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Christine Grosart's car rental through Booking.com turns into a financial headache when Avis charges her extra by mistake. The company admits its mistake but only sends her a partial refund. Is the money gone forever?

Q: I booked a car in Spain through Booking.com for a rental with Avis. Everything seemed fine until I had a family emergency and had to return the vehicle early. At no stage during the booking process or at the rental desk was I informed that returning the car early would result in an increased cost.

Imagine my shock when I saw an unauthorized charge of $673 on my credit card. Returning the car early effectively doubled my rental cost. I never received any communication about this fee. It's unjustified; Avis could've rerented the car the second that I dropped it off.

I'm a medic, and I often work in the North Sea where mobile signals are difficult. So, I've had to try and manage this via email and WhatsApp. It's incredibly frustrating because Avis eventually admitted that it was at fault and issued a refund, yet it's still holding onto about $130. I want the full amount owed, not a partial amount. Can you help me get my remaining money back? -- Christine Grosart, in Evercreech, England

A: Avis should've refunded you the moment that it overcharged you. Actually, scratch that -- it should've never charged you in the first place. If a company admits that it made a mistake, it shouldn't be a struggle to get a full refund. It certainly shouldn't require a medic to take time away from her duties in the North Sea to chase down a missing $130.

Rental car companies often have automated systems that trigger early return fees or rate changes if you drop the car off sooner than what was originally planned. While their policies often state that rates are subject to change if the rental period is altered, these changes shouldn't be applied in error, as Avis later acknowledged happened in your case.

You could've avoided part of this by carefully reviewing the final receipt before leaving the rental lot. I know that you're tired and want to get home, but this is the moment when you have the most leverage. You also did the right thing by starting a paper trail. As I always say, "If it isn't in writing, it didn't happen."

When you run into a wall like this, you can always escalate your complaint to the executives at Avis or Booking.com. You can find these contacts on my site at Elliott.org. I've dealt with similar fuzzy math from rental companies before. In a previous case involving Budget (which is owned by the same parent company, Avis Budget Group), a customer was hit with a cleaning fee that felt more like a penalty than a service charge. It seems that these errors have a habit of leaning in the company's favor.

I reached out to Avis on your behalf and asked it to review your case. "We can confirm that the additional charge related to a quoted rate change due to [an] early return was applied in error and should not have been charged," a representative told me.

However, it turns out that part of the missing money was an additional driver fee that you signed for at the time of renting. Avis sent over a copy of your signed agreement to prove it. "Charges that are clearly included and accepted on the signed rental agreement are considered contractually agreed upon and are not eligible for refund," the company noted.

Your total refund comes to $552. While you didn't get the driver fee back, you received the rest of your money.

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Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy (elliottadvocacy.org), a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him at elliottadvocacy.org/help/.

(c) 2026 Christopher Elliott

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