Paying for fuel

[ton80]

Hello,
We have a rental through Alamo and would like to prepay the fuel. Do we still have to go to the counter or can we skip the line and go across the street to the garage ?

 

[bumbershoot]

Cant you choose that option online?

But remember that prepaying like that means they are charging you for an entire tank of gas at their higher rates. So unless you want to feel ripped off you'll want to return it as empty as possible.

I would rather add an extra 20 minutes to fill up at a good gas station OR fill up the day before and pay maybe 1 gallon (at their higher than prepaying, but it's just 1 gallon, rates) if they find it's not full.

 

[goofy4tink]

I use the gas prepay all the time. Dh has told me that as long as the gas price is pretty much the same as if I went to the station myself, fine. I go right to the garage, but I have fastbreak...I think that's what it's called! I never stop at the counter anymore.

 

[Fangorn]

You don't have to stop at the counter if you use their on - line check in. The fuel option is available as an add on to the reservation.
Generally, the price the rental car companies charge for a tank of prepaid gas is about the same or a bit lower than the market price in the area. There is a convenience factor here which is a personal thing, but if you're only using the car to drive you Disney and back, and from your hotel to the parks for a week or less, you'll be very hard pressed to use half a tank, let alone a full one. But in this case, literally, YMMV.

Steve

 

[Marshel]

Even if you use the better part of the tank, you are still paying a premium as the pre-pay fuel charge is subject to the same very high airport tax rates (16.5%) as the rental fee itself.

 

[nacho113]

Hello,
We have a rental through Alamo and would like to prepay the fuel. Do we still have to go to the counter or can we skip the line and go across the street to the garage ?

First let me say that I never use the pre-paid fuel option, nor do I recommend it to anyone. It is a "money grab" by the rental companies, usually hard sold as a "convenience".

That being said, if you wish to choose this option, it can be selected when making the reservation on page 3 (after you select a vehicle) on the page that says "Choose Extras"

Fuel Service Option
Prepay for a full tank of gas at the rental location. The price is based on an estimate of current prices and the average tank size for the car class reserved. This charge may change at time of rental due to current fuel prices. Car should be returned empty as no refund is given for unused fuel.

Generally speaking, the pre-paid gas option is a money grab by the rental companies.
They are going to charge you for a complete fill (from empty) at a reasonable price, but unless you return the vehicle literally running on fumes, you are not saving any money by using this option, just the "convenience" of not having to make a 5 minute stop at a gas station on the way back to the airport.

If you are just going to putter around WDW on your vacation, you will be hard pressed to use more than a half tank of fuel and the pre-pay option is going to cost you for a full tank.
You need to consider the cost of this "convenience" (of pre-paying fuel) is worth the extra dollars that you will pay for this "service"...
...compared to a 5 minute gas stop on the way back to the airport

For example: on our trip in January, the price of fuel in the Orlando area was $2.25/gallon and Alamo was offering $2.10/gallon for the 16 gallons needed to fill our Chev Impala (pre-pay would have cost $33.60 up front). We opted out of this and used the car for a week in the Orlando and Daytona Beach areas, driving a little under 300 miles. The car had just under a 1/2 tank when we stopped to fill it on the way to the airport, taking almost 9 gallons to fill at a cost of just over $20.
Personally, I'd rather have that $14 in my pocket rather than in the rental company's profit line...JMHO

 

[goofy4tink]

I'm just the opposite....I hate having to stop for gas, not to mention I hate pumping gas and avoid it all costs!!! It's all about the convenience for me. Sure, I'm paying a bit more. But I like being able to just hop in the car and return it, with no other stops. I usually use almost the whole tank of gas, so it's costing me about $5-7 more to do the prepay option.

 

[NotUrsula]

I personally don't use that option unless there is a chance that I'll be driving enough to use up an entire tank, which on most trips to Orlando I am not (normally the price for the prepaid fuel option is very close to street price; the gotcha comes in paying for an entire tank at that price, even if you return the car nearly full. Where they really get you is when you don't prepay it and do not manage to top off the tank before you return it; THAT mistake can easily cost you over $8/gallon.)

