I have a new Ford with this technology in it. I can go on line and see exactly how much fuel is in t

But a few days later, when she reviewed her credit card bill, she discovered that Avis had charged her an extra $7.43 for 0.8 gallons virtual home tours in georgia of gas, or about $9.29 per gallon. She called the company to complain.
"A representative told me that according to a satellite, when I picked up my car it had 16.9 gallons in it," she says. "And when I returned it, it had 16.1 gallons. I checked the ticket from pickup and there's no mention of the fuel quantity other than 'G8' which means full."
Avis isn't the only car rental company measuring fuel down to a tenth of a gallon. Hertz is installing this technology, which is referred virtual home tours in georgia to by the industry virtual home tours in georgia term electronic fuel metering, in its fleet over the next few months in an effort to ensure that every drop of fuel is accounted virtual home tours in georgia and paid for.
Mark Frissora, Hertz's chief executive, says that his company loses $50 million a year in fuel. Its new system, car rentals in boston called Zibox, is capable of shutting virtual home tours in georgia off a car engine remotely and operating car locks from afar. It relays location data, tire air pressure and fuel-level information back to Hertz, too. In other words, it will know exactly car rentals in boston how much fuel you have in the car at any given time. "This is going to be good for customers," Frissora virtual home tours in georgia says.
"Our new technology automatically measures and records the precise amount of gas in the tank at the time the customer exits the rental facility, and measures and records the fuel level again when the vehicle is returned," says Avis spokeswoman Alice Pereira. "Both readings are printed on the customer's rental receipt when the vehicle is returned. Through this method, customers can clearly see exactly how much fuel they are being charged for and the amount of such charge."
When Freeman phoned Avis to question her bill, it quickly deleted the fuel charge. But she's unhappy with the way the technology is being used. "Not only do I think it's unreasonable to hold the consumer to a data point we have no access to," she says, "but I am certain that there would be no credit if I had returned the car more full than the 'full' I received." (Avis says it would have credited her for any additional fuel.)
As things car rentals in boston stand now, if customers choose the fuel-purchase option, prepaying for a full tank of gas, they must return car rentals in boston the car with little more than vapors in the tank if they want to break even. Otherwise, the car rental company virtual home tours in georgia profits. On the other hand, if a renter agrees to fill the tank before returning virtual home tours in georgia it, the rental company or the next renter can take a hit if the gauge erroneously registers a full tank.
"It's difficult to get customers car rentals in boston to always virtual home tours in georgia return the car with a full tank," says Sharon Faulkner, executive director of the American Car Rental Association. Privately, some customers car rentals in boston have admitted to her that they watch the gas gauge while they're filling car rentals in boston virtual home tours in georgia the tank, waiting for the needle to reach "F" and then stopping, as opposed to waiting for the gas pump to cut off automatically.
No one knows exactly how much the car rental industry as a whole loses or profits from selling fuel. But the new fuel-metering technology is likely to tip the scales in the industry's favor, say observers.
Chris Brown, who edits the trade publication Auto Rental News, says he believes that the car rental industry is losing virtual home tours in georgia money on gas, which is why it's moving to electronic fuel metering. But the technology is relatively new and little virtual home tours in georgia is known about it or how it would be implemented. Freeman's run-in virtual home tours in georgia with Avis didn't look right to Brown, because once an agent marks the tank as "full," an agency doesn't normally reverse course and declare the tank to be partially empty. "Procedurally, it doesn't make sense," he says.
If you're renting a high-end, low-mileage virtual home tours in georgia car, your chances of having a vehicle with electronic fuel metering are good. You can either virtual home tours in georgia prepay for a full tank of gas through a rental company's fuel-purchase option and time the return of your rental to the moment the tank reaches the "E" mark, or you can fill the tank to the top just before you return it and hope for the best.
LOL, you had to know, given the way technology was and is advancing, that one day they d find a way to do this. Frissora may be right in that this is good for customers if you re unlucky enough to find your rental car rentals in boston car stolen (the ability to shut off a car engine, for example), but this is just another example car rentals virtual home tours in georgia in boston of the travel industry nickel-and-diming the consumer no end. Ms. Freeman is correct in that once the car is returned car rentals in boston and signed off as full that should virtual home tours in georgia be the end of it. As a Hertz #1 Gold I will be very interested to see how this plays out. We ll see.
I have a new Ford with this technology in it. I can go on line and see exactly how much fuel is in the car and I can also lock or unlock the vehicle from my computer or smart phone. But there is much more in this technology that should be of interest to car renters. The technology can pinpoint the exact location of the vehicle at any time. It doesn t matter if the car is running or not. Even more interesting to renters, the vehicle logs every trip. It reports back to the servers how far it was driven car rentals in boston each time the car was started. So the car rental company might know where you are taking the car and for how long you are driving it. All of this data could possibly be added to your Hertz Gold or Avis Wizard account. This technology could change the whole pricing virtual home tours in georgia model for rentals. They could charge different renters different rates based on their rental history. It could possible charge different rates if the car is driven out of the cars home location, even if it is returned to original place where it was rented. They can also charge different rental rates for driving different distances on various days of the week. The long term prospects of how car rental companies virtual home tours in georgia car rentals in boston might use this information is mind boggling.