Hertz - Getting 'Dogs' With One-Way Rentals?

Does anyone have this experience? It seems like every time I do a one-way rental, the vehicle I receive has problems or is something out of the usual. In the past, I have received mini-vans, full-size vans and even a Taurus station wagon with > 40,000 miles on it.

Yesterday was no different. I had to do a one-way rental ALB-BTV because my vehicle was in the shop and the wife was flying a slightly different itinerary. I had booked a 4D, Full-Size, but was 'upgraded' to a Lincoln Town Car. The vehicle had more than 20K miles on it and significant front-end vibration when braking from more than 50 mph.

I reported the problem to the counter person in BTV when I dropped off the car. I also remarked that it wasn't unusual to get a problem vehicle when doing a one-way rental. The guy wasn't amused about about ALB sending their problem to him. He mentioned that since the car was rented in ALB that they would get the revenue. As a result, he felt that it was only fair to credit me for half the cost of the rental as compensation. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif As they say, pay back is a .......

Of course, on the outbound, BTV gave me a new Volvo with 800 miles (and NY plates) that needed to go back to NY. Go figure.

You are not alone. This has happened to me too. Sometimes I fly into Dulles and fly out of Reagan. I get cars that are in poor condition and sometimes they are really dirty. One time someone had spilled a drink all over the interior and everything was sticky. When I returned the car, the agent said sometimes the renting location does that so the receiving Hertz location gets stuck with the cleaning and repairs.
Go figure.

My regular agent tells me that they usually assign out-of-state cars to one-way rentals. I suppose if they don't have any out-of-state on hand, they'll give you the worst they have on the lot. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

I did an SFO-SJC rental, and the vehicle was in pretty good shape.

This has happened to me on more than one occasion. Once in Boston they tried giving me a real junker to drive because it was being dropped off at BDL. I refused to take the car, and was then given a more acceptable vehicle.

As a result of this and other incidents, I have each reservation notated--no vehicles over 20K miles and no Grand Marquis--they all have had problems.



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Regards,

Art from ISP