Be assured that if you want the pre-pay option and it isn't already on your reservation, you can add it to your rental at the exit gate. They will be more than happy to take more money from you.

PS: FWIW, it never occurred to me to hate pumping gas; it's just part of driving to me. Where I grew up, self-serve pumps were instituted in the mid-1970's; and I haven't actually seen a full-service (manned) gas pump in at least 20 years. (Though I CAN remember being little and wondering who the heck Ethyl was when the pump jockey was clearly a man. I was much older, and the pump jockeys long gone, before I realized that "Fill it up, please. Ethyl." had meant that Dad was asking for premium-grade fuel.)

 

[Marshel]

For example: on our trip in January, the price of fuel in the Orlando area was $2.25/gallon and Alamo was offering $2.10/gallon for the 16 gallons needed to fill our Chev Impala (pre-pay would have cost $33.60 up front).

$39.14 after airport taxes.

 

[Kaytie]

$39.14 after airport taxes.

Source or other supporting data? Why would there be an airport surcharge on prepaid gasoline but not any of the other mandatory and optional fees?

 

[Marshel]

Source or other supporting data? Why would there be an airport surcharge on prepaid gasoline but not any of the other mandatory and optional fees?

I used to get the fuel option as I used to do a trip to BG and drive around more than most people (prefer eating offsite) , and someone pointed it out to me. Went out and acted like I was reserving a car on National's site, and they're still doing it, don't know the whys. It's 6.5 % FL sales tax and another 10% concession tax.

 

[k1koala]

Ugh im so confused. This will be my first time renting a car, and I have no idea how much driving we will do to and from Universal and one day at MK. I also dont know anything around the area or where the heck the gas stations are.
What the heck do I do??????

 

[goofy4tink]

Ugh im so confused. This will be my first time renting a car, and I have no idea how much driving we will do to and from Universal and one day at MK. I also dont know anything around the area or where the heck the gas stations are.
What the heck do I do??????

There are plenty of gas stations in the area. I usually use the one that is right across the street from Boardwalk. Finding gas stations isn't an issue. Remembering to gas up is an issue for me....that's why I just do the prepay gas option. Yes, it's a bit more expensive than doing it myself, but I can just forget about doing it.

 

[seashoreCM]

Ugh im so confused. This will be my first time renting a car, and I have no idea how much driving we will do to and from Universal and one day at MK. I also dont know anything around the area or where the heck the gas stations are.
What the heck do I do??????

I suggest:
o Do not buy the tankful of gas up front.
o Take note of the prices of various gas stations you pass along the way.
o When you enter a gas station, read the price in the pump itself. Drive out if you don't like that price.
o Fill up the day before you return the car if possible.
o Allow plenty of time on the way back to the airport and top off near the airport.
o Get and keep receipts, especially for the last fill up or top off.

There are a few gas stations near the airport (notably a little north of the airport) that have very exorbitant prices. Go past these stations about a mile and you will find some less expensive stations.

It is easy to get disoriented on the way back to the airport when looking for a gas station. Having local maps is a must. Most GPS systems whether stand alone units or apps in a smart phone will display maps.

When the rental company sells you the tankful of gas up front, they make their additional profit strictly on the amount of gas still in the tank when you return the car. Usually the price they charge you for the gas is slightly below the price of nearby gas stations.

Even if the gas remaining in rental cars at return averages less than two gallons each (I think it averages more), it adds up handsomely in profits over the course of a day. This is true no matter how many miles renters drove and no matter how many times they filled up during their rentals. It is impossible to use up all the gas without getting anxious about running out of gas before you get back to the rental station.

OT: If you don't buy the tankful up front and they find that you did not top off the tank yourself, I think they charge you for at least one eighth of a tank, this time at about twice the rate of nearby gas stations. For a gauge reading between the dots they will surely round down the the previous eighth upon return. So before you took the car out in the first place you should not let it be rounded up to the next eighth when you read the gauge and report that along with all the pre-existing scratches and dents.

