Did you know you can rent a car AND help save the environment at the same time? Through the use of a car rental carbon offset fee, eco-conscious travelers can replace the carbon they emit with a carbon offset fee. In this week’s installment (and in honor of Earth Day, which was yesterday) of Travel Tip Tuesday we explain what this fee is and how you can use it (or avoid it).
Hey, we are hitting rental car tips hard this month. Thus far this month we’ve shared the following Rental Car related travel tips (on Tuesday’s, of course):
- Travel Tip Tuesday #11: Never Prepay your Gas with a Rental Car
- Travel Tip Tuesday #12: Skip the GPS when renting a car
- Travel Tip Tuesday #13: Using off-airport rental car companies could save you some extra money
And, of course, you can read all of the preceding Travel Tip Tuesday Posts here.
Travel Tip Tuesday: Save the Trees by using a Car Rental Carbon Offset Fee
I am going to be upfront with my readers: we are not huge tree huggers over here at the CBoardingGroup. But, don’t get me wrong – we’ve got no problems making smart choices and caring for our planet which is why we are bringing this week’s travel tip to you.
With a carbon offset fee, car renters can balance (or offset) the carbon emitted from your rental car by paying to have trees planted or by supporting other eco friendly projects. By adding a small fee to the cost of your rental (see pic, below, from National Car Rental), renters can choose to pay for the replacement of carbon as part of their rental expenses.
C02 Offset Fee from National Car Rental
Most rental car companies have supported a CO2 Offset fee for several years now and many partner with a company called TerraPass which will plant trees, deploy wind projects or other sustainable and environmentally friendly projects.
TerraPass partners with both rental car companies and many other travel companies (like Airlines) to provide a simple means to give back a little.
In all cases (that we know of) the Car Rental Carbon Offset Fee is optional and must be selected by the renter when renting the vehicle. For business travelers be sure to consult with your company policy on whether you are allowed to utilized this capability. Many companies prefer to save the money and explicitly prohibit their employees from participating.
The Carbon Offset Fee goes by a few names, noted below, so keep an eye out for it when renting your car:
- C02 Offset Fee
- Carbon Offset Fee
- Carbon Fee
In all cases we found the fee was $1.25 USD – a one time fee for the term of the rental.
Rental Car Companies that offer C02 Offset Fee
Here is a list of several rental car companies that offer the C02 Offset Fee:
- National Car Rental
- Alamo
- Enterprise Rent-a-Car
- Hertz
- Avis (although were unable to find details on their program)
- El Monte RV Rental
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Goodbye Travel Tip Tuesday! (for this week anyway…)
We hope you enjoyed this eco-friendly travel tip. Stay tuned for all of our travel tip Tuesday’s each week as we bring you a single useful (and practical) travel tip.
Check back next Tuesday for our last Travel Tip Tuesday article on rental cars for this month!
If you can’t wait for more Rental Car related travel tips and hacks check out our 9 Secret Rental Car Hacks You Need to Know
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2 comments
Thanks for your tips and suggestion, I am looking forward to read more.
Loved this post. Very helpful.