Rental car woes

bcool

bcool

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Bud
Have any of you reserved a rental car only to have one not available
when you arrived? If so, what did you do for transportation?

We reserved a car at Hot Springs with Enterprise for a 9:30am arrival yesterday morning. There was a message on the confirmation to the effect that they were consolidating their offices and they would call us to confirm the arrangements. Well, no call from them (at least they didn't leave a message) so we merrily arrived at the airport expecting a car to be waiting for us.

We mentioned to the line guy that we had an Enterprise car but he said they closed the office in the terminal back in March, but maybe they dropped it off for us. Nope, no car.

Called the local Enterprise office and they said "you were a no-show (OK, it was 10:00, but really?) and that all they had was a 15 passenger van.

I pulled up the Hertz app on my phone and reserved a standard car at the terminal-based Hertz and walked over there. They had ONE remaining car, but of a higher class than what I reserved. I took it, and they charged me the higher rate. I asked the gal about getting the lower rate but she said nope. Whatever, I was just glad to get a car.

So, I guess if Hertz didn't have a car we would have to get back in our plane and fly home. It wouldn't have been practical to Uber, so we would have been stranded.

Anybody else have this happen to them?
 
If you fly enough, there will be rental car problems. I suggest always calling the local office to confirm the day before or morning of the rental, or calling the FBO to see if the car was dropped off. I was burned by not following this rule myself last year. It's less of a problem in these days of ride-share companies. In a pinch the FBO will often step in to help with a courtesy car.

Unless you know a car company's service is reliable, it is worth checking with the FBO as to which company to use. In my mishap last year, I had reserved a Hertz car, and I have the highest tier status with them, but they didn't drop off a car reserved well in advance at Deer Valley AZ. I was told by the folks at Cutter FBO that this is not an unusual problem with Hertz, and that next time I should use Go-rentals right in the FBO. Lesson learned.

Jon
 
It's gotten even worse since the rental companies cut their fleets, and I think it will get worse yet. Prices, which were already rising, are through the roof in some places.

The companies have been a problem for some time. I recall dropping an enterprise rental at the FBO at KHOU one time, who called The Enterprise office to pick it up. They didn't, and about 5 days later they called me and asked where the car was - it was still sitting in the FBO parking lot.... They tried to charge me for it, and in the end they relented when I showed a receipt, signed by the FBO, showing the date and time of return and a notation of who they called at Enterprise.

A friend had a real go-round with Sixt in the UK after they fraudulently tried to charge for damage. He won in court.

I understand why you went with Hertz (last resort) - I probably would have done the same even though I avoid them afternoon a number of bad experiences. The last "really big" company I worked for had Hertz blocked in the online travel reservation system, at least for a while. If you're going into some FBOs, though, you may have no choice.

The only two ways to have any reasonable assurance of having a car is to 1) let the FBO make the reservation in advance (they often know the rental car people) or 2) call the rental place ahead of time and make sure the car will be there. Those will ALMOST always work, though even that isn't a guarantee.
 
At a major terminal I always book online with a major provider to get an excellent price and confirmed reservation. For the major companies, if you do this and they run out of economy vehicles, you will normally get a free upgrade, plus you don't get the runaround about "not having any vehicles" when you walk up in person. Some of the companies have been consolidated, so if one "company" is short of vehicles their partner company will. At smaller airports, I usually make arrangements with the local FBO, and they are almost always very efficient and reliable, if slightly more expensive. I've never been stranded without transportation in 40 years of personal flying or airline trips this way.

I remember a recent trip where the final leg of my airline flight was canceled, so I elected to make a one-way rental and drive home the last few hundred miles. Walking up to the counter, I was told there were "no vehicles available." I went outside the rental office, booked a car online, and went back in with my online reservation and was immediately rented a vehicle of my desired category for an excellent price. Sometimes you just gotta know how to work the system.
 
chemgeek said:
Walking up to the counter, I was told there were "no vehicles available." I went outside the rental office, booked a car online, and went back in with my online reservation and was immediately rented a vehicle of my desired category for an excellent price. Sometimes you just gotta know how to work the system.
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That's kind of what I did at Hot Springs...I booked a car on the Hertz site while in the FBO, then walked over to their counter in the terminal. When I told the attendant I just booked a car, she said something to the effect of "oh, it will take a while for it to show up on her system" so she went ahead and booked the whole reservation again. What, she was waiting on a fax from the home office with my electronic reservation or something??
 