 

[NotUrsula]

Ugh I'm so confused. This will be my first time renting a car, and I have no idea how much driving we will do to and from Universal and one day at MK. I also don't know anything around the area or where the heck the gas stations are. What the heck do I do??????

Right now, go online and sign up for the frequent renter program of the company you are renting from. No charge for this, and the most important thing about it is that it stops the hard sell tactics you will otherwise get when you pick up the car. Club members don't get the upsell routine. You put your DL on record, make your default choices about fuel and insurance, and those are used unless you change them. It's super-important for someone like you to do this, because if you are feeling confused now, you can't imagine how confused you will get when you are already tired from traveling, and the rental clerk brings up all kinds of doomsday scenarios to scare you into buying lots of extra-cost optional services. Failing to resist that whole up-sell speech with a firmly repeated "No, think you! No, thank you., No, thank you ..." can easily quadruple your initially quoted price. Making these decisions at home without pressure will make you feel a lot better.

Second in importance is this: DO NOT purchase an upgraded-size car when you pick up your rental. They push this hard only when they are out of the size that you reserved, but the deal is that they have to upgrade you for free if that is the case (well, unless every single car on the lot is currently reserved for someone else that day, in which case up-selling isn't feasible, either.) However, the company would prefer that you PAID for the upgrade, so they will always try to sell you one before they admit that they are going to have to put you in a larger vehicle.

Also, well before your trip, get a map of Orlando. (Yes, a real paper map. You can mark routes on them and they will never run out of battery!) You can get them free at AAA if you are a member, or buy one at any bookstore or online. If you don't know your way around, it is important to study up a bit, because standstill traffic jams on I-4 are extremely common, and you will want to know what your detour options are. Orlando has so many small lakes throughout the city that roads have to go around them, which makes alternate routing a bit tricky. Once you know where you will be going and where your hotel is, you can easily estimate about what your total mileage will be. A lot will depend on where your lodging is, but we normally drive the equivalent of the corridor between USIOA and WDW daily when we are in town, and on a 5-day trip we very seldom use more than 1/3 of a tank if we do not leave the Orlando metro.

BTW, if you will be heading directly to the airport from USIOA, the routing is tricky. This is one time when you won't want to follow the signs out of the parking garage right onto I-4, because then you have to go through the airport to gas up. The way to go when you exit the parking garage is to go south on Hollywood Way, initially following the signs for Royal Pacific Resort, but not turning off at the hotel entrance. Hollywood Way soon intersects Turkey Lake Road in front of Dr. Phillips High School; turn left on Turkey Lake and follow it until you come to a major intersection that has gas stations on both corners, which is Sand Lake Rd. Fill up, then turn east on Sand Lake. At this point you have two choices: you can either stay on Sand Lake until it changes name to McCoy Rd and takes you into the airport via the ground route, OR you can almost immediately take the I-4 West ramp from Sand Lake onto the interstate, and then exit east onto the Beachline toll highway straight into the airport. The Beachline is always faster once you get on it.

 

[dina444444]

There is a Wawa gas station about a mile north of the airport that I always stop at to get gas before returning the rental car. This past week the prices were about 10 cents less per a gallon of regular gas then what the speedways on property were charging.

 

[GDUL]

I always stop for gas here on the way back to MCO. Just a few minutes from the airport and the gas is inexpensive as gas prices go. Word of warning - do NOT stop at the gas stations between MCO and Wawa! Price gouging to the max!

https://www.wawa.com/stores/5136/fl-orlando-6500-south-semoran-blvd

 

[Mark P.]

As a matter of convenience, because we usually stay at the Boardwalk, I've topped off at the gas station right there on property. Probably pay a few pennies extra/gallon, but this way we're topped off and never had an issue of less than full upon return at MCO.

 

[Day-Day]

I rented from Alamo at another airport one time and they were offering the purchase of half-a-tank of gas. That was the only time I've seen that; don't know if it is actually available elsewhere and all of the time.