Hertz - First Use of HERTZ Gold #1 Card (What to expect?)

Hello HERTZ FTers,

I have had a Gold #1 Club card for several years (got it as a comp from either being DL or US elite). I will be using it for the first time at SFO in early May for a leisure rental. I noted the card # on my online reservation. I was wondering what I can expect as a first time customer.

Thanks in advance,

Va.SquireFlyer

I wouldn't expect too much...

Here is my story:

My first car was a minivan. No upgrade (okay, upgrade to what?). No special treatment.

The rental procedure took nearly one hour, though the car was reserved and they had all information they needed. The insurance fields where not filled according to my request.

When I stated that I did not need CDW the clerk answered "I know, it's okay, no costs, just sign here". Do I need to mention that there were costs where I was supposed to sign?

Giving back the car, I signed my credit card voucher (I'm young and still learning ;-) ) and got the invoice. They charged each single insurance which I had declined before. Clerk: "No problem. We will credit you. This will take some time, so you don't need to wait". Okay, no problem, I'm Hertz Gold and I'm young and I'm learning...

I never got a single official statement from Hertz on that, though I contacted them a couple of times (phone, internet). I considered writing a letter, but I guess it would have been waste of postage.

Finally, my travel agent refunded me. I doubt they took it from their margin, so probably Hertz finally had to pay. But I'm still missing an excuse for this incident from Hertz.

At SFO, board the rental car shuttle (leaves from upstairs on the outer roadway) for the short trip to the new rental car center.

Hertz is the only rental company downstairs. Use the first set of doors and walk straight through to the garage. Accross the roadway, look for your name in lights on the board and note your space number. Then follow the signs to your space number to find your car waiting for you. The names are in alphabetical order and sometimes cycle through two or three views until your last name shows up, depending on how busy it is when your flight gets in.

Drive to the exit, present your license, sign for your car (decline the tank of gas) and be on your way.

-David

Howie- Sorry to hear your experience with Hertz didn't go so well. At what location did this hour-long nightmare occur? Unfortunately, these problems aren't unique to Hertz: all companies have individual locations that are REALLY BAD at handling van and truck rentals, whereas others are better.

As for SFO: I've had two rentals there in the past. The Hertz location there seems pretty good...I was able to get in and out very quickly.

In theory, you should have an easy ride with the #1 Gold card. Just ENSURE that the reservation has been made with the gold card account number. I have had a couple of times where my travel agent has neglected to tell Hertz that I am #1 Gold & so I have had to queue up, fill in forms etc.

Otherwise I just step off the courtesy coach, look up my name on the board, go to the appropriate parking bay, load up & drive off. The keys will be in the ignition & the rental agreement attached to the rear view mirror. Just drive to the exit & present your driving license & the rental agreement and off you go



------------------
Chris Elvin

Originally posted by rmccamy:
At what location did this hour-long nightmare occur?

It was Tallinn, Estonia.

I agree with you that this problem is not a Hertz specific problem - recalling my car rentals during the past 2 years, there is none which I did not have to dispute. But this Tallinn experience topped them all...

Personally, I love Hertz Gold service. Rarely am I ever delayed getting my vehicle and exiting the lot. The exception, however, is SFO. The Rental car shuttles are airport owned, not the rental agencies. This means no luggage assistance, packed buses, and inconvenient pickup / dropoff.

FYI, the SFO Airport Marriott has a HErtz counter in it and shuttles directly to the hotel. Much more convenient than the rental car zoo at the airport

At SFO last year, I was very glad I was #1 Gold. Arriving at the Hertz area after 1:00 AM, I was shocked to see about 15 people standing around in the Gold area - and 80 more in the (*sniff*) regular Hertz building. Apparently, there were way too few cars available at the time, for reasons not announced. Twenty minutes later, when my patience was at an end, a very polite and apologetic Hertz rep led me to my Neverlost-equipped car. The wait I experienced must have been minor compared with others - many in the "regular" Hertz office were seemingly camped-out, and falling asleep!