I've been pretty good at GA terminals in getting the car. I can't tell you the number of times I've caught Enterprise padding on extra days to my rental after the fact. They are always good about removing them, but you need to watch this situation (be it institutional fraud or just incompetence).

I've had more issues with the Big 3 (HERTZ/AVIS/NATIONAL) at airline terminals. I won't even mention the complete and utter two-hour screw up at LAX one year. Usually, it's just the screw up of Avis or Hertz not providing what is supposed to be my express service (#1 gold or preferred).
 
Been renting, mainly Hertz, for many years. Never really stranded, things usually worked well BUT, things have gotten a bit worse the last few years and will probably remain that way given the health of the business.

Going to a new airport I generally call the FBO first and ask, “what is the best way to rent a car there”?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
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4CornerFlyer said:
If you fly enough, there will be rental car problems. I suggest always calling the local office to confirm the day before or morning of the rental, or calling the FBO to see if the car was dropped off. I was burned by not following this rule myself last year. It's less of a problem in these days of ride-share companies. In a pinch the FBO will often step in to help with a courtesy car.

Unless you know a car company's service is reliable, it is worth checking with the FBO as to which company to use. In my mishap last year, I had reserved a Hertz car, and I have the highest tier status with them, but they didn't drop off a car reserved well in advance at Deer Valley AZ. I was told by the folks at Cutter FBO that this is not an unusual problem with Hertz, and that next time I should use Go-rentals right in the FBO. Lesson learned.

Jon
Click to expand...

What 4CornerFlyer said! Call the day before, again before taking off, and call the FBO to make sure it is there.
 
I avoid Hurtz if possible. They dinged me for a windshield once. I pointed out the rock chip before we left. They said, "its not bigger than a quarter or longer than a dollar." The next morning, the windshield was cracked all the way across. Didn't matter to them. "Your insurance will pay for it" was the response. Another time, they left us stranded for 4 hours at Truckee while their "employee" took a really long lunch break. After several calls to the 800 number, explaining that we had reserved a car for a 1pm pick up, someone finally came an opened up the office and got us in our car. Oh, did I mention this was Reno race week and there was a line of people waiting? That sucked!
 
I had rented a car from Hertz once to pick up a plane(fly commercial to big airport, drive to small airport, fly plane home) the FBO assured me that returning it there was fine as did Hertz.
I got home with the plane to a voicemail from Hertz... "hey, where's our car?" Um, at the FBO you told me to leave it at. After several calls they finally apparently found the car right where I left it. So if the FBO isn't the actual Rental location it may also be good to give them a call when you leave and say, hey per our agreement the car is here and so are the keys.
 
As Stated/implied, if you deal with rental car companies long enough, you’ll get burned. Doesn’t really matter which company, but everybody has their favorite company to gripe about (mine is Enterprise, FWIW).

it did turn out well for me once, though...we got the boss’ car rental straightened out, and once they got on their way I called the his assistant to give her a heads-up that she’d probably be hearing from him. When I talked to her later that afternoon she was SO glad I had to call about the car snafu. There was a fatal plane crash about 40 miles from where I was based, same type, and the people in the back were in the same business. Her phone had been ringing off the hook all day with people wondering if it was us. She was able to tell hem no, she had talked to her pilot, who had landed safely at his destination.
 
Enterprise lost 1500+ cars parked at Atlanta Motor Speedway to hail. Lloyds is covering them but their supply is affected. Ask me how I know? Same hails storm destroyed my beloved Tiger at the adjacent airport...
 
