( Tribune Media Services ) -- Look out for cancellation penalties . Beware of energy surcharges . And watch for facilities fees . Car rental firms are hemorrhaging money faster than oil leaking from a cracked gasket . No , not on your airline ticket . Not on your hotel folio . You may find these new extras on your next car rental bill . Beleaguered auto rental firms are quietly adding new surcharges designed to lift revenues in a recessionary economy . To get an idea of how absurd it 's becoming meet Jim Swofford . He found a mysterious $ 5 fee on his Hertz bill recently , which a representative described as a cancellation fee . Car rental companies typically do n't charge their customers for cancellations , so Swofford , who frequently rents from Hertz , said he did n't want another car he 'd reserved for later . `` That 'll be $ 25 , '' the agent told him . `` So I jokingly said I would not cancel but just be a no-show , '' he remembers . `` She said that would result in a $ 50 fee . '' Or talk to Eric Hegwer , a photographer from Austin , Texas , who spotted a $ 1 `` energy surcharge '' on his Hertz car rental bill recently . `` My previous rentals did n't have one , '' he says . I asked Hertz about the two new surcharges . Company spokeswoman Paula Rivera told me the cancellation fee , which was added in December , applied only to prepaid reservations and is meant to `` reimburse Hertz for the paperwork and billing involved with a prepaid reservation . '' The fee also covers part of the company 's cost of holding vehicles for prepaid reservations . The energy surcharge , which was added in October , bills all rentals in most states an additional $ 1 a day `` to offset the increasing costs of utilities , bus fuel , oil and grease , '' she said . It 's easy to see why car rental companies are taking these steps . The industry is hemorrhaging money faster than oil leaking from a cracked gasket . Hertz lost $ 73 million in the fourth quarter , and competitor Avis lost $ 121 million in the same period . They fared much better than Advantage Rent A Car , which filed for bankruptcy protection in December and whose assets were sold to Hertz for a reported $ 33 million . Every penny counts for the car rental companies . Then again , in this dreadful economy , who is n't counting every cent ? Shocking anecdotes aside , there 's a pattern here , and you do n't have to be an investigative reporter or a conspiracy theory-obsessed columnist to see it . Just read the annual reports issued by one of the publicly traded car rental companies . ( Look for the form 10-K and then scroll down to `` Legal Proceedings '' for an enlightening read . ) They 're littered with lawsuits over fees , surcharges and add-ons that motorists say broadsided them when they rented a car . A representative of the American Car Rental Association , a trade group for the car rental business , says these fees are essential to the industry 's survival . But that does n't give companies a license to surprise their customers . `` The car rental company has an obligation to clearly and concisely explain all fees and charges at the time of rental , `` says Robert Barton , the association 's president and chief operating officer for U-Save Car & Truck Rental . How to stay ahead of these extras ? Knowing is half the battle . Here are five of the newer charges that could sideswipe you on your next trip . A fee for something you 've already paid for . This is one of the more creative new ways of separating you from your money : charging you twice for the same thing . `` Three times now , with three different companies , they have tried to charge me for gas when I 've returned the car with a full tank and claimed it was an honest mistake , '' says Sid Savara , a software engineer in Oahu , Hawaii . `` It leads me to suspect they are just tacking the fee on and most people are n't noticing or complaining about it . '' Boston-based author John DiPietro brought his own E-ZPass toll transponder when he rented a car in Massachusetts recently , but Budget billed him for the toll roads anyway . `` We 're still trying to resolve it , '' he told me . Now more than ever , it 's important to be on the lookout for duplicate charges on your rental bill . A fee for something that should come with the car . Such as tires . Enterprise recently charged one of Edgar Dworsky 's readers a $ 2 `` tire fee . '' He edits a Web site called Consumer World , and like me , he hears a lot of horror stories from travelers . What 's a tire fee ? Enterprise told Dworsky it was required by the state of Florida . `` I guess the consumer advice is to order a car without tires next time , '' he joked . But other fees ca n't be blamed on the state , including surcharges that cover the cost of oil and grease . It might be interesting to show up at a car rental counter with four tires and a can of Pennzoil , and ask to have those fees waived . You think they would do it ? Yeah , neither do I . Surcharge on surcharges . Scott Lerman found a `` privilege fee '' on his last car rental in Florida , which applied to rentals picked up within 48 hours of flight arrival . `` Never seen anything like it , '' says the Livingston , New Jersey-based freelance publicist . ( The fee covers the costs of operating an off-airport location . ) Other renters have reported seeing a similar surcharge combined with what 's often called a concession recovery fee , which amounts to a surcharge on top of a surcharge . At best , car rental companies are coming up with new and confusing names for their fees . At worst , they 're charging us a fee on top of another fee . Next thing you know , there 'll be a surcharge on a surcharge on top of a surcharge . Do n't laugh -- I 'm sure they 've already thought of it . The stadium tax . Fees for new stadiums and concert halls are technically not new , and technically they 're not even controlled by car rental companies . Except that municipalities keep coming up with new ones and car rental companies do n't lobby hard enough to have the fees removed . So rental firms are not completely blameless . Seth Mendelsohn , the president of a food store in Boulder , Colorado , found a $ 4 `` downtown arena '' fee on his bill when he visited Kansas City recently . `` Apparently the city is trying to pay for part of the Sprint Center through car rental fees , '' he told me . There are dozens -- perhaps hundreds -- of these so-called stadium taxes across the country . And new ones keep popping up . One of the latest is a car rental tax in Gwinnett County , Georgia , to build a stadium for the Atlanta Braves . And just last week , legislators proposed a $ 2 tax to fund commuter rail service in South Florida . Extra driver fees . These are n't brand new , but the way in which they 're being enforced has changed recently . When Carol Stevenson and her sister rented a car from Payless in Phoenix , they were asked to pay $ 9 a day more if Stevenson 's sister wanted to drive . `` And that did n't include their insurance waiver , '' she remembers . Why charge for an extra driver ? The simple answer : because they can . In the past , car rental agents looked the other way when two drivers showed up to rent the same car . But now , with money tight , they 're applying more pressure to authorize a second driver . If you do n't fork over the money and happen to get into an accident , they warn , you wo n't be covered by their insurance . Of course , that assumes you buy their overpriced collision-damage waiver in the first place . Odds are , your credit card or car insurance offers comparable coverage . Most of these fees can be avoided by pre-paying for your car through one of the `` opaque '' travel sites such as Hotwire.com or Priceline.com , or by buying through an online travel agency that guarantees its rates . But car rental companies are trying to find a way to stick it to customers with prepaid vouchers , too . I 'll have more on that in a future column . Where will it end ? Something tells me we 're not there yet . Not even close . ( Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine . This column originally appeared on MSNBC.com . You can read more travel tips on his blog , elliott.org or e-mail him at celliott @ ngs.org ) . © 2009 CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES , INC .
Beleaguered car rental firms are quietly adding `` absurd '' new surcharges . The latest example of this is from the company that operates a fleet of cars in New York City. ` privilege fee '' Economy resulted in Hertz losing $ 73 million in Q4 ; Avis lost $ 121 million .