Rental car company tries to charge customer $91 for extra day despite turning in car 10 minutes early: 'If I'm getting charged an extra day, I'm using it'

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jun 18, 2025 11:00 AM EDT

That fine print on contracts can come back to bite you… but it's all but impossible to read it all. We sign these terms and conditions constantly — just think of how many times you've had to open an app, and have to click that you've read the terms and conditions without ever even peeking at them. Some websites ask you to affirm that you've read their terms of service, and you'll be faced with an 80-page document in size 4 font. No one wants to read that, and even if they did, all that legalese really boggles the mind! 

Your parents probably told you never to sign a legally binding agreement without fully reading it, but no one has the time to read and digest all that information. Companies know this all too well, and they're happy to include sneaky clauses that benefit them, not their customers. Just ask this person who got unfortunately tricked by a rental car company. They made it basically impossible for them to return their rental car on time. Not only was it bad customer service, but they got back a car that no employee would want to touch!

Check out the full story below, then read about some employees who quit their toxic jobs, like one dude who "taped his resignation letter to his computer... and never showed up again." 

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  • 01

    "Rental car company told me where to leave my keys and when I left them there, tried to charge me for an extra day. So I refused to give them the car back until last minute."

    I rented a car for five weeks while my car was being repaired from a car accident. The rental company had a couple great policies- no cleaning fee no matter how gross the car was, and unlimited miles. Ideal for me- I live in the country and going anywhere is a drive.
    via u/sabertoothdiego
  • 02
    When my car was finally scheduled to be finished (a Monday evening) I called the rental car company on Sunday. Asked about return details. They said return time would be 530pm Monday, but I could just leave it at the shop and leave the keys in the shops drop box. I said sure, and next night I went, got my car, left keys in the box. Got in my car, and check engine light is on. F Staff says come back tomorrow and we will fix it. I go
    via u/sabertoothdiego
  • 03
    home thinking that I will be sitting at the shop all Tuesday because no other ride. Tuesday morning I wake up at 7am to the rental car company very angry and saying that they can't get into the drop box and shop doesn't open til 9. I tell them I just did what they said to do. They told me that they would be charging me an extra day. At that I'm furious. I leave my house later and arrive at the ship at 850. Rental car guys aren't there.
    via u/sabertoothdiego
  • 04
    I sit around and shop opens, I grab the rental keys and give them my car. Right on time, rental car guys appear. They demand the keys and I ask if I'm still getting charge for an extra day. One guy is inspecting the car while the other tells me yes, I'm getting charged an extra day. Guy inspecting it comes over and days car looks good, it should be ready to rent out immediately. I had cleaned it the day before because I didn't want to be a
    via u/sabertoothdiego
  • 05
    . Well, I refuse to give him the keys. "Since I'm getting charged an extra day, that means it's my car until 530 today, right?". At that he gets nervous. Says they need the car back. "I will give you the keys now if you don't charge me an extra day. But if I'm charged an extra day, I'm using it." He refuses to bend so I leave.
    via u/sabertoothdiego
  • 06
    At this point I'm petty and angry. So I go straight home. I own a farm and it has been raining like mad lately. I get to work. By the time 10am rolls around, the car is COVERED in mud. Like, this black car looks painted brown. I didn't trash the inside, because I'm not that petty. I hop in the car and drive to the rental place. I'm pretty covered in mud at this point, I had put trash bags on the front seat to limit it. I walk into the rental place looking like I fell
    via u/sabertoothdiego
  • 07
    into a mud pit. The guy who refused to cancel the charge looks horrified. I tell them "this car is great for mudding! I'm gonna go mudding for the rest of the day. Just swinging by to ask where to put the keys at 530" I'm all smiles and dripping sweetness. I watch the life leave him, his shoulders slump, and he says if I return the car now they will cancel the charge because they need to rent out the car. I give em the keys and take an
    via u/sabertoothdiego
  • 08
    The uber- I called the uber after I walked out of the rental car place. It took half an hour to arrive. I had brought extra trash bags, so I stripped down a bit (shorts and undershirt) and put on 2 trash bags that I cut holes in. Put my clothes in a bag. Let the mud on my exposed body parts flake off. Did I look absolutely ridiculous? Yes. Did I get mud in some poor strangers car? No.
    via u/sabertoothdiego
  • 09
