Hertz - Picking up a car you've just returned

Hi,
Does anybody know whether it's possible to return a car, and then pick it back up should your flight get cancelled/you take a bump/etc?

I will be facing this situation this weekend - I know my return flight is overbooked, and am wondering how I can return my rental back to Hertz, but retrieve it again if I take the bump. I would return the car (the 2nd time) w/in the 24 hour window, so that it doesn't spill into a new day.

Any suggestions?

I don't think you can. The car is dumped back into the pool and re-rented, sometimes within the hour.

I would make a new reservation for the extra day, then cancel it using your cell phone if you make the earlier flight.

I agree with the previous post, sometimes while I'm waiting for my receipt the car is driven off for a wash and refuel to rent again.

Agree with the other posters.

It would be a great competitive advantage for the first company to offer such a feature, though. Even if they just give you the worst car on the lot for your 'courtesy contract re-opening'. I face this situation a lot. In cities like BOS where there are hefty fixed-fee taxes per contract, versus a percentage, opening a new contract for the extra hours can be prohibitively expensive...

Unfortunately, I think the situation is rare enough that the rental agencies will never invest the money to upgrade their systems, training, employee communications, etc. to handle the scenario. There just isn't money to be made there. People aren't going to change their preferred rental agency because of it. Would you guys bail out on Hertz if Alamo or Avis rolled it out? I know I wouldn't.

I've been in situation many times - flight canceled, or I don't get on the one I thought I'd get. That's not rare. The rare part is that my unplanned time available in that location is (a) long enough that I want to get back into a rental car and go somewhere and (b) short enough that it wouldn't just be another day anyway.

I've heard of people parking the cars in airport terminal charges or just outside the rental center (in the usual "rental car customer parking" area), and then calling Hertz to let them know the car is being "dumped" there if they make their flight...

I'm not sure how much Hertz would charge for retrieval though. :confused: For some places, like DFW, parking it out front in the customer parking area of the rental car center, is probably like a 5-minute job for a porter to run out and pull it in to the other side of the lot...

I've heard of people parking the cars in airport terminal charges or just outside the rental center (in the usual "rental car customer parking" area), and then calling Hertz to let them know the car is being "dumped" there if they make their flight...

I'm not sure how much Hertz would charge for retrieval though. :confused: For some places, like DFW, parking it out front in the customer parking area of the rental car center, is probably like a 5-minute job for a porter to run out and pull it in to the other side of the lot...

What do people do with the keys to the car? My guess is that Hertz would frown on this procedure and slap some sort of charge on you for doing it. (Then again, I've never tried it...)

What do people do with the keys to the car? My guess is that Hertz would frown on this procedure and slap some sort of charge on you for doing it. (Then again, I've never tried it...)

Good point. :D Maybe dropping the keys off at the counter first? I know some airports have counters at the terminals, so maybe that could be one way to leave the car in the terminal garages...

I have gone early, checked in (got my boarding pass from there.. or online), dropped any checked luggaged and then driven back.. returned rental or parked it in their LOT (to come back for next week) and flown out.

Be careful and account for the TIME.

I've done this several times at smaller stations (DSM, OMA, for sure)....I've just told the person checking the car in (nicely) that I wasn't sure I was going to make my flight...and asked if they could let the car sit for an hour or so. If I don't come back, go ahead and check it in, and charge it to my card.

The times that I have been bumped to a different flight, I've just gone back out, jumped in and pulled away.

Boy, I don't think that'd fly at LAX, ORD, ATL, DFW... you