In reserving a car today for an upcoming trip, I see that they're quoting a 10% tax plus a 5% surcharge, plus the usual insurances.
What's this 5% surcharge? Another tax like the new 4% lodging tax?
"What's $100 in new taxes for these rich tourists anyhow? They'll pay it no matter what, right?"

Have no idea what a 5% surcharge is, other than transfer tax, which, as far as I can tell, is not supposed to be charged to the ultimate consumer. Frankly, my opinion is that some of the car guys kind of monkey around with taxes. I don't worry about it. I ask them to quote me a final price, including all taxes, and then compare the prices from there.

Copied from the rental car TTOL sponsor response:
"Thanks Mr. X, however the tax of 10% is of the Government , however the surcharge is 5%. The total tax and surcharge is applied to the total rent amount.
Will await your response."
Am I missing something obvious?

I am not familiar with any 4% lodging tax nor a 5% surcharge on rental cars. I would suggest starting out by asking the company/agent you are renting from. Without knowing the company you are dealing with, getting an accurate response is probably not going to happen.

Like Carol said, fees/taxes/charges can vary and the bottom line and customer service is what is important when making a comparison.

I would compare the bottom line and make a decision from there. Cheapest is not always best and to me, customer service means a lot.

As I said, compare the total bottom line price and make your decision based on that.

Lesley Bruce quoted $240 plus taxes, and then when I confirmed the reservation confirming the taxes at 10%, he responded that there's another 5% "surcharge". When I wrote back and asked what it was, I got a quick reply back that he had reservations that finally came through and he no longer had any cars available to rent.

It’s good advice to just ask for the bottom line quote including taxes, avoid the games, and just compare from there. The problem was that in this case, the quote of $240 plus taxes was not an honest quote, and quotes in that format “plus tax” should not be accepted by SXM visitors. The 5% surcharge is not a tax, and would have been a surprise when my credit card came when there’s little practical recourse.

Despite his good reputation and the good experiences I’ve had before as have many of us, I’m disappointed and don’t consider this a demonstration of ethics or honesty.

At least you got a reply. This is what I received Jan 27.

Good day,
Your email has well reached the office of Alain Arnell, DBA as Triplea car rental. This email is very important to us, and we will reply shortly. Do not worry if it take us a day or two, but we will respond.
Alain Arnell

I just looked over my copies of car rental for the last couple years and see no surcharges listed. I think the 10% tax is real but the 5% surcharge you were quoted falls into the category of why liability insurance ranges from $5 to $9 per day dependent upon car rental company. It's a competitive business and games are played.

Alain from TripleA adds 15% tax to the base rate...

Avis adds a $10 per rental Airport Tax above all else. It was explained to me that it was for "Recovery of fees associated with airport pickup". The fact that I walked from my boat over to their lot, which is not right at the airport, got me nowhere. I have to see on my receipts if Hertz and Sixt do it as well.

Not sure if this a good comparison but on an upcoming rental here in the states for 1 week I am being charged almost $60 in various taxes and airport charges. This amounts to about 24% of the initial rental price.

I should clarify my TripleA 15%...it is a tad less.

2 week rental..."airport recovery fee" $12
................"Island Tax".......... $45

"Tax" is around 9% with the airport fee added to that

Thanks for clarifying that, as I have never been charged 15% for taxes from AAA.

I have an rental agreement/receipt from a recent rental with Unity. There is a 10% tax, but no other surcharges.

Carol is 100% correct in saying to ask for the TOTAL (bottom-line) rental price. We were shocked recently when renting from our long-time person on here that his rates had risen substantially because the initial quote was WAY lower than the total price with 'taxes & fees' -- which he didn't give us until we asked. It would appear that 'surcharge' is becoming mighty popular -- and while it doesn't surprise me to see those things here in the US, we had never encountered them before in SXM. (Airport recovery fees are common everywhere, whether you get your car directly at the airport or are shuttled off airport grounds).

Ask for the total rental price and if you don't like it, try somewhere else. We ended up getting a quote of $116 less than our original quote for the same time period, same car. Both of these quotes were from respected car rental places on SXM. That's nothing to sneeze at, even if one has to take a 5-minute shuttle ride.

Just went on Priceline.com and entered a rental for 1 week at SXM in April, various prices came up but they all had taxes. I picked a $200 rental and here is the additional taxes I copied from the website:

APT ACCESS FEE 12.00 USD $12
GOVERNMENT TAX 5 PERCENT $10
STATE SURCHARGE 9.5 PERCENT $19
Total Taxes, Fees and Surcharges $41

So a $200 rental is $241 with "taxes".

I suggest you follow Carol's idea and ask for the TOTAL Cost so you don't feel "surprised" by additional fees.

State Surcharge? What state would that be?

If you go to a third party to book , some of the charges are from the third party.

SXM??? Wendell

Just checked my confirmation from Tropicana Car Rental and there is 10% tax, but no surcharge included. The optional insurance is liability and collision.

We are currently renting from AAA and the taxes charged were 12% total which included the "airport recovery fee". Alain quoted the 12% taxes when we reserved the car, so we were not surprised. We have always had great service from Alain.