    I didn't want to actually ruin the day for some kid getting minimum wage. That's why I only mudded the outside. That's a pretty easy clean. I didn't wanna wreck anyone's day- even the a hole that charged me. My goal was to make the car messy and shocking enough to get them to not charge me because they were desperate to get it back. "If the outside is that bad, what did he do to the inside?"
    via u/sabertoothdiego
  • 10
    The car was 91 dollars a day (first 3 weeks 39 a day and then went up for last 2 weeks to 91) and my insurance did not cover it. I was not willing to let 91 bucks slide. The keys were left at the auto shop, in the auto shops key box. That key box was not open at 7am when rental car company went to get the car. When I went around 9am to drop my car off,
    via u/sabertoothdiego
  • 11
    the auto shop opened the box for me and gave me the rental car keys. Rental car people appeared a few minutes later.
    via u/sabertoothdiego
  • 12
    uber to the shop, where my car is ready. No cleaning fee and no extra day charge. Ha! Edit: Alright, might as well address the few things yall are about lol.
    via u/sabertoothdiego
  • 13
    Cheezburger Image 10518048768
    via Haryad Art on Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 14
    ShadowCast2550 My response would be, "I took photos and video of each room in the apartment before I left it. If you try to charge me for anything I'll see you in court."
    via u/ShadowCast2550
  • 15
    Tyler Durden UMD Enterprise tried doing this to me. Parking lot in the front, key drop off in the back. They had me on camera walking up to the box, putting my keys on WHILE looking at the camera, and walking away. Two days later they called asking when I was going to drop my rental off and that they would have to charge me up the al They didn't like my reply
    via u/TylerDurdenUMD
  • 16
    MasterA Face This is precisely why most places (at least in my area) don't have drop boxes anymore.
    via u/MasterA**Face
  • 17
    zenWolf7 So I rented from Enterprise once. Dropped the car off on-time. Enterprise reported it stolen. By me. Just because. Fast forward three months and I'm being surprise arrested for Felony Larceny. Spent eleven days in jail sorting it out. Lost my job. Enterprise denied any responsibility. LL F Enterprise.
    via u/zenWolf7
  • 18
    xfitveganflatearth We had a rental company say they were coming to collect the car so we parked it in our lot, receptionist had the keys, the car sat their for 2 weeks, rental company tried charging us for 2 weeks, coz it was a corporate account they thought they'd get away with it. Company refused to pay and invoiced rental company for 2 weeks storage/parking.
    via u/xfitveganflatearth
  • 19
    Renbarre I take pictures of any car I leave through the use of a drop box. A very good idea as a rental tried to fine me for damages their own staff did while moving the car from its parking space. And the best part was, I was with a lawyer when I dropped the car and she offered to have a witness account sent on her office paper. For some reason I never heard of it after that.
    via u/Renbarre
  • 20
    TexasYankee212 Pretty crappy to charge you for the day that they had already rented that car to another person. That was double dipping rental of the same car for the same day.
    via u/TexasYankee212
  • 21
    Cheezburger Image 10518049280
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 22
    talibob Perfection. I bet that car was fun to clean.
    via u/talibob
  • 23
    pbj10101 My mom was in a car accident a few years back. The shop that did the repairs was partnered with "Nationally-known rental company" so they hada few cars on hand to lend out. Anyway, after she got her car back, she left the rental with the shop, they said they'd take care of everything...and forgot about it. So the rental company is charging her for the extra days when she supposedly didn't return it, the insurance won't cover it because it wasn't part of the two-week deal for her car get
    via u/pbj10101
  • 24
    javier_aeoa I had put trash bags on the front seat to limit it Even when being a malicious bl , you're still a reasonable human being. I love you.
    via u/javier_aeoa
  • 25

    This sounds like such a pain to deal with!

    Hixie They were repairing your car for five weeks and at the end of that the check engine light was on? That's like, literally the simplest indicator the car can give to say it's not yet fully repaired! sabertoothdiego OP To be fair, the first week and a half was spent dealing with insurance to transfer the car to a shop. I changed insurances because they were such a nightmare, don't get cheap insurance! Then they diagnosed the issue. Then it sat for 3 weeks before they could fix it because ther
    via u/Hixie
  • 26
    MiguelitoCS This is one of the best malicious compliance I've seen! The policies some/most of these rental car places have are so anti- consumer that it's hard to feel bad, even though someone making minimum wage and had nothing to do with the decision probably had to deal with the cleaning.
    via u/MiguelitoCS

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rental malicious compliance car funny story muddy malicious-compliance-reddit cars mud driving employees malicious compliance reddit funny Renters
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