How to Avoid Rental Car Fees During Holiday Travel

Most of what inflates a holiday rental bill is optional, duplicative, or avoidable by changing where and when you pick the car up — so the money is saved at the counter and in the booking screen, not in the daily rate. Decline coverage you already carry, skip the prepaid fuel and toll packages unless the math works, add drivers only when the fee applies, and compare an off-airport branch against the terminal counter. The headline price will not warn you about any of this.

The Federal Trade Commission's guidance on its Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, effective May 12, 2025, states the total-price-up-front requirement applies only to live-event tickets and short-term lodging. Car rentals sit outside its scope, so mandatory rental charges can stay buried until checkout.

Verification note: Program terms and availability can change. This page was checked against linked sources on November 13, 2026.

Why the airport counter costs more

Airport pricing is structural, not a surcharge a clerk can remove. Concession agreements take a cut of what you pay: the Port of Seattle's 2026 concession report for Sixt at Seattle-Tacoma International describes a percentage fee equal to 10% of gross revenue each agreement year, collected on top of a separate customer facility charge. Those costs come back to you as line items, and sometimes at a higher rate than the airport itself charges.

Auto Rental News reported that Chicago's City Council approved an 11% concession recovery fee billed to customers at O'Hare and Midway, while the companies' own access agreements cap what the city collects at 10% of gross revenues. Facility charges are rising too. The Governor of California's office announced on October 1, 2025 that AB 1150 was signed, chaptered as Chapter 182, Statutes of 2025, raising the cap on the alternative customer facility charge airports may require rental companies to collect from $9 to $12 per day.

On a seven-day holiday rental, that cap alone is up to $84 before the car moves. The practical move: price the same car at a neighborhood branch a short rideshare away. You trade a little convenience for a bill with fewer percentage-based add-ons riding on it.

Coverage you are probably paying for twice

Counter collision coverage is the single most common duplicate charge. State Farm's explainer on rental car insurance notes that comprehensive and collision on a personal auto policy generally extend to a US rental used for personal purposes, with your deductible still applying. Credit-card coverage is real but narrower than people assume.

Per the same explainer, card benefits are usually secondary, cover damage to the car rather than liability, and require that you pay with that card and decline the rental company's damage waiver. Secondary means your own insurer pays first. So the decision has two steps, both done before you travel:

• Call your auto insurer and ask whether collision and comprehensive follow you into a rental, and what your deductible would be.
• Read your card's benefits guide for whether its coverage is primary or secondary, and what it excludes.
• If you carry no auto policy at all, the counter product may be the coverage you actually need — the duplication argument does not apply to you.

Tolls, fuel, and the convenience packages

Toll transponder fees are charged by the day, not by the toll. Avis's own e-Toll page lists a convenience fee of $6.95 for each day on which you incur a toll, capped at $34.95 per rental period for rentals up to 30 days, while its e-Toll Unlimited option runs a flat $10.99 to $25.99 per day for every day of the rental whether you hit a toll or not. Read that structure carefully before buying the unlimited tier.

The per-use fee only triggers on days you actually use a toll road, and it stops at a cap; the flat option bills every single day. A holiday trip with two toll days and five local ones is cheaper on the per-use fee. Prepaid fuel has a similar shape.

Hertz describes its prepaid option as pricing the tank at the area's average pump price at pickup minus $0.15 per gallon, plus a flat $6.99 refueling fee per transaction, with no refund for fuel you do not use. That is a deal only if you return the car close to empty — a half-full return means you bought gas you handed back for free.

Extra drivers and young-driver fees

Additional-driver charges are not uniform, and the exemptions are worth knowing. Enterprise's additional driver FAQ states the US fee is $15.00 per day for each additional authorized driver, $5 per day in New York, with a spouse or domestic partner excluded from the fee — and drivers can only be added or removed at a rental location, not over the phone. That last detail matters on a holiday trip where the plan changes mid-week.

If you decide on day three to share the driving with a sibling, somebody has to go back to a branch. Young-driver fees are structured per rental, not per driver. Hertz states its Young Renter Fee is charged once per rental rather than for each young driver, so adding a second under-25 driver does not double it, and Hertz says AAA members aged 20 to 24 can have the fee waived through the applicable AAA discount program.

Check the current terms on the rental company's own page before counting on a waiver.

Timing the pickup around the holiday crush

Volume concentrates on a single day, which is also when counters run out of the car class you booked and upsell what is left. AAA's November 17, 2025 forecast projected a record 81.8 million travelers over the November 25 to December 1 Thanksgiving period, and noted Hertz expected the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to be its busiest pickup day. Shifting pickup by a day, or to an off-peak hour, reduces the odds of arriving at a counter with no economy cars and a "complimentary upgrade" that carries a different rate.

It also gives you time to read the contract instead of signing under pressure from a line behind you. Reserve early and re-check the rate as the date approaches. Most reservations carry no cancellation penalty, so a lower price found two weeks out can be rebooked.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does declining the counter damage waiver void my credit card's coverage?

The opposite. State Farm's rental insurance explainer notes card coverage typically requires that you decline the rental company's damage waiver and pay with that card.

Is the customer facility charge negotiable?

No. It is a charge airports may require rental companies to collect from renters, set by local authority — California's cap moved from $9 to $12 per day under AB 1150.

Will the total price have to be shown up front?

Not for car rentals. The FTC's fee rule covers live-event tickets and short-term lodging only, so mandatory rental fees can appear later in the booking.

Does my spouse count as an additional driver?

At Enterprise in the US, a spouse or domestic partner is excluded from the $15.00-per-day additional driver fee. Other companies set their own terms.