Every time I book a car through Ctrip and pay, I always have to pay additional fees when picking up the car in the US, besides the $200 deposit. And what these fees are, and why they're charged, is never clearly explained to the renter. When the renter pays the deposit by swiping their credit card and signing, it means they agree to pay these fees. I saw a text message from the bank showing the $200 amount, which is the extra fee I had to pay.
This time was no exception. I paid the following extra fees:
1. Premium Roadside Service
$9.99/day, 6 days, total $59.94
2. Concert Fee Recovery (presumably franchise fee)
Total $6.66
3. The sum of the above two fees multiplied by 9.5% (Los Angeles sales tax)
Total $72.92
Furthermore, this time I found that the car pick-up and drop-off location was new. This new location seemed closer to the terminal than the previous one.
Previously, the car rental pick-up area was an open space with several single-story buildings for processing paperwork; many car rental companies operated from one central office.
This time, the shuttle bus took me to a new seven-story building with a much larger floor area. The car rental paperwork was done on the top floor, with each company handling their paperwork in separate offices. After completing the paperwork, you retrieve your car from your designated parking space on your assigned floor.