Taxes and fees on a two-day compact car rental at SEA airport, over 45 percent taxes/fees of $75 USD

GON

GON

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Renting a compact car at SEA airport for approximately 36 hours. Rental car charge was $163 USD. I happen to catch the taxes and fees on this 36-hour rental, $75 USD.

This is a business trip. Seeing a nearly 46 percent tax kills any desire to ever travel on vacation, except in my personal vehicle. And stay way off the beaten path.

Screenshot_5-6-2025_18417_www.avis.com.webp
 
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JHZR2 said:
And? This is nothing new for the last 20+ years I’ve had to travel.
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You are correct. I just don't recall the average taxes and fees being over 25 percent in the past. That is a lot of juice in taxes/ fees.

Posting as this might match for a boiling frog.

The "boiling frog" is a metaphorical term referring to a situation where a person or entity is unaware of a gradual, worsening problem until it is too late to escape or recover. The premise is that a frog placed in boiling water immediately jumps out, but a frog placed in warm water and gradually heated won't notice the danger until it's too late to escape.

The "boiling frog" concept is often used to highlight the dangers of slow, incremental changes that can lead to significant problems. It suggests that people can become complacent or unaware of their surroundings, failing to recognize that their well-being is deteriorating.
 
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This started as a way for big cities to tax visitors and not upset their base … and it’s often corporate expense …
For example - if I do one way to/from Houston - the small town taxes are lower … (often called fee instead of tax) …
 
Hidden taxes are a significant part of any local/state governments budget. Really disgusting.

Hotel fees and taxes in many cities, like Phoenix/Scottsdale are nearly just as bad.

No wonder many businesses have cut/restricted travel. One downside is though, I get nit-picked over silly small stuff, when there are large chunks going to stuff like this that cannot be fought
 
GON said:
Renting a compact car at SEA airport for approximately 36 hours. Rental car charge was $163 USD. I happen to catch the taxes and fees on this 36-hour rental, $75 USD.

This is a business trip. Seeing a nearly 46 percent tax kills any desire to ever travel on vacation, except in my personal vehicle. And stay way off the beaten path.

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Have you tried sixt? my sister and brother in law swear by them for rentals.
 
Astro14 said:
Seattle has high taxes?

Huh…who knew?

😏
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That was what I thought. Departing SEA, my next stop is HNL, car rental taxes/ fees at like percentage. For better understanding, I tried a like rental at ELP. Surprised at the high rental car taxes/ fees at ELP came out to 37 percent taxes/ fees at El Paso, TX. I think 37 percent is a high percentage for taxes/ fees for any product or service.

Screenshot_5-6-2025_203924_www.avis.com.webp
 
That base rate is sky high too, your employer needs to negotiate a better rate with Avis. You went over 24 hrs so you were charged two days worth of fees. I can get a fullsize for almost half.

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Same airport last December for 2 days. I guess business travel was down during Xmas and fox was dumping their rentals on priceline. I'm sure it is still high as a percentage but that rental car complex is expensive as is the shuttle buses between terminal and the rental car building.

Leo99 said:
This is why my work prefers us to Uber unless we're going far from the airport.
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Uber would have been more expensive usually, unless you don't do anything other than work and hotel (and work more free overtime in the hotel). Having a car you can goof off after work and relax somewhere else instead of just not wanting to go out. That's the secret.

Honestly I don't really care whether I pay the tax separately or the rental car company "rent" all these service out of their revenue from the airport. In the end it is the total number I care about. They can sort out the split. I mean if you don't want to tax the locals they have to tax someone to build the airport right? It ain't free.

I think rental car for auto insurance claim is $25/day. I don't know how they make money renting a Corolla for $25 / day unless the insurance company lease the car for them. They need to wash, staff the office, rent the lot, lease, etc. I wonder how much is the break even point and what kind of lease deal they got for those cars.

gfh77665 said:
Use TURO for sure! https://turo.com/

Interesting this just came up, I am flying to Seattle, then Anchorage, then reverse next week. I'll spend a bit of time in Seattle.
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I have never seen Turo being cheaper than say priceline or orbitz for the lower tier rental companies. There's an exception though, one time I rented a car in Waikiki Honolulu and the Turo despite slightly more expensive came with a parking spot near our hotel!!!!!!

That parking lot deal was the reason I turo instead of rent it from the airport.
 
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