I'd rather not risk being charged for whatever loss of use number they come up with as well.

At least for Hertz, they can charge you a grand total of $10 here (if you call them to change it) or otherwise $12/day per their T&C: https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/reservation/reviewmodifycance...

"This fee of $10 will be applied if you return your car to a different location from that which was scheduled, or if you return more than 12 hours after the date and time previously scheduled, and you notify us of an extension of your rental by the return date and time previously scheduled by calling 1-800-654-4174.

If you do not notify us of such a change, the Late Return Fee of $12 per day, (maximum of 5 days) will apply."

Elsewhere, the contract notes: "Any changes to the reservation may impact the rental charges."

Which is what will happen here. They'll charge you this fee, but also adjust the base rental charges to much higher rates that reflect the fleet management burden caused by one-way rentals.

When I talked to Enterprise on the phone about one-way use, they explicitly told me most places will waive the charge unless they don't have space to take the inventory. Rental car places have a lot of fixed capital costs like hotels, and renting the car at anything above a significant loss still recoups those costs. You can usually just ask for things. I've been offered upgrades pretty routinely just because they don't have the vehicle I asked for. They've always tried to charge me for the upgrade, but then I say "can you give me the rate I originally reserved?" and usually they give it to me.

Remember though, he did ask for things. They had a car, even booked it, and still wouldn't give it to him.

Interesting that they’ve always tried to charge you for the upgrade - I’ve always gotten it for free without having to ask (though I use Avis almost entirely and can’t remember the last time I used Enterprise). They just tell me “Sorry we were out of this car, here’s an upgraded one”. Seems weird that they should charge you more for not having the car you booked. Granted, they never dump me into sports cars when it happens (it’s almost always the very next tier of car available).

Yes—they'll adjust the rate to the (much higher) one-way price. But there's no crazy "loss of use" fee like the parent comment suggested.

In practice, the cost usually turns into around $0.37/mile, plus the daily rate, unless you have a corporate discount.

What's the benefit in lying to them about your intentions? Is it just because nobody wants to rent you a car one way in the first place?

My (very limited and probably outdated) understanding of the rental car industry is that the locations are franchises and the cars are owned by the franchise. If you rent a car round trip and leave it in some other city they have to deal with getting it back.

Yes, as the topic post detailed, no one was willing to rent a car one way.

"So... do you want us to report the car as stolen or not?"

It actually wouldn't count as theft! As I learned from another post on HN a few weeks back, it would be 'voluntary parting'.

According to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18332918 (surprisingly, on the SERP for "voluntary parting"), that's an insurer's term, not a lawyer's—but the police might still refuse to take a police report anyway.

(Though I do wonder if "Hi, I'm a photographer and I lent my camera on the internet" and "Hi, I'm with the loss department of a major national rental car company" get you different responses from the police for reasons entirely unrelated to the legal status of the misdeed.)

Ha, yeah, you're probably right.