It has become very clear to most travelers that fees are here to stay. Confirmation of this can easily be seen in the fact that the Department of Transportation reported that the airline industry generated more than $7.8 billion in ancillary revenue in 2009. This is up 42 percent from 2008. Why would any industry want to cut out something that is making them that much money? However, it now appears that this game plan is starting to rub off on other industries.

Consumers are now having to deal with these fees in the car rental industry. Hertz just recently reported domestic rental revenues rose 9.8 percent. The company cited pricing and ancillary revenues as the main reason.

For travelers, the problem now is figuring out what the bottom line rate actually is. Sure there is the “rate” that is advertised, but this normally does not include other fees. A lot of time travelers end up paying a lot more than what they figured they would be paying for a service.

So what are the fees that people have to look out for in the car rental industry? One of the most common is fuel charges. If a company offers people a chance to pay at the pump, then the traveler should take advantage of that. Most companies will offer a prepaid tank at a lower cost than the local going rate. However, they won’t provide a refund for unused gas. Overall, this normally ends up costing the consumer a lot more than what it would have caused if they would have bought the gas themselves.

Special equipment is another way that car hire companies get travelers. Things like safety seats, ski racks, snow tires, GPS’s are all great, but they come with an extra price attached to them.