I think it's time to quit Hertz

KaiGywer said:
Haven't physically tried Sixt yet, but have a couple reservations pending for trips later this year. What's nice is they will status match Hertz President's Circle (maybe Gold, idk) and their prices are much lower. Also I like that I can pick "BMW or similar" rather than the standard rental fleet.
Click to expand...

Used Sixt extensively in Europe and always been pleased. It’s been a decade or so back though.
 
Zeldman said:
I would be trying to describe to some folks what it was like to jumpseat between Texas and Alaska every month.

When I would get to the part where I would say there were times I had to do the O.J. Simpson thing across the airport to get to a flight, folks would look at me strange and take a step back.... ''You would murder people at the airport.??...'' :nonod::lol:
Click to expand...

Well, that does make sense.
 
Knock on wood, I haven't had any issues with Hertz.

Well, a couple of months ago, I was in HNL, and the Gold area (pick your car) had 4 Camaro SS cars. NOT exactly what I want for Honolulu. Oh well, I survived. :D

I did have to use Alamo spring 2022 in SAT. We did have to wait about 10 - 15 minutes for them to finish washing and prepping a car for us. But no one else had cars.

I have used Sixt in Europe and things went quite well.
 
Just supposition on my part, not inside knowledge - but I think with so much competition, and likely razor thin margins, it may make sense for them to have a very high "occupancy" rate for their vehicles, even to the point of over booking, accepting walk-ups, and angering later-arriving customers. My guess is they have an algorithm taking in to account no-show rates, early return rates, late return rates, breakdowns, etc. But maybe not sophisticated enough to parse it by location, or to "protect" reservations made by Gold members.

PS
I rented from Budget at DCA last year - after I got to my hotel I saw the tags were expired. . .
 
Last edited:
Sundancer said:
Just supposition on my part, not inside knowledge - but I think with so much competition, and likely razor thin margins, it may make sense for them to have a very high "occupancy" rate for their vehicles, even to the point of over booking, accepting walk-ups, and angering later-arriving customers. My guess is they have an algorithm taking in to account no-show rates, early return rates, late return rates, breakdowns, etc. But maybe not sophisticated enough to parse it by location, or to "protect" reservations made by Gold members.

PS
I rented from Budget at DCA last year - after I got to my hotel I saw the tags were expired. . .
Click to expand...
Otherwise known as maximizing short term revenue to meet a year end performance metric, at the expense of long term high value customer loyalty.
 
Sundancer said:
I saw the tags were expired.
Click to expand...

I rented a Hertz car in KFAR last year and when I got to the hotel, I noticed there were no tags on the car at all. I called the FBO (Hertz was already closed for the night) and asked what’s up with that and they said not to worry. It’s a brand new car and doesn’t need tags for the first few weeks. If the police stops me, I should just tell them it’s a Hertz car. Not sure it would have been that easy but luckily I didn’t get stopped going back to the airport the next morning.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
I rented a Hertz car in KFAR last year and when I got to the hotel, I noticed there were no tags on the car at all. I called the FBO (Hertz was already closed for the night) and asked what’s up with that and they said not to worry. It’s a brand new car and doesn’t need tags for the first few weeks. If the police stops me, I should just tell them it’s a Hertz car. Not sure it would have been that easy but luckily I didn’t get stopped going back to the airport the next morning.
Click to expand...
I’ve told the story before, but Avis did me one worse.

On a car that they knew was going to Mexico, Avis forged, with a sharpie, later expiration dates on the expired paper temp tag, which was also not the same as the tag number on the vehicle contract in the glove box.

The Mexican Federale who detained me for an extended period was not amused.

After I was un-detained I made a beeline back to Avis and gave the local manager hell. He told me I shouldn’t worry because they “do that to a lot of cars and would have paid my ticket if I had received one.”

That event likely could have been more than a ticket, but Avis corporate either didn’t care or wouldn’t tell me how they resolved it.
 
