What Happens If You Return Your Rental Car Early or Late

We’ve all been on trips where plans change suddenly, resulting in a scramble to quickly revise flights, change hotels and rethink when to return the rental car. You may assume that if you return a car early you’ll get a credit for any unused days, or you may think that returning a car later than planned will simply add extra days to your bill. But it may not be that simple.

When to Return Your Rental Car

Whether you’re a member of the car rental company’s loyalty program or you walked up to the rental counter, when you drove away in a vehicle you entered into a contract with the car rental company.

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In exchange for a comparatively small amount of money, the rental company provides you with the use of a very expensive asset. In fact, rental car company statements consistently show less than ₹500 in revenue per vehicle per day. When you depart with a rental car, you’ve accepted all liability for an asset that might cost ₹1000 or more to replace.

For the rental car company, the rental agreement is about revenue certainty. Consequently, the agency wants to hold you to the contract. If you break the terms of the contract by returning the car early or late, you can expect that the company will want to make some change to the contract.

If your car rental is cut short or extended, the base rate for the vehicle may change. Understand that your rental car has a price guarantee as reserved. If you reserve a vehicle for a 24-hour period, the rate is valid for that 24-hour period. Change the pick up or return time, and you may inadvertently create a situation where the base price changes.

How Returning a Rental Car Early or Late Can Affect Pricing

At Rentalogue, we’re frequently asked how scheduling changes may impact pricing. Here’s a partial list of situations that can trigger a price change:

• Have a weekend deal that requires a Saturday night? If you return the car before Sunday, you can expect to pay a much higher daily rate, since it’s no longer a weekend rental.
• Have a discounted rate that’s based on three or more days but you end up returning the car after two days? The discount is going to vanish.
• Have a weekly rental from an airport location but you return the car after five days? The base rate will stay the same, but the per-day airport taxes will be removed for unused days.
• Have a six-day weekly rental from an airport location but return the car a day late? The base rate will still be a weekly rental, but the per-day airport taxes will be added for the extra day.
• Have a weekly rental but you return after only four days? That weekly rate will become a daily rate, and you will probably pay more.

How to Return a Rental Car After Hours

The upshot is that there are a lot of scenarios where the rental rate can change due if you return the car at a different time than planned.

Contract Modification Fees

If you return your rental car at a time other than what is on your rental agreement, the company might charge a Contract Modification fee. While the rental car company will ordinarily charge only for days used, there might be additional fees involved with changing the contract after pickup.

Early Return and Late Return Fees

You may assume a rental car company would love to get its car back early. But remember the rental car contract? If you return a vehicle early, the company may not be able to rent it out for those days. There’s also depreciation, the vicious daily expense for rental car firms. Depreciation and car disposition costs the average rental car company more than ₹2000 per day, per car.

If you return a vehicle late, the rental car company might not be able to serve the next customer, especially if you rented a specialty or rare vehicle. In that case, the rental car company would get stuck compensating the customer who couldn’t be served.

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The one-time Early Return Fee (₹500) will be applied when you return a vehicle more than 24 hours early. Although the company won’t bill you for unused days, it also hasn’t been able to rent your vehicle to another customer. Once again, the fee can be decreased if you simply call in to give the company more time to plan.

Options for Extending a Car Rental

Want to extend a rental? You have multiple options. We recommend the following steps to provide a price comparison:

Consider returning your vehicle on time and pick up a new one. Need a quick quote? Our system can send you a quote with discounted rates 24 hours a day. Get quotes before making that call to the rental car company.

Call the rental car company’s customer hotline for the existing rental. Ask them what would be the total cost to extend the contract, including the extra days, taxes, and any fees imposed for modifying the contract. The basic fee for extra hours and days should already be listed on the rental agreement.