TheFB said:
Enterprise lost 1500+ cars parked at Atlanta Motor Speedway to hail. Lloyds is covering them but their supply is affected. Ask me how I know? Same hails storm destroyed my beloved Tiger at the adjacent airport...
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Dang. Sorry about your Tiger. My club has three Cessnas and a Tiger. Far and away my go-to for flying.
.........

I’ve actually only made one trip requiring a rental car. I think it was Enterprise. Reservation and all worked out fine.

One trip my wife and I made to Vegas to stay in one of those timeshare scam deals. Just looked forward to a cheap vacay while enduring a sale speech. On arrival we huffed our bags out to a bus stop. On departure I had planned a PnP mission and the home pilot at Vegas was kind enough to transport us to the airport. Worked out great. The puppy had pooped in his airplane and was raring and ready to go to his home in Utah.
 
When I'm flying commercial, Hertz is and has been my go to for many years. More and more, when I fly GA, I go with Go Rentals. They usually price match and are so much more pleasant to deal with.
 
Geez; I have had all the same experiences above with every rental company I've dealt with and the worst part is getting a problem fixed - you cannot hardly ever get the local office on the phone! They do anything they can to never answer their phone!
And when you do get them on the line, they say their name so fast no way you can hear it, gotta ask them to say it or even spell it for you. It's like they are doing anything they can to avoid accountability (aha!) (and you NEED their name because the first thing the next person is going to ask -when your problem is still not resolved and you have to call back- is the previous person's name, as if knowing that name actually changes anything)

-failed car availability despite booking
-failed car delivery to FBO despite specific 'where & when' instructions to deliver
-car not full/clean/damage not noted on RA (rental agreement)
-no RA at FBO
-no price on RA

I take a video of any dings (including my surroundings and the odo reading, gas level in vid) when I receive car.
I call in to either the local office or FBO (sometimes I have to walk back in and write discrepancies on their copy of the RA - don't take anyone's "word" for correct annotations)
I take video when I return, as above.

I call a day before, to make sure my booking was not misplaced
I call to make sure they know I returned the car
I call the next day to make sure they got the car and no discrepancies
I call when they fail to email an invoice which is every. single. time. now
I have to check the invoice to see if they did anything right on it or to see what bogus charges* they've added
I've had to dispute their charges on my cc when I can't get resolution - and that puts you on their blacklist! So you might win the dispute but really, you can't dispute every company's errors or you will run out of rental companies to rent from.
I hate these people.

*I have seen fuel/days/wrong rate/damages added to my bill. No call, no notice; nothing. Just a larger bill than expected on the credit card.

Oh, one more thing.
Hertz hurts.
 
Last edited:
Isn’t Hertz the only one that does one way rentals?
One way is dropping off at a different location than pickup.

Tom
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
Isn’t Hertz the only one that does one way rentals?
One way is dropping off at a different location than pickup.

Tom
Click to expand...

I just rented a one way from Enterprise to drive from Hillsboro, OR to Reno. I do my annuals in Oregon and will get a one way car to go back to get the plane in a couple weeks. Enterprise and Hertz are about the same with Enterprise being stricter on small dings and forgetting to pick it up from an FBO on time.
 
1984, Spam canning from NYC to Boston's Logan. Remember the Eastern Airlines Shuttle service?
Loved the Shuttle. Walk on airplane, hand the girl some money, take a seat.
I'm a Corporate Hertz Gold Card Member.
"Sorry sir. We understand you have a confirmed reservation for a car, but we accidentally gave your car to someone else. There is no car at the airport."
The nearest car is 3 hours driving time away from Boston (essentially it's in New York somewhere.)
Wave card at employee, look sternly at employees. Borrow phone and call the head of Hertz. Suddenly there is a car.
It's a brand new Ferrari 308.
And I only paid the cost of the mid-size I was renting.
Best. Week. Ever.
I drove it all the way home when I was done in Boston.

Then there was the time there was NO car. Period. Stranded in Rochester, Minn. In the snow.
And the time the driver side door fell off the car when I opened it to get out. That one may still be sitting in the IBM parking lot in Raleigh, NC.
Dang only one good rental car story in my lifetime.
 
