Avis demanded €3,760 from a customer for 29,000 kilometres allegedly driven in a week
Car rental company Avis billed a customer in Canada approximately €3,760 extra, claiming he had driven almost 29,000 kilometres in a rental car in seven days. To cover that distance, he would have had to average 172 km/h throughout the week, without stopping to refuel, eat or sleep. Although the figures were clearly absurd, Avis initially maintained that the charge was justified. The company acknowledged its error only after the media intervened.
Almost three-quarters of the way around the world in seven days
Toronto resident Yuehao Huang flew to Montreal on 11 September, rented a car from Avis and set off on a week-long holiday with visiting family members. Their route took them through Montreal, Mont-Tremblant and Ottawa before continuing through the Quebec region.
The location history on Huang’s phone showed a total trip distance of approximately 1,400 km. That figure also included distances covered on foot.
On returning home, however, he discovered an unexpected charge on his credit card. In addition to an advance payment of more than €640, Avis had charged him approximately €3,760.
According to Canadian broadcaster CityNews’ investigative consumer programme “Speakers Corner”, the rental company said the extra charge was for exceeding the mileage allowance. By Avis’ calculations, Huang had driven exactly 28,933 km in seven days.
A simple calculation makes the charge look ridiculous. Covering that distance would have required driving more than 4,100 km every day. His average speed over the entire week would have had to be 172 km/h, with not a single second allowed for stops.
Huang also pointed out that an ordinary passenger car would probably already need scheduled servicing after covering nearly 29,000 km.
Avis stood by the charge even after it was disputed
Huang immediately contacted the rental company and provided evidence of his actual route. Avis promised to investigate, but weeks passed without a refund. When he contacted the company again, it asked him to resubmit his complaint.
He then disputed the charge through his credit card company, American Express. That did not help either. According to Huang, Avis told the payment provider that the additional charge was justified.
Only then did he turn to journalists at CityNews.
The result came quickly. A day after the journalists’ enquiry, Avis acknowledged that an employee had made a data entry error. The rental company apologised to the customer, promised to refund the incorrect mileage charge and said it would strengthen its internal checks to prevent similar errors.
The company did not explain how such an unrealistic mileage figure had passed its initial checks or why the customer’s repeated complaints had failed to resolve the problem.
One photo could have saved weeks of disputes
The case shows how difficult it can be to correct even an obvious billing error when a car rental company trusts its own system more than the evidence supplied by a customer.
Huang acknowledged that he had taken a photo of the odometer when returning the car, but had not done so at the start of the rental period. In hindsight, comparing the two readings would have provided much stronger evidence.
The same advice applies to car rental customers across Europe. When collecting and returning a car, it is worth recording the odometer reading, fuel level and vehicle condition. This is particularly important for rental agreements with mileage limits, where every additional kilometre can incur an extra charge.
Huang’s case ended with at least a promise from Avis to refund the money. Yet the most surprising aspect of the story is not the incorrect mileage figure, but the fact that it took journalists’ intervention for an international car rental company to acknowledge an obvious calculation error.
