In short
- Car hire businesses must include every mandatory fee in the headline price; optional extras, usage charges and tolls you pay to an authority can sit outside it.[1][2]
- The usual extras after a rental are damage up to the excess, fuel, tolls and fines with admin fees, late returns, kilometres over a cap and cleaning.
- Before charging for damage, a business is expected to give you an itemised bill and a fair chance to dispute it.[2]
- Card surcharges on eftpos, Mastercard and Visa are removed from 1 October 2026, but booking and service fees aren't covered.[3]
- At Rentzy every charge is on the fees and charges page, and any charge after a return is sent with its evidence before it's collected.
What does the law say about the advertised price?
The ACCC tells car hire businesses to include all mandatory fees in the advertised headline price, and not to hide costs in the fine print of the contract.[1] The ACCC's industry guide puts it more formally: a business must not state a price that is only part of the cost without also showing the single, minimum total price it can work out.[2]
Two things are allowed to sit outside that total. Optional extras, which you choose whether to pay, don't have to be included, and neither do amounts you have to pay to an authority yourself, such as road tolls.[2] Fees that depend on how you use the car can't be in the headline either, but the ACCC expects the business to be clear about how they're calculated.[1]
So the "hidden" costs are rarely secret. They're the usage charges and extras that the price you were quoted can't include, and the way to avoid surprises is to know which ones apply before you sign.
Which charges can turn up after a rental?
| Charge | When it applies | Ask before you book |
|---|---|---|
| Damage up to the excess | Any damage during the hire, whoever caused it | The excess per incident, and when it isn't the limit |
| Fuel | Car returned with less fuel than at pickup | The rate per litre or per part of a tank |
| Tolls and an admin fee | Every toll you drive through | Whether there's a fee per toll as well as the toll |
| Fines and an admin fee | Parking, speed or camera fines | The fee per fine, and whether the fine is transferred to you instead |
| Late return | Car back after the agreed time | Any grace period, and how late time is charged |
| Kilometres over an allowance | Driving past a daily or weekly cap | The cap and the rate per kilometre |
| Cleaning | Car returned dirtier than normal use | What counts as beyond normal |
| Extra driver, young driver, one-way | Depends on the company | Whether they apply at all, and the price |
The ACCC's own pre-hire questions cover several of these: the total cost including liability cover and extras, any gaps in cover (it gives single-car accidents as an example), who may drive, whether an early return gets a partial refund, and whether returning the car somewhere else costs more.[1]
Why the excess isn't always the most you'll pay
Damage is where the largest bills come from. Rental contracts usually exclude some kinds of damage from cover, or charge extra to cover them,[1] and the ACCC's industry guide says that where the headline excess isn't a true ceiling, the business should make that clear.[2] Ask which kinds of damage are excluded, and read that clause before you drive.
The industry guide also expects a business to give you an itemised bill, in plain language, and a reasonable chance to dispute it before taking money for damage.[2] It lists terms that may be unfair, including keeping the whole bond for any breach even when the breach caused no loss, and charging your card without notice or a chance to dispute.[2]
The strongest evidence is your own. The ACCC suggests inspecting the car with a staff member, photographing existing damage, having it written on the contract, and photographing the car again when you return it.[1] How the bond and excess fit together is explained in bond, deposit and excess.
Tolls, fines and the fees on top
Toll charges are paid to the toll operator, so they can sit outside the quoted price.[2] What varies is how the rental company passes them on: some add an administration fee to every toll, which adds up on a daily commute through a tunnel. Deductions from your card for tolls, fines or damage that you weren't told about are a common source of disputes, the ACCC's guide notes.[2]
Fines work similarly. For camera and parking fines, the company either pays and recharges you, usually with a fee, or transfers the fine into your name. Driving past a toll point without a tag, or parking carelessly, is the easiest hidden cost to avoid. Brisbane's toll roads are explained in tolls in a Brisbane rental car.
Can a rental company add a card surcharge?
Not on most cards any more. From 1 October 2026 surcharges are removed for eftpos, Mastercard and Visa, the three card networks the Reserve Bank regulates, and American Express, UnionPay and PayPal have also decided to remove surcharging.[3] The change doesn't cover booking fees, service fees or weekend and public holiday surcharges, so those can still appear.[3]
If you're charged a card surcharge anyway, raise it with the business first, then tell the card network shown on your receipt; misleading pricing can be reported to your state consumer agency or the ACCC.[3] When each payment is taken during a rental is covered in paying for a rental car.
If the rental is for work, keep every invoice and receipt, including the toll and fuel ones: can you claim a rental car on tax? explains what the ATO lets you claim.
What Rentzy can charge after a rental
Every charge is listed on fees and charges. At the time of writing:
- Fuel. Return the car with the fuel level it had at pickup; below that, fuel is charged at A$15 for each eighth of a tank.
- Tolls. Every Rentzy car has a Linkt e-tag, so you drive through toll points as normal: you don't need your own tag or a pass. The tolls are recharged to you weekly, at cost plus the A$5 admin fee per toll in the rental terms.
- Fines. Fines that reach Rentzy are recharged to you weekly with the A$55 admin fee per fine, or nominated to you as the driver where the law allows.
- Kilometres. Unlimited kilometres: no kilometre limit and no charge per kilometre.
- Late return. Returns more than 30 minutes late are charged as extra rental time at your rental's rate.
- Damage. You're liable up to the renter's excess of A$2,500 per incident, more in the cases listed in clause 9 of the rental terms.
- Bond. A refundable A$500 security bond is paid at pickup, separate from your rent. We return it within 7 business days of the return, less any charges allowed by the rental terms.
- Checking the bill. We inspect the car within 48 hours of return and send any proposed charge with its evidence; you have 72 hours to dispute it before it's collected.
- Drivers. Only the hirer named on the booking may drive the car: Rentzy doesn't add second or additional drivers.
Fuel is the charge most renters can avoid outright: paying less for fuel in Brisbane shows how to find a lower-priced servo on the way back.
Sources
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC): Car hire (read 5 November 2026)
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and state and territory consumer agencies: Rental cars: An industry guide to the Australian Consumer Law (read 5 November 2026)
- Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA): Frequently Asked Questions – Removal of Card Payment Surcharges From 1 October 2026 (read 5 November 2026)
Written by the Rentzy team at Rentzy Car Rentals. Rentzy prices, fees and rules in this guide come from our published terms and update with them; rules set by others (roads, tolls, licences, transport) are from the official pages above, as read on the dates shown. Something out of date? Tell us.
