On-line vehicle rentals with the mega-Travel sites

These mega-travel sites, Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, etc. are working in conjunction with the car rental agencies to fraudulently take advantage of the average tourist who wants to rent a vehicle on-line through their websites, and someone is making millions, if not billions of dollars doing so. I don't know who takes home the ill-gotten money, if it is the car rental company, or the travel site, or perhaps they split it, wink, wink!

Your first clue that you are about to be cheated is that you are never quoted the final minimum price you will pay to rent the vehicle including taxes and manditory insurance. Sure, there are add-ons like a roof rack or car seat, or upgrade to an automatic, but that isn't what I am talking about. Your second clue is that there is nobody live to talk to and ask questions. They force you to commit yourself and guarantee your reservation by giving your credit card number before you know what the final minimum total price it is going to be. We should all be scared out of our minds doing this, but we seem to have no choice if we want to have a guaranteed vehicle available at our destination. They give you the rental fee per day or week, but refuse to say how much the very high daily manditory insurance will be, nor the taxes. If you click on their side links to find out what the insurance and taxes will be, you receive an answer that it is unknown at this time. HOG WASH! Taxes and insurance change very infrequently, unlike the vehicle rental rates, yet they are able to keep abreast of these.

I own Adventure Inn in San Jose, Costa Rica, halfway between the airport and city. Many of my guests have been completely surprised and disappointed that they end up having to pay nearly twice what they thought they were quoted, after it is too late to cancel, or too late to find another vehicle. It's the last thing anyone needs to bother with at the start of a well-deserved vacation.

THE SOLUTION IS VERY SIMPLE. Have your hotel book your car for you, and ask the hotel what the total minimum price will be including manditory insurance and all taxes. At Adventure Inn we search the market for the best vehicles, and guarantee the final price including taxes, manditory insurance, unlimited mileage and 24 hour line and roadside assistance. The price we quote the guest is all they have to pay.