(Tribune Media Services) -- Look out for cancellation penalties. Beware of energy surcharges. And watch for facilities fees.



Hertz lost $73 million in the fourth quarter of 2008.



No, not on your airline ticket. Not on your hotel folio. You may find these new extras on your next car rental bill.



Beleaguered auto rental firms are quietly adding new surcharges designed to lift revenues in a recessionary economy.



To get an idea of how absurd it's becoming meet Jim Swofford. He found a mysterious $5 fee on his Hertz bill recently, which a representative described as a cancellation fee. Car rental companies typically don't charge their customers for cancellations, so Swofford, who frequently rents from Hertz, said he didn't want another car he'd reserved for later.



"That'll be $25," the agent told him.



"So I jokingly said I would not cancel but just be a no-show," he remembers. "She said that would result in a $50 fee."



Or talk to Eric Hegwer, a photographer from Austin, Texas, who spotted a $1 "energy surcharge" on his Hertz car rental bill recently. "My previous rentals didn't have one," he says.



I asked Hertz about the two new surcharges. Company spokeswoman Paula Rivera told me the cancellation fee, which was added in December, applied only to prepaid reservations and is meant to "reimburse Hertz for the paperwork and billing involved with a prepaid reservation."



The fee also covers part of the company's cost of holding vehicles for prepaid reservations. The energy surcharge, which was added in October, bills all rentals in most states an additional $1 a day "to offset the increasing costs of utilities, bus fuel, oil and grease," she said.



It's easy to see why car rental companies are taking these steps. The industry is hemorrhaging money faster than oil leaking from a cracked gasket. Hertz lost $73 million in the fourth quarter, and competitor Avis lost $121 million in the same period. They fared much better than Advantage Rent A Car, which filed for bankruptcy protection in December and whose assets were sold to Hertz for a reported $33 million.



Every penny counts for the car rental companies. Then again, in this dreadful economy, who isn't counting every cent?



Shocking anecdotes aside, there's a pattern here, and you don't have to be an investigative reporter or a conspiracy theory-obsessed columnist to see it. Just read the annual reports issued by one of the publicly traded car rental companies. (Look for the form 10-K and then scroll down to "Legal Proceedings" for an enlightening read.) They're littered with lawsuits over fees, surcharges and add-ons that motorists say broadsided them when they rented a car.



A representative of the American Car Rental Association, a trade group for the car rental business, says these fees are essential to the industry's survival. But that doesn't give companies a license to surprise their customers.



"The car rental company has an obligation to clearly and concisely explain all fees and charges at the time of rental, " says Robert Barton, the association's president and chief operating officer for U-Save Car & Truck Rental.



How to stay ahead of these extras? Knowing is half the battle. Here are five of the newer charges that could sideswipe you on your next trip.



A fee for something you've already paid for



This is one of the more creative new ways of separating you from your money: charging you twice for the same thing. "Three times now, with three different companies, they have tried to charge me for gas when I've returned the car with a full tank and claimed it was an honest mistake," says Sid Savara, a software engineer in Oahu, Hawaii. "It leads me to suspect they are just tacking the fee on and most people aren't noticing or complaining about it."



Boston-based author John DiPietro brought his own E-ZPass toll
what do charges include? How much did Hertz lose because of the economy? what are the new surcharges? How much did hertz and avis lose? What are car rental firms sneakily adding?
cancellation fee, $73 million energy $73 million new surcharges
question: what do charges include?, answer: cancellation fee, | question: How much did Hertz lose because of the economy?, answer: $73 million | question: what are the new surcharges?, answer: energy | question: How much did hertz and avis lose?, answer: $73 million | question: What are car rental firms sneakily adding?, answer: new surcharges