I used to work for a real big company that apparently had a very good contract with Hertz. How good? Back in the day I’ve been told more than once that it was better than Hertz employee rates and better than airline rates. Never confirmed but it was good.

I’ve also been told more than once speaking anonymously with Hertz employees that my company’s people could be some of the biggest asshats on the other side of the counter. All right then.

Anyway, they’ve always been great to me but the remote FBO desk at small and big airports is breaking down. It can no longer be trusted to work seamlessly.
 
N1120A said:
When I'm flying commercial, Hertz is and has been my go to for many years. More and more, when I fly GA, I go with Go Rentals. They usually price match and are so much more pleasant to deal with.
Click to expand...

Another vote for Go Rentals. Never had a bad experience with them, and in fact, just the opposite is true. Their fleet is top notch and they cater towards the turbine crowd at higher end FBOs so their customer service is on point.
 
My only rental car war story is one time in Orlando I rented a car. Reservation went fine, ride to the company went fine, paper work good, got an upgrade from cracker box to mid-size at cracker box rates without even asking.

Then it was time to walk to the car. The car was parked in spot ZZ-11,635. The closest parking space to the office was A-1.

I took 3 hours to walk to the parking spot, to find no car. Walked all the way back, they found the car, and I had to walk all the way across the county to get to it.

Ok, maybe it was only 100 feet away, but it was August and the humidity was 90%.....
 
In 10 years of traveling monthly, I don't think I ever had a "bad" experience with a rental company which I pretty much only use National/Enterprise or Hertz. However, my rentals were most always at a major airport (DFW/DAL/DEN/IAH/etc.) so there's usually not much fuss as the number of cars is abundant. ODE can be a bit iffy from time to time, but they always have *something* for you to rent, even if it's a minivan or a diesel F-250, lol. Dealing with rentals at smaller airports/FBOs would likely be much more problematic because it's not their bread-n-butter. Consequently, my National Executive Elite status means they will deliver/pick-up my rental car to any airport within 30 miles of the main airport. I've just never had cause to take advantage of that perk.
 
Zeldman said:
My only rental car war story is one time in Orlando I rented a car. Reservation went fine, ride to the company went fine, paper work good, got an upgrade from cracker box to mid-size at cracker box rates without even asking.
Then it was time to walk to the car. The car was parked in spot ZZ-11,635. The closest parking space to the office was A-1.
I took 3 hours to walk to the parking spot, to find no car. Walked all the way back, they found the car, and I had to walk all the way across the county to get to it.
Ok, maybe it was only 100 feet away, but it was August and the humidity was 90%.....
Click to expand...

So you came on a dry summer day? Usually around 98-99% in August...
 
This first photo is the waiting line at the DFW Avis counter. Everyone is laughing because I had just remarked loudly, "Smile everyone - these photos are going to Hertz!"


upload_2020-11-2_14-20-6.png


Because this second photo is the Avis counter with NO ONE there at all. And it had been that way for 20 minutes.

upload_2020-11-2_14-21-17.png



Remember the Avis motto: "We hardly try!"
 
Half Fast said:
This first photo is the waiting line at the DFW Avis counter. Everyone is laughing because I had just remarked loudly, "Smile everyone - these photos are going to Hertz! . . . Remember the Avis motto: "We hardly try!"
Click to expand...

Aside from the smaller airport locations, if you are a program member with Enterprise/National/Hertz you can usually just walk out to whatever car you want and hop in. Check out at the booth leaving the garage. No reason to stand in line. DFW is for sure that way, but I've never had to use Avis.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Aside from the smaller airport locations, if you are a program member with Enterprise/National/Hertz you can usually just walk out to whatever car you want and hop in. Check out at the booth leaving the garage. No reason to stand in line. DFW is for sure that way, but I've never had to use Avis.
Click to expand...


Yes, it's that way at Avis and I'm now a program member. But I wasn't at the time, and their customer service for non-members sucks.

