text: in case you haven't figured it out by now, this is an up-sell joint.  you make a reservation, they try to sell you more.\n\neven though i live in vegas, i strongly prefer taking a rental car into death valley, so looking first at kayak**, and then going directly to the payless website (where it was 10% cheaper!), i got a reservation.  two days for $32 TOTAL.  \n\ngreat.\n\ni take my utility bill and proof of collision/comprehensive insurance (required for locals) and immediately walk up to the reservation desk.  my too-big-dress-shirt helper-clerk (daniel) starts chatting me up.  ho ho ho.  hey hey hey.  all friendly.  he doesn't ask to see my documentation.\n\n\"i don't need any insurance.  i'll return it full.\"\n\ni'm only half paying attention to what he's saying until we get to his part, \"so that'll be $82 total.\"\n\n\"no.  what have you put on there?  my online amount was $32.  whatever's extra needs to come off.\"\n\n\"a compact?  you want a compact?  you don't need more room?  you don't want a hybrid?\"\n\nso off comes the vehicle upgrade.  and the gasoline (which had been ignored).  and and the regular insurance.\n\n\"it's $42.\"\n\n\"no.  that's not my online quote.\"\n\n\"what you see online is an ESTIMATE!\"\n\n\"what else is on there?  you've got something on there i didn't order.\"\n\n\"online quotes are an ESTIMATE!  that's an ESTIMATE.\"\n\nit's times like this that some of the very funniest things i ever say happen.  but they're funny only in the you're-watching-it-on-TV sense of the word, not while you're actually experiencing it yourself.\n\n\"i have a degree in applied mathematics.  i'm probably more familiar with the concept of 'estimate' than you are.  what have you added here?  there's something else.\"\n\n\"oh, so you don't want the roadside assistance for $5/day?\"\n\n\"no.  you realize that when you click a button online that that's a contract, right?  you're agreeing to a contract.  that has legal meaning.  and when you're adding this stuff you're adding things i haven't agreed to.  i mean, you get that, right?  like, does the nevada bureau of consumer protection know you guys do this?\"\n\n\"i don't know, man.  i don't write the contracts.  i just fill out forms...\"\n\nnot exactly.  what you DO is upsell.\n\n\"...it'll be $32.\"\n\n\"now isn't that funny?  the ESTIMATE turned out to be EXACTLY right.  i guess estimates are closer than you'd think, huh?\"\n\n\nhaving said all that, the car was cheap.  i looked close at it, added a whole bunch of damage they hadn't caught originally and turned it in with no problem (in their 59 minute grace period, no less).\n\njust say \"no,\" repeatedly, and you'll be fine.  or pay two bucks more somewhere else and don't worry about it.\n\n\n*(cheaptickets would have been even cheaper.)