Aircraft rental fuel question?

Question

If I rent a plane at a local rental facility and the price is wet (fuel included) and take a trip where I would need to fuel up to return. If i pay for the fuel am i reimbursed by the rental place since I paid for wet rental, there is even a fuel surcharge on the rental.

Answer 1

This is a question that you need to ask your rental facility, and get the answer in writing BEFORE you rent the aircraft. That way there is no question about the reimbursement. What is normal (in most places) may not be normal at the FBO where you are renting.

Regards,

Dan

Answer 2

Definitely look into this before going.  Some FBOs in my area are no longer reimbursing for fuel bought elsewhere.

I pray that this will not lead to planes going down because the pilot only wanted to buy the minimum necessary to get back home from a remote airport.

Answer 3

I've flown at a few different places and they all work the same way. You give them the receipt for the fuel you purchases and they will credit you back that amount. If they charge a fuel surcharge you might have to pay it depending on the cost of the fuel you purchased.

A fuel surcharge is a way of offsetting the schools fuel cost. They set their rental prices based on a certain fuel cost, if fuel goes above that cost the additional amount is passed onto the customer. Some places update their surcharge daily to match that of the cost of fuel, others update their surcharge when fuel prices go beyond some predetermined limit. For example lets say they base their rental rates at $5.00 a gallon. If fuel goes to $5.25 then some places will charge .25 cents for each gallon you burned, based on fuel burn given in the POH compared to how many hours you flew. Other places will say there will be a .25 cent surcharge for any fuel cost between $5.15 and $5.35.

How you will be charged is something I couldn't guess. It might work out to your advantage, or they might stick it to you. just depends on how they want to work it. But do find ways to save your school some money, do self serve and maybe fly with a lower power setting. If you can show them you burned X number of gallons, and that number is lower than what the POH shows then you will probably be able to get them to take a few bucks off your surcharge bill.  

Answer 4

Generally speaking they reimburse fuel at their own rates. So if they're selling it at 4.00/gallon and you fill up somewhere else at 5.00/gallon, they'll reimburse you for the 4.00/gallon.

Now that fuel prices are changing pretty rapidly, how they reimburse for a significant increase or decrease in prices may mess things up, but count on paying either the higher or most recent price.