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Hidden fees

United States — car rental mandatory charges

NationalUSCARHIREUnverified — check before relying on it

United States — vehicle rental

Rule id
fees.us-car-rental
Version
1.0.0
In force from
January 1, 1988
Last read against its sources
August 5, 2026
Countries bound
United States

In plain language

What this regime says.

The FTC junk-fee rule does not cover car rental. Concession and licence recovery fees are the rental company's own charges and are reachable under general deceptive-pricing law and, in some states, a dedicated rental statute.

Who is covered

Anyone renting a vehicle in the United States.

What you get

Nothing under a federal fee rule, because there is none. The route is the state statute, a chargeback, and the rental company's own complaints process.

Where claims go wrong

  • Citing 16 CFR Part 464. It does not cover vehicle rental.
  • Accepting "concession recovery fee" as a government charge.
  • Overlooking the larger charges on the same invoice — fuel service, loss of use, toll administration.
The official claim route

Authority

Every citation,
with its pinpoint.

A claim that cites “EU law” gets filed. A claim that cites Article 7(1)(c) gets answered. These are the exact coordinates this entry rests on.
  1. 15 U.S.C. § 45 (FTC Act, § 5) and state vehicle-rental statutesUnited States Code, Title 15, and state lawThere is no federal rule specific to vehicle rental pricing: 16 CFR Part 464 does not cover it. Several states regulate rental rate quotation directly — California's Civil Code § 1936 is the best-known — and the general prohibition on unfair or deceptive practices in § 45 and in every state UDAP statute applies

Sources

Where a figure is indexed, converted or published by a regulator rather than fixed in the instrument, the provenance is recorded separately. Anything marked as a modelled estimate is exactly that — a model, not a statutory number.

What it imposes

Clocks, defences and the ladder.

A rule module builds these while it evaluates, because a limitation period depends on which forum is open to you. What follows is the structure this regime produces — deliberately with no dates and no figures, because those belong to your facts rather than to the law.

Documents

What this regime can produce.

Every one of these is a document you send yourself, in your own name. Duesday never writes to anybody on your behalf and is never anyone’s agent.

The same claim type elsewhere

European Union — price indication, drip pricing, pre-ticked extras and surchargingEUSupranational — 27 countriesDirective 98/6/EC, arts. 2(a) and 3(1)Confidence: highEuropean Union — air fare all-inclusive pricing, Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 art. 23EUAIRSupranational — 31 countriesRegulation (EC) No 1008/2008, art. 23(1)Confidence: highUnited Kingdom — drip pricing under the DMCCA 2024 and the CPUTRGBNational — United KingdomDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Part 4Confidence: mediumCalifornia — SB 478 Honest Pricing Law and the Consumers Legal Remedies ActUS-CASub-national — United StatesCal. Civ. Code § 1780Confidence: highCanada — drip pricing under the Competition ActCANational — CanadaCompetition Act (R.S.C. 1985, c. C-34), ss. 52, 74.01 and 36Confidence: mediumColorado — Consumer Protection ActUS-COSub-national — United StatesC.R.S. §§ 6-1-105, 6-1-113Confidence: mediumConnecticut — Unfair Trade Practices ActUS-CTSub-national — United StatesConn. Gen. Stat. §§ 42-110b, 42-110gConfidence: mediumMassachusetts — junk-fee regulations and Chapter 93AUS-MASub-national — United StatesM.G.L. c. 93A, § 9Confidence: medium

Other rights in the same countries

Alabama security deposit return — Ala. Code § 35-9A-201US-ALSub-national — United StatesAla. Code § 35-9A-201Confidence: mediumAlabama unclaimed property — Ala. Code §§ 35-12-70 to 35-12-99US-ALSub-national — United StatesAla. Code §§ 35-12-70 to 35-12-99Confidence: mediumAlaska security deposit return — Alaska Stat. § 34.03.070US-AKSub-national — United StatesAlaska Stat. § 34.03.070Confidence: mediumAlaska unclaimed property — Alaska Stat. §§ 34.45.110–34.45.780US-AKSub-national — United StatesAlaska Stat. §§ 34.45.110–34.45.780Confidence: mediumArizona security deposit return — A.R.S. § 33-1321US-AZSub-national — United StatesA.R.S. § 33-1321Confidence: highArizona unclaimed property — Ariz. Rev. Stat. §§ 44-301 to 44-341US-AZSub-national — United StatesAriz. Rev. Stat. §§ 44-301 to 44-341Confidence: mediumArizona surprise out-of-network bill dispute resolution (A.R.S. § 20-3111 et seq.)US-AZSub-national — United StatesA.R.S. § 20-3111 et seq.Confidence: mediumArkansas security deposit return — Ark. Code Ann. § 18-16-306US-ARSub-national — United StatesArk. Code Ann. § 18-16-306Confidence: medium

Does this one reach your facts?

The engine runs every regime that could apply at once and reconciles them, rather than making you guess which page to read.

Run your factsBack to the catalogue

Not a law firm. Not legal advice. You send it yourself. This page describes a law; it is not advice about your situation and no outcome is promised.