After some back and forth on this, and a note to my company who has an exclusive deal with Avis, I got to know the DFW manager and whenever he can he now gets me into a Challenger, Charger, Mustang, or Camaro. Nice guy, but he was being hamstrung by his own management who wouldn't let him hire and kept him badly understaffed.
 
I was working with a friend who had booked a rental car with Budget. We arrived and they had no compact car that we had rented so they gave us a Mercedes. Ok fine. The only problem is that the Mercedes broke down. They say they're out of Mercedes at that point, so they bring us a Porsche. The Porsche was OK, except I guess the kind of person who rents Porsches at Budget also drives them into curbs at 80 MPH because the front end of this thing was all messed up. Still we drove it from IAD down to just south of Richmond.

It was a rather surreal experience for me in general. We were consulting for Phillip Morris, and I don't smoke. Very odd seeing the "Thank you for smoking" sign when you go in and ash trays all over the computer room. The P-M guy was a little offended when I turned down the offer of a couple of cartons of whatever I wanted.
 
Wow! You guys have BAD luck ... all my experiences have been on the GOOD side. My wife rented a one-way from Austin to EL Paso - windshield was loud due to a bad seal, full refund INCLUDING fuel (they did need it more in El Paso than Austin). Got a free upgrade to a convertible Mustang from the economy car at John Wayne years ago as they ran out. Paid $11 for a Prius on July 4th last minute out of Stinson AND they setup a hotel with HUGE room that ran $89 a night that I had priced on line at $339.

They did CRANK their rates recently as I can't rent a car for less than $400 for the week in my area (used to be $150 almost anywhere).
 
If I need to rent a car on the other end of a GA flight, I usually call the Enterprise/National General Aviation Hotline number (855-233-8990), and let the folks on the other end handle it. They are very good about following up with rentals. If there is an Enterprise/National outlet that delivers to your destination aircraft, they make sure it arrives if you run the reservation through them. In my regular job, I run an airport and FBO. I frequently handle phone calls from their GA services folks. They call us directly to confirm delivery of vehicles prior to the customer's arrival. So far, I haven't had a problem using them yet in my own travels.
 
My experience is that, if you have the Enterprise GA desk handle it, the rental rate goes up by 50% or more. I prefer to just let the FBO handle the whole magilla, and it seems to work out just fine.

There was this one time that I had reserved a car at Denver (flew in on an ATOD), using Budget (from whom I have traditionally gotten solid service); but when I got to the end of the interminable bus ride to the rental center (what moron designed the Denver airport, btw?), and the waiting line had simply filled the building... completely. Packed. Not moving. Computer issues (the folks at the counter were trying their best). While in line (not moving), I logged into the Budget web site on my iPad, enrolled in Fast Break, and then called their 800-number to convert my reservation to a Fast Break reservation, done in about 30 seconds (and the rate went down). Walked out to the Fats Break kiosk/hut, where I found... another line. But it was shorter, and a manager (I assume he was a manager, because he had a tie on, and everyone seemed deferential to him) showed up and started making things happen. When it came to be my turn, he found my reservation and told me it would be an hour before they had a small SUV (what I had reserved) available; but if I could settle for a full-sized pickup (4-door Dodge), I could go right away. Yes, please.

My only "no car" experience was when I had a car reserved with Enterprise for pickup September 12, 2001 (insurance rental after a car wreck); for fairly obvious reasons, no one seemed to be returning cars. The guy promised me taht, if I'd wait, he'd give me the very nest car that got returned - but it was't looking good. About then, a guy walks in with a clipboard and announces that he has a load of new cars to deliver; 20 minutes later (onboarding process), I drove off in a brand-new Jeep Grand Cherokee with 9 miles on the clock. Nothing really to complain about there, I don't think.
 
My concern about being given a Ferrari or Porsche (got a Jag in Houston once) is insurance.
I usually decline additional coverage offered by the rental agency.
So do I need to now accept it?
Repairing one of these vehicles - even if not my fault- is going to be pricey and I am not so sure my personal auto coverage has those kinds of limits.
Does my personal liability (ie 500000) limit kick in for that, or am I relying on the 'hull' coverage?
 
