What Are The Types of Rental Car Fuel Policies?

A fuel policy is the rule a rental company sets for how much fuel should be in the tank when you pick up the car, and how much you need to return it with. The policy you're assigned affects your total cost more than most renters realize.

Full-to-full

You receive the car with a full tank and are expected to return it full. This is generally the cheapest policy if you fill up yourself near the return point, since you only ever pay the local pump price for exactly the fuel you used. The risk is that if you don't return it full, or can't find a nearby gas station, the company often charges a premium per-liter or per-gallon rate plus a service fee for topping it off themselves.

Full-to-empty (sometimes called "prepaid fuel")

You prepay for a full tank upfront and can return the car with any amount of fuel, including empty. It's convenient if your flight or return timing makes it hard to find fuel before drop-off, but it's almost always more expensive overall, since you pay for a full tank regardless of how much you actually use, at a rate usually above the local pump price.

Other policies you might see

 

• Same-to-same: return the car with the same fuel level it had at pickup
• Pre-purchase with partial refund: a rarer middle-ground option, refunding unused fuel at a reduced rate

 

Which to choose

Full-to-full is almost always the better deal if you're confident you can refuel nearby before returning the car. Full-to-empty only makes sense if you genuinely can't refuel before drop-off, such as with a very early flight or a remote return location, and you're confident you'll use most of the tank.