THRIFTY CAR RENTAL RESPONDS…

Thank you for your email and the opportunity to investigate Mr Gee’s rental on behalf of Thrifty. The tolls on Mr Gee’s route are cashless, meaning that the toll authority does not provide a way for drivers to pay with cash. The toll authority takes a picture of the licence plate while the vehicle is being driven on the toll road and sends the toll cost to the owner of the vehicle (in this case Thrifty). It may take a month or more for the toll authority to send the toll cost to the vehicle’s owner.

The rental agent who processed Mr Gee’s rental is a tenured employee who knows the toll process and the Thrifty toll pass package very well. After the agent reviewed this rental with Mr Gee, she did not think it was in his best interest to add the Thrifty toll pass package to his rental due to the small amount of tolls on his route, the cost per day for the toll pass and the length of the rental. If the Thrifty toll pass package is not used then the Thrifty administration fee of US$15 per toll up to a maximum of US$90 per rental applies. Had he used the Thrifty toll pass package his charges would have been US$138.47 plus tax instead of US$96.77.

Our customer service agents are trained to advise customers of their toll payment cost options and these are also highlighted in the rental agreement that Mr Gee signed. We apologise that according to Mr Gee’s letter he was not aware of the administrative fees for the tolls. As a goodwill gesture, we have issued a full refund of the toll administrative fee of US$90.

Once the toll costs are received, Thrifty Processing Services links each cost incurred to the correct renter of the rental vehicle, and then mails a notice letter to the renter at the home address provided on the rental contract (hence the administrative fee). This letter advises the renter of the tolls incurred and the amount that will be charged on the credit card that the renter provided for the rental incidentals. The letter that was sent to Mr Gee’s home address was mailed from Thrifty Processing Services in Arizona to Australia, so that may have been the reason why he did not receive it prior to his credit card being billed.