Ventucky Red said:
IMPO, It all has to do with the person working the counter and whether are they willing to go the extra effort.

While back, I interviewed a young lady for a sales position. One of her former jobs was working for Marriott, where she taught new employees customer service and customer relations. As she put it, I had to teach common sense things. "The one issue she brought up is people don't know how to say, "I am sorry we made a mistake, let me see how I can fix this for you..."
Click to expand...
That is the attitude that made me a Titanium Marriot customer. Back when I owned my business, we had daily morning meetings. Around 15-20 people for about 15 minutes. More than once my message was "Be like Marriott".
 
I had a similar story in Israel with the Hertz counterpart there. Reserved a car, they didn't have it. What I learned, and this might be true for the US as well, is that during COVID car rental companies really struggled to stay afloat and sold off a lot of their cars just to keep cash flow going. Then when COVID let up and people started traveling again they've been very slow to re-stock their inventory of cars. Not an excuse at all, but I think it makes sense. They have not really pushed hard to get their availability up as people have resumed travel.
 
Lawson_Stone said:
I had a similar story in Israel with the Hertz counterpart there. Reserved a car, they didn't have it. What I learned, and this might be true for the US as well, is that during COVID car rental companies really struggled to stay afloat and sold off a lot of their cars just to keep cash flow going. Then when COVID let up and people started traveling again they've been very slow to re-stock their inventory of cars. Not an excuse at all, but I think it makes sense. They have not really pushed hard to get their availability up as people have resumed travel.
Click to expand...

Covid is so 2021. What have they been doing the past two years?
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Covid is so 2021. What have they been doing the past two years?
Click to expand...

100% agree, but the capital outlay to build back up a large inventory of cars nationwide would possibly be quite large. And I guess they already spent their COVID loans on other stuff...
 
Lawson_Stone said:
100% agree, but the capital outlay to build back up a large inventory of cars nationwide would possibly be quite large. And I guess they already spent their COVID loans on other stuff...
Click to expand...

Executive bonuses? Lol.

Baked Potato said:
Cars are a bit more expensive than they were before COVID
Click to expand...

Do they actually buy these cars or are they on lease?
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Do they actually buy these cars or are they on lease?
Click to expand...
Oh, I actually have no idea. I'm not sure what kind of a deal one could get on a lease in 2021 (during the big chip shortage) vs an outright purchase.

It's likely a combination of low inventory and fewer people wanting to work customer service jobs now.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Do they actually buy these cars or are they on lease?
Click to expand...
When I was still in the auto industry, there were very close relationships between OEMs and rental companies.

Contract pricing to rentals was manipulated to boost specific model sales and head off Wall Street share dumping in slow times, or to pad the Ford vs Chevy sales numbers for a given month.

Per the industry article below, it looks like that still happens, plus, coming out of Covid the rental companies were competing with dealers as supplies got short. And the dealers were willing to pay more.

https://www.wardsauto.com/industry-news/rental-companies-struggle-replenish-fleets-amid-covid
 
Since COVID has been over, cars and trucks have been in short supply. And prices stupidly high.

They buy them. And then sell them after about 1 year.

Also not all states use temp tags. Some have no tag until the metal ones come.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
I rented a Hertz car in KFAR last year and when I got to the hotel, I noticed there were no tags on the car at all. I called the FBO (Hertz was already closed for the night) and asked what’s up with that and they said not to worry. It’s a brand new car and doesn’t need tags for the first few weeks. If the police stops me, I should just tell them it’s a Hertz car. Not sure it would have been that easy but luckily I didn’t get stopped going back to the airport the next morning.
Click to expand...

ND doesn't do temp tags on the outside of the vehicle, we have a piece of paper in the rear windshield until the plates arrive. That being said, most rental cars here are titled in ID or SD once the plates arrive.
 
Hertz continues….
-threaten to ban descendants (!)
-charging Tesla rentals for unfilled gas tanks

 
I gave up on Hertz 25 years ago.

