If You Rent From Budget, Plan to Drive!

Now, here's a new one: A penalty from a rental car company if you drive fewer than 75 miles in the course of renting a car.  Budget Rent A Car announced it will bill you $9.50 for only driving a few miles in order to offset the cost of gas.  The theory is, if someone drives fewer than 75 miles, the gas guage may still read "full" when the car is returned.  But it'll still need topping off.

I think this is pretty cheesy.  My suggestion: Require drivers to show a receipt reflecting the purchase of a couple of gallons of gas if they've put just a few miles on a rental car.  I mean, $9.50 is the equivalent of nearly four gallons of gas.  I've rented a car and only driven it 20 or 30 miles.  In which case, I'm getting ripped off.