does this happen all of the time?"

Keith

Huh? Calling this situation a "rip off" in his title isn't a rant?

Does what happen all the time? People paying for things without checking the cost? Sure. It happens a lot.

Did we miss the part where Bob clearly stated that he had already noticed that the going price was $ 2.20 or so, but yet he continued to fill his tank at $ 3.59 a gallon?

Should we also call it a rip off because a hotel charges $129 some nights and $259 on others -- for the same room? Apparently this place is able to sell gas at that price because of its super convenient location or for some other reason. After all, I doubt that Bob is the only one who has bought gas there.

I looked up price gouging, and apparently there has to be a "state of emergency" for the charge to apply. Since there was none, Bob was RIPPED OFF.

I could see myself doing the same thing, though, because one has limited time when returning a rental car and trying to make a flight. How much is it worth to get back in the car and drive around a strange town looking for a cheaper station (and usually airports are in a not-so-safe-feeling area)? It would make me nervous, I can just hear my DH saying, "get on with it, we're gonna be late for our flight".

It's still a RIPOFF, even if it's not actual gouging.

To rip-off is to swindle using deception, which does not apply in this case. BS said that when he started pumping he noticed the price was $3.59 per gallon.

This station is near OIA/MCO. He sucks the $$ out of the tourist returning rental cars. It has made the local news several times for the outlandish price that is charged. Only thing I wonder are you the person in the photo that they ran in the Orlando paper? At $3.59 the station owner still proclaims to be cheaper than if you let the rental company fill the tank.

Bob, you do know don't you that ggasoline prices at stations next to intersate highways are often significantly higher than at stations a few miles off the road?

I'm sure the State of Florida knows all about that station considering the fact that per gallon pumped they get more state tax revenue from it than the stations nearby.

So if I move out to the sidewalk and put up a table and a sign saying "lemonade --$35 per glass" that means I'm ripping off the silly fools who stop and buy it?

Here in Belgium we pay 5,7 $ per gallon(US).Arent you guys lucky!!!!!!!Paul

From the American Heritage dictionary:

"A product or service that is overpriced or of poor quality."

From Wikipedia:

"A ripoff (or rip-off) is a bad deal. Usually it refers to an incident in which a person pays too much for something. A ripoff is distinguished from a scam in that a scam involves wrongdoing such as fraud; a ripoff, on the other hand, is in the eye of the beholder."

From Cambridge dictionary:

"to cheat (someone) by charging them too much money
We got ripped off buying our new car."


Yes, it's still a RIPOFF! Whether lemonade at $35 or gas at 50% more than the place down the street. I still feel bad for this guy, and it could be me or you, given the circumstances. Returning a rental car before a flight is different than driving your neighborhood looking to fill up your tank, or buy a cold drink.

Y'all, I've done this before. Probably at the very same gas station...and YEARS ago. There has always been a very high priced gas station right off the Beeline before the airport.

ALL of us know to get gas before you get to the last exit before the airport. ALL of us know that gas will be cheaper a mile away. MANY of us run out of time, our meeting runs late or we just forget and buy expensive gas at the last gas station before the airport. Orlando. LAX. East Bumblewad. What's the big deal?

He noticed the price as he started pumping gas. He could have stopped pumping and gone elsewhere. He didn't. Time is money. Location, location, location. All the cliches.

Getoverit!

Yes, the place is a rip off. But not a scam. Would a savy traveler buy gas there...no.

Is a $3 coke in a restaurant a rip off? Probably not. Why not? Don't ask me.

Be a savy traveler. Realize gas right near the airport will be expensive.

Bob hasn't come back to this post (and who can blame him?), but I think the responses show that the tone of the original post would have made more sense if it had been in along the lines of "Be careful to check the prices before you fill up near an airport". After all, that was the real problem, rather than suggesting alerting the state of Florida that some stations charge more than others. Florida government departments aren't necessarily very bright, but they at least do know that!

The only time I allowed myself to be ripped off by gas for a rental car was when I drove a rental car from Boca Raton to Miami airport for a 6:00 AM flight. The rental return area at MIA is so creepy that I would have paid any amount not to have to stand by my car and refuel at 4:30 AM when the bar/strip club across the street was letting out.

Joan, I think the $6.00 a gallon price that Budget refefred to was if you did not take the auto fill up option.

I returned a car to Philadelphia Budget today and had the return empty / auto fill up option, and its $2.27 a gallon. Which is cheaper than the area gas station prices.

I'm curious why you chose that option Queenie. You prepaid Budget for a full tank of gas at $2.27 per gallon. Let's assume the tank holds 20 gal - you prepaid them $45.40. There is no way to return a car with an absolutely empty tank. If you left 5 gal in the tank, you paid $45 for 15 gal, or $3.00/gal.

Out of curiousity, I checked one time when I rented the same kind of car I rent at home. At the counter they told me the capacity was 22gal, and the most I've ever been able to put into my own, same vehicle was 18gal - even when the needle was well below E, so even if I drove the car to that point I'd be giving them 4 gal free.

The rental car companies know this is a sure bet money making scheme - it will never take as much gas for them to fill it up to the F mark as you've already paid them for.

I paid $36.92 for the tank of gas according to the contract.

It may not have been the most economnical, but I had a 7 am flight and since it was the Army / Navy game in Philly yesterday the closest room I could get to the airport was a 45 minute drive away. I was not interested in trying to buy gas in the dark at 5:30 in the morning.

Whether I take this option depends on the time of my flight, and the weather. And I always take this option if I am renting a car for work. its just so much easier.

BTW, I drove 444 miles on that tank of gas, so I am satisfied.

"There is no way to return a car with an absolutely empty tank."

Don't bet on that. I still laugh at our rental in Dublin, Ireland, where you are supposed to return the car empty. We were running low on gas and planned to stop to buy just a bit so we wouldn't run out on the way to return it, but then we weren't finding any stations. Suddenly we were at the return place, and the car literally stopped as we drove in the drive. We coasted to the door, and I put it in park.

I'm really surprized at the comments but I should have made this just a public service announcement. Evidently a few consumers have noticed it too. I evidently offended some by titling it "Rip Off". I believe Florida is looking into it. I know that buyers should be aware but I was running a little late. The folks at the car rental agency agreed that the price was way high. I had been using this same convenience/gasoline station for years and had not noticed the pricing being out of line on previous trips. Maybe with some training and following the advice of some of you helpful individuals on this site I too can become a sensible seasoned traveler. Anyway, hopefully other travelers will be aware of this particular convenience/gasoline station across the highway from Thrifty and Hertz rental car agencies at the Orlando airport. BS