Dollar Rent A Car CHARGED ME FOR 20 GALLONS OF GAS FOR A CAR WITH A 12 GALLON GAS TANK Pensacola, Florida

My husband finally got a supervisor yesterday. He mentioned fraud and she decided to
only charge us for 12.7 gallons. The staff had told us to return the car empty, because we
would be charged for a whole tank, which we understood and accepted. Charging for more
than the tank would hold was just not ok. Thanks for all your great suggestions. Robert, I
apologize for getting defensive and appreciate your comments.

Enemaprise has a new racket. Inflating gas tanks. Hey, Genelle, or whoever the shill avatar for the week is, lets here an explanation for this!

I never called or even hinted you were an idiot so not sure where you got that from.  The only thing I talked about was why getting PrePay gas is not always a wise idea.

Based on this comment
The car only has a 12 gallon tank and wasn't even empty.  I thought you were also complaining about not being charged for only the gas you used.  So if you are only complaining about the extra 8 gallons we are on the same page.

In fact if you re-read my comments you would actually have found that I agreed with you that if your car does not have a 20 gallon tank you have a very valid complaint, you didn't mention the car type so I had no idea. 

I think if you really push this you should get your money back.  I would contact the manager at the location.  Let them know what happened, if they refuse to refund it let them know that you will request a Charge-Back from your Credit Card Company, report them to the State Attorney General and (I rarely suggest this) their local news media. You may even want to suggest that you will report them to the Airport Authority, because in most cases these "In-Teriminal" rental locations are under contract and the spots are sought after by the rental car agencies so if they have a few complaints about one company that may be enough for them to get "Kicked out" when their renewal comes up.

I would dispute the charge with your credit card company.  Charging for 20 gallons of gas for a vehicle with a 12.7 gallon tank is, IMO, fraudulent.

An estimate is just that, an ESTIMATE-not a final accounting or billing.  By calling the document you signed an estimate, they are implying that some sort of FINAL reconciliation and/or accounting will be made to assess the ACTUAL CHARGE to be assessed.  Your signing of an ESTIMATE does not imply that you are authorizing a charge for 20 gallons - you're authorizing a charge UP TO 20 gallons, based an final reconciliation/accounting of the gas used.

I think you're stuck paying for 12.7 gallons, which means they owe you a refund for 7.3 gallons.  You can easily calculate how much they owe you and then you can make one more attempt to get them to adjust the charge.  I would speak with the owner/manager and demand a credit to your credit card for the amount they owe within 3 business days.  I would make it clear that if they do not make a credit to your card in the amount stated that you will DISPUTE the charge as well as reporting them to your State Attorney General and any other State agencies that might have regulatory control over their industry.

I would then wait 3 business days and call the credit card company to verify that they processed the credit.  If they did not process a credit, then DISPUTE THE CHARGE, but only for the amount that they owe you.  Then file formal complaints with your State Attorney General.

I had a similar experience with U-HAUL back in 2004.  They charged me for slightly over 9 gallons of gas for a small van that only went slightly over 5 miles.  My position was that the van either had something operationally wrong with it or had a gasoline leak.  I confronted the manager and threatened to request a charge back with VISA and he relented and processed an appropriate credit to my card.

Good luck.

the time to have said something about the amount of fuel on the pre-pay would have been before you accepted it. Once you agree to it, you will pay the full amount even if you return the car completely full. As Robert said, this is usually an option you don't want to accept as you'll lose money on it.

This was a Kia, Soul.  Most economy cars have small gas tanks.  I can do simple math.  My only complaint was that they charged me for more gas than the tank would have held empty. 

When you "Prepay" for gas you pay for a full tank whether or not you use it.  So unless you are going to return it running on fumes it is often better to just take the extra few minutes to make sure you return the car full.

Here is some simple math that really shows this point.  Using that gas is $4/gallon, they are allowing you to "Prepay" for $3.50/gallon.  If you return it on fumes you will come out about $10 ahead($70 vs. $80 to fill it up).  But let's say you leave 1/4 of a tank.  You still paid $70 for your "Prepaid" gas.  But since you only need to fill it up with 15 gallons you only paid $60..now you are behind by about $10.

Now your issue is the size of the tank.  If you are saying that your car only had a 12 Gallon tank you would have a very valid complaint on the extra 8 gallons.  But you would not have a complaint because you didn't use the entire 12 gallons.  Curious as to what car you rented and why you think it was only a 12 gallon tank?