Avis Charges Explained in detail 2023

While renting cars could seem generally easy, it’s best you have a proper orientation of how the system works, especially when it comes to understanding how the total renting fees are aggregated.

If you’re about Renting a car from Avis, we’ve made this post to cover a thorough explanation of Avis car rental charges.

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What Factors affect your Avis rental trip fee

When renting cars, it’s best you take note of factors that could affect your rental trip fee.

You do this, to avoid extreme rental invoices after a rental period, because, car rental fees are usually not straightforward. In fact, you could be told a particular rental fee while reserving a car and get charged something else when returning.

So again, it’s important you have proper knowledge of these before renting your first car.

Without further ado, below is a list of these factors;

The type of car – This, in fact, contributes most to the total rental fee of any contract. Renting more Flashy and premium cars is most likely to be more expensive compared to middle-class cars. The same fate goes with newer models of cars.
Rental location and Availability – Depending on some factors, rental locations in more populated areas are usually more costly. The same goes for availability. If cars are less available at a particular time, there’s a high chance the rental fee could be temporarily higher.
Length of Rental Period – Apparently, the longer your rental contract is set, the higher your rental fee. It’s no rocket science

Note that these are not all. We’ll take the two last factors, special to Avis, in the next section.

Avis Charges Explained Comprehensively

While we earlier mentioned a good number of factors that could contribute massively to your total rental fee at Avis, those are not the be-all and end-all.

In fact, you could get all those right and still face an extreme rental rate (beyond what you were initially given) while returning your rental car.

So why does this happen?

Firstly, it’s worth mentioning that this is a common practice across several car rental companies including Avis. It’s also pretty much legal, due to the fact the policies of most of these companies are usually laid out to renters before the rental period is kicked off.

Read also: How to pass through Avis Credit Check

Back to the main topic…

Here’s why your Avis final rental invoice is way higher than the initial quote you were given.

You signed up for Extra services

You violated the company’s policy
Mandated fees

These could also be seen as factors that could raise your Avis car rental invoice.

You signed up for Extra services

When it comes to renting cars, there are a number of extra services and add-ons that you can sign up for, knowingly or unknowingly.

The worst part is that these services can be pretty much expensive, going from a few dollars to over a hundred dollars.

Below is a list of some of these services and fees:

Administration Fees –
This is a generic fee on Avis that applies to any rental contract or service when Avis has to get their hands dirty. Generally, you’ll be charged an Admin fee on Avis each time the company has to help you fix a service, violation, or damage caused by you.Note that this fee is different from the fee or fine for the actual violation. Some popular admin fees on Avis include Toll admin fees, late administration fees, etc. Read more about this here.
One-way service –
If you return a rental car to a different location which it was picked from, you’re liable to pay a drop-off charge. This is for signing up for a one-way service, which is premium.
Additional Driver –
If you have an additional driver come drive your Avis rental car, you’ll have to pay a fee to authorize the “additional” driver, following Avis’s policy.

Note that, aside from this, there is also a list of numerous add-ons available at Avis. Make sure to inquire more about this while renting.

You violated the company’s policy

One sure way to get your rental fee spiked is to violate the rental company policy. This isn’t an exception at Avis, as well.

Below is a list of violations Avis never jokes with:

Cleaning violation – You could risk being charged over $400 for returning a rental car with dirt at Avis. Depending on the intensity, Avis cleaning fees range from $30 – $400. To avoid these troubles, it’s best you take your vehicle to a car wash before returning it.
Damage – Apparently, you’re responsible for any damage, incurred to a rental car while in your hands. If you fail to fix the car, all costs required to fix the damage would be forwarded to your rental bill.
Late return – After the 29 minutes grace period, if you return a rental car past the rental period, you get charged per hourly rate. After two hours, you’ll be charged per day based on your rental contract.

Mandated Fees

There are usually mandatory fees special to renting cars at a particular location, time and conditions.

For instance, when you rent a car from or return a car to an Airport or Hotel, you get charged a Concession recovery fee which is within the $10 range.

You could also get charged a few dollars for driving along some cities.

In some cases, these mandatory fees could also apply generally to every location.

For instance, the Energy surcharge fee on Avis is a fee aimed to cover the percentage of electricity consumption covered by a rental location. This fee is applied to every Avis contract.

You’re also faced with an under 25 fee, a mandatory fee, when you’re under 25 and choose to rent from Avis. However, there are some ways you can try to avoid this.

Another example of a mandated fee is the gas fee. Even though you could choose to decline Avis fueling service, you’re however responsible for the fueling of the car.

Failing to do this, you get charged a fuel fee which is usually above the local rate. We’ve already a detailed guide about Avis fueling policy here.

Tips to avoid high Car Rental fees at Avis

Always make sure to confirm the state of the car and take pictures before picking the car

Pay Toll charges yourself
Fix Any car rental damage yourself or let your insurance company do the work
Avoid renting cars from the airport

Avoid renting cars from Hotels
Fuel Car the car yourself
Do well to tidy up the rental car before returning.

Make sure to refuel before returning a rental car.
Return the rental car within the agreed timeframe (Not earlier or later)
Avoid extra services or add-ons (e.g one-way rentals, satellite radio, etc.)

Don’t rent from Avis if you’re under 25

Final thoughts

The Rental fee structure on Avis would generally differ based on different rental contracts. You could expect something different. However, your invoice bill would always revolve around these things as said above: