National - Back to Back Clarification

I am still trying to understand National's poorly documented restrictions on back-to-back rentals.

I understand that if I rent from location A, return to location A, then re-rent from A the same day, that is a back to back rental.

What if I rent from location A, return to location B, then re-rent from location B the same day? is that back-to-back? - This is the ideal process for me, so if it's not back-to-back, it would be good news...but if it is B2B, could I rent from location A, return to location B, then re-rent from location A the same day?

I recently did a one-way from location A to location B, immediately followed by a normal rental from location B. Got two rental credits.

I actually ended up calling it in and at first the agent said any A-B/B-A or A-B/B-B or any such combination was a back-to-back, even going as far as claiming a A-B/C-A rental was back to back.

After consulting a manager, they stated A-A/A-A or A-B/A-* (ie renting from the same location the car was originally rented from) was back to back, but A-B/B-A was not...and created a customer file that I could reference if I didn't see the rental credits post.

A to B, B to anywhere is definitely not back to back. I've done this many times with 1-2-Free days or when I have a weekday business rental and a weekend leisure rental. Most of the time I've done this around DC (BWI, DCA, DC Union Station, IAD, even MDT).

Is there a rate issue with back-to-back rentals at the same location? Will they "adjust" the rate upward if I return a car on one reservation and then pickup another car an hour later?

I am trying to avoid an absurd weekly rate by doing a 2-day rental followed by a 3-day rental. I don't care about the points, just the rate. I have to do an airport pickup after the 2-day rental so there is almost no inconvenience in returning the first car.

Don't care about the miles on this one...

No - no rate problem with your scenario - I've done it before.

To clarify, I have an upcoming EWR-DC Union Station one way rental dropping off on a Monday morning. Does that mean I can rent another car from DC Union Station Monday evening for a week, and get credit for both the one-way and weekly rental (i.e., 2 total credits)? So, it seems like the National definition of back-to-back is based off of the renting location (not the returning one)?

To clarify, I have an upcoming EWR-DC Union Station one way rental dropping off on a Monday morning. Does that mean I can rent another car from DC Union Station Monday evening for a week, and get credit for both the one-way and weekly rental (i.e., 2 total credits)? So, it seems like the National definition of back-to-back is based off of the renting location (not the returning one)?

If it's a one-way rental picked up from another station and dropped at Union St, there is no problem with credits on the next rental picked up at Union St.

A back to back rental is opening a new contract on the same day as you return at the same location where you originally rented...ie any combination of A-A then A-x, or A-B and A-x - you cannot re-rent from station A again on the same day as your drop-off.

Why exactly is this an issue? I do A-A/A-A all the time. Have done it often with several of the big agencies...

What I have yet to find is an agency that'll let you keep the first car. They always want it physically back, and then you take a different car for the 2nd rental. Sometimes it means you give up a great upgrade only to walk over to the ES and see a couple lonely Chevies sitting there. Other times it's the other way around...

Did I forgo a paltry amount of FF miles on the 2nd rental? (Or a rental credit?)

Why exactly is this an issue? I do A-A/A-A all the time. Have done it often with several of the big agencies...

What I have yet to find is an agency that'll let you keep the first car. They always want it physically back, and then you take a different car for the 2nd rental. Sometimes it means you give up a great upgrade only to walk over to the ES and see a couple lonely Chevies sitting there. Other times it's the other way around...

Did I forgo a paltry amount of FF miles on the 2nd rental? (Or a rental credit?)

You can do back to back with National - the issue is rental credits - they are not awarded on back to back rentals and those credits are important.

All of the locations I rent from will let me keep the same car, except one - the often mean manager at the Boca Raton location, but I don't rent from there anymore. PBI, FXE are very easy about this (unless they are sold out on cars and they need the car type you have to fulfill someone else's reservation). FLL and LAX are also OK with this, but you need to park and go in and wait in line and then explain everything to an often-less-than-Elite-savvy agent.

You can do back to back with National - the issue is rental credits - they are not awarded on back to back rentals and those credits are important.

With one exception: you get the 2nd credit if you return the car before midnight and start the new rental the next day. I've done this once and it worked: A-A (wait a few minutes until the next day) A-B.

The 8 days rule is also not effected by back-to-back rentals. For example last week I had 3 back to back to back rentals that totaled 8 days. I got a credit for my first rental, no credit for the next and a 2nd credit for the last rental, since it was the 8th consecutive day.

Basically for the purposes of credits, the system treats consecutive rentals at the same location as one long rental.

The 8 days rule is also not effected by back-to-back rentals. For example last week I had 3 back to back to back rentals that totaled 8 days. I got a credit for my first rental, no credit for the next and a 2nd credit for the last rental, since it was the 8th consecutive day.

Basically for the purposes of credits, the system treats consecutive rentals at the same location as one long rental.

I am not so sure about this. I once had a 21-day rental which started right after I dropped a 3-day rental and I didn't receive any credit for the 2nd one.

From my (and others here) experience and from carefully reading the EC terms and conditions, you SHOULD have gotten a credit for that second rental.

The site says "One credit per qualifying rental or one credit for every four consecutive rental days. Valid for rentals in the US or Canada only. Example: One rental lasts 8 days = 2 credits. One rental lasts 2 days = 1 credit."

Well, I know that, but there's an exception to that as its explained in the 42-sheet T&C:

7. Members who choose to earn vehicle rental credits will receive one credit for each vehicle rental (for the first seven (7) days) plus an additional credit on such rental for every four (4) consecutive days of vehicle rentals in the US or Canada. Consecutive, multiple or overlapping rentals in the same location do not qualify for rental credits.

There's no indication that "the 8 day rule" is exempt from the "consecutive rental rule".

I suspect that the 3'd consecutive rental from same location might be eligible for credit since its secondary to a non-awarded rental, and that might be your case. Just an assumption.