I’ve only had two issues in my short time renting cars. My first was getting denied at an airport counter because I was 23 and they didn’t rent to people under 26. I was standing there in my First Officer uniform with people all remarking to the worker that I just flew them here. I remarked that I just flew 76 people to get told I couldn’t be trusted to rent a ****ty Camry???

My second was the Avis at DFW. They gave me a car that didn’t exist and it took the Manager to fix the issue as the desk worker didn’t believe me that the car didn’t exist in the lot. I ended up getting a Challenger to get me to leave.

I have a GA rental with Avis in Branson here in a few weekends. I hope I have a car at my arrival or we’re stuck as we can’t take a taxi where we’re going.
 
Im flying in to Fox Field this weekend. I spoke to the local Enterprise and they said they deliver cars to the FBO for Emerald Club members. I signed up for Emerald Club and have confirmed the drop off of the car at the FBO for Friday and then I will drop it off on Sunday before I depart. They said they would collect it on Monday and deduct one day of rental. Let's see how this works out!
 
SCCutler said:
My experience is that, if you have the Enterprise GA desk handle it, the rental rate goes up by 50% or more. I prefer to just let the FBO handle the whole magilla, and it seems to work out just fine.
Click to expand...

I'm not arguing that point; however, I'm not sure 50% is a fair estimate. Usually the rates I see are pretty comparable. What I'm saying is that when you call that number, Enterprise (way more often than not, literally) delivers on what they say they will. I've had way more problems trying to track down the local outlet that delivers to a particular airport than I have just calling a singular number and giving them the airport identifier. I've also noticed this at my own airport. Management changes and the "local" Enterprise outlet will sometimes claim that they won't deliver cars to the airport; however, if one of my customers calls this point of contact, believe me, Enterprise is delivering the car. That's why I always provide this option to customers that call ahead.
 
ARFlyer said:
My first was getting denied at an airport counter because I was 23 and they didn’t rent to people under 26. I was standing there in my First Officer uniform with people all remarking to the worker that I just flew them here. I remarked that I just flew 76 people to get told I couldn’t be trusted to rent a ****ty Camry???
Click to expand...

Funny.!!!

A good friend of mine became a deputy constable at age 19. At that time, a little over 40 years ago in Texas, a person had to be 21 to buy pistol ammunition so his dad had to buy his bullets for him....

Allowed to carry a gun, arrest folks and entrusted to enforce laws but can't buy bullets....:lol::lol::lol:
 
Zeldman said:
Funny.!!!

A good friend of mine became a deputy constable at age 19. At that time, a little over 40 years ago in Texas, a person had to be 21 to buy pistol ammunition so his dad had to buy his bullets for him....

Allowed to carry a gun, arrest folks and entrusted to enforce laws but can't buy bullets....:lol::lol::lol:
Click to expand...


Similar in Florida. A 20 year old can buy all the ammo he wants for his AR15 or AK47, but he can't buy ammo for a .25ACP pistol. If he buys .22LR, he has to state it's for a rifle and not for a handgun.
 
BGF_Yankee said:
I'm not arguing that point; however, I'm not sure 50% is a fair estimate. Usually the rates I see are pretty comparable. What I'm saying is that when you call that number, Enterprise (way more often than not, literally) delivers on what they say they will. I've had way more problems trying to track down the local outlet that delivers to a particular airport than I have just calling a singular number and giving them the airport identifier. I've also noticed this at my own airport. Management changes and the "local" Enterprise outlet will sometimes claim that they won't deliver cars to the airport; however, if one of my customers calls this point of contact, believe me, Enterprise is delivering the car. That's why I always provide this option to customers that call ahead.
Click to expand...

I should have been more nuanced in my comments; they apply only at reasonably large airports where, when you reserve with Enterprise through their GA portal, the only difference between eh rental experience is how much you pay. Example I most-frequently noted was Pensacola, FL (back when they had only one FBO).

If the FBO arranges for rental cars, I always use them, and I don't begrudge them getting a cut, either.
 
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