You have a voucher with a rental company and are just about to redeem it. The nice guy on the other side of the counter asks: “Would you like to upgrade, for only an extra $5 a day? This way, you can get whatever car you want, instead of limiting yourself to whatever the voucher allows you.” Sounds good, right?

Pick the nicest car, sign the contract, and off you go. The surprise comes next month when you see a $500 charge on your credit card statement!

When requesting the justification from the leasing company, you will be told that the sum included fees such as “Road assurance” – for about $120 (meaning that if you have a flat tire they will come and fix it), or an “airport recovery charge” – for about $50, none of which you knew about.

How to avoid: well, this is your fault. All these taxes could be read with a magnifying glass on the bottom or on the back of the agreement you signed. Nonetheless, “only an extra $5” should really mean that-- or at least they could mention the additional taxes. Best advice: use the best rental companies; they are the few big names.