You be the judge:
I fly into Minneapolis, IBM Hertz Gold Club.
My car isn't there, but they have a substitute. A Ford something. Meh. It has wheels and the engine runs.
I hop in, drive to by buddy's house in Eden Prairie, open the door to get out and the entire driver side door falls off into the street.
Hertz got all ****y when I refused to drive it back to Minneapolis to exchange it. The Eden Prairie office refused to talk to me. Or give me a new car.
I called my IBM office, they called Hertz and cancelled the contract on the car. I picked up a car at Avis.
We put the door in the back seat and left it on the street.
The car sat on the street, with no door for 4 days before Hertz came to pick it up.
 
It's all well & good to swear off X rental car company, but often there's only one option at a destination. I had great service from hertz recently in Nevada. They were the only option that would deliver to the airport, and also the cheapest. I got a Model 3 for the cost of a couple Uber rides. I have also had them try to screw me on a refueling charge in the past... you just have to watch them like all the big rental car companies.
 
I think it comes down to each location and if you don't have local knowledge, you just don't know. I had bad experiences with Hertz and good experiences with Hertz since I posted this thread. Same with Enterprise, Avis, etc. It comes down to who the manager is. Heck, it even comes down to who is working at the time of arrival and departure.

Just this past weekend, I rented with Enterprise. They were delivering the car to the FBO. I arrived right on time, but no car at the FBO. I called them, no answer. Kept calling them for 10 minutes until someone finally answers giving me BS excuses why the car wasn't delivered. "It shows the FBO is closed" (it's not), "your credit card isn't on file" (it certainly is), "we tried calling you" (they didn't), "we emailed you" (yes, like 30 minutes prior to arrival when I was busy flying a plane), and so forth. I asked to speak to the manager, yelled at him on the phone. He apologized and said he'll be there in 10 minutes. He brought me a brand new Mercedes SUV although I booked just a simple, standard SUV. That was like a $50 per day free upgrade. They're forgiven.
 
JOhnH said:
That is the attitude that made me a Titanium Marriot customer. Back when I owned my business, we had daily morning meetings. Around 15-20 people for about 15 minutes. More than once my message was "Be like Marriott".
Click to expand...
That is why I am a Lifetime Titanium. :D

They FIX things.
 
Two recent aviation related rentals.

1) KMCI commercial for Garmin training. Hertz. I am President's Club so go to line, pick the car you like. A whole line of Malibus. But a spot of color, OMG, bright red Challenger. I enjoyed it. When I returned the car, the guy saw that I had a rollator, put everything back in the trunk and drove me to the terminal I did not have to walk, ride the shuttle, and walk more. THAT is service.

2) KMRH - flew my Mooney in. I had booked through Enterprise for FBO delivery. I got a call the day before confirming my rental. I reminded them it was for FBO pickup. Found out that it would an extra $75. Not happy, but oh well. Car was at FBO, and every thing else was smooth.
 
Pinecone said:
Two recent aviation related rentals.

1) KMCI commercial for Garmin training. Hertz. I am President's Club so go to line, pick the car you like. A whole line of Malibus. But a spot of color, OMG, bright red Challenger. I enjoyed it. When I returned the car, the guy saw that I had a rollator, put everything back in the trunk and drove me to the terminal I did not have to walk, ride the shuttle, and walk more. THAT is service.

2) KMRH - flew my Mooney in. I had booked through Enterprise for FBO delivery. I got a call the day before confirming my rental. I reminded them it was for FBO pickup. Found out that it would an extra $75. Not happy, but oh well. Car was at FBO, and every thing else was smooth.
Click to expand...
There is an FBO delivery specific phone number for Enterprise. No confusion booking through that division.
 
Hertz and enterprise seem to be in competition to see who can upset their customers more. Booking on the national booking service doesn’t guarantee a car will be there when you arrive.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top