I'm surprised to read the complaints above because I typically don't have to talk to anyone at Hertz.

I make my reservations on the web. All my profile info is stored. I take the shuttle bus to the Gold drop off, find my name on the screen, hop in my car and leave. At the gate, I just show my license.

I was just in MCO and needed a car earlier than I had requested. I spent two minutes in the Gold office and got my car.

The only reason I would leave Hertz is because National fills the gas at retail prices for you. But I'm usually not in a rush to return to the airport.

Hello Hertz FTers,

Thanks for all the information. I hope that my first rental goes smoothly. Normallly, an AVIS renter (formerly used BUDGET for business in the mid-90s but we won't talk about that!).

Cheers,


Va.Squireflyer

Hello FTers,

Just a quick report on my first Hertz use. It went fairly well. The NeverLost was a minor pain to my wife in the Taurus. Can you ask for a vehicle specifically without it?

But I guess for $44 (before Taxes?Fees) for a 3 day weekend rental, I cannot complain.


Cheers,


Va.SquireFlyre

I've never gotten a NeverLost device, although I always request them. I think they're not available in the "Sporty" cars that I get, or in the Jags.

I'm dbaker AlwaysLost(tm) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/redface.gif


[This message has been edited by dbaker (edited 05-17-2001).]

They do have Neverlost available in the Jags in SFO. Don't know other locations. Never seen them in the sporty cars.

Originally posted by Va.SquireFlyer:
But I guess for $44 (before Taxes?Fees) for a 3 day weekend rental, I cannot complain.


I don't know what kind of discounts you're getting there, but if you go the the #1G area of the Hertz Web site you can print out PC#917302 and get $25 off a weekend rental. There are also $20 and $30 off weekly rentals depending on car class.

Between the $25 off and the AAA discount it's possible to get 2-day weekend rentals in the $10-15 range including all taxes. I even priced a $7 rental out of PHX a couple weeks ago.

I'm new to Gold too and have a question. When does the clock start in terms of the 24-hour period that counts as a full day? If you're non-Gold it starts when the res agent prints out your rental at the counter, but when does it start for Gold members? I mean there's no record of when you get into the car, and it doesn't seem the guy at the security gate notes the time when you pull out of the lot. Does it start at the pickup time you originally specify? This matters because I tend to strategically time my pickups to avoid an extra day's charge.

How much of a discount do you get with AAA? I find most discount codes only give you 5% on weekend/weekly rates, while providing much bigger discounts on weekday rates (up to 20%).



Between the $25 off and the AAA discount it's possible to get 2-day weekend rentals in the $10-15 range including all taxes. I even priced a $7 rental out of PHX a couple weeks ago.

[/B]

The AAA discount varies but it's usually 10%. You can also get coupons from AAA (usually for $5/day off weekend or $10/week) on top of that as well, but right now the PC#s on Hertz's own Web site are better. I rent often enough from Hertz to make AAA pay for itself, and that's not even counting all AAA's other services.

The few times my co-workers and I used NeverLost in Houston, it gave us wrong directions 4 times out of 5.

So we called it EverLost instead! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Cheers,
Lawrence

VSF:

You can make sure it's unchecked on your preferences, but if they didn't charge you for it, it was a complimentary upgrade. I think I posted here about how they gave it to me one time (I didn't order, never had it in my preferences, never had it before) and then tried to charge me for it on a weekly rental, adding $30 to a $199 weekly rate for a Ford Explorer at SFO. Fortunately, I noticed it when I returned the car and had enough time to stop at the gold counter on the way out.

If you don't like it, you can always just leave it turned off .. am I missing something? Was it in your way? Did they charge you $6 per day for it?

-David

Frequent Freak-

I'd love to get a copy of the $25 off a weekend rental coupon. I have used up all my $10 off a 2-day rental Entertainment coupons, unfortunately. That coupon would be awesome, considering half the time the CLE counter never even notices it on the reservation. If you could send me a jpeg/gif/whatever of that coupon, I'd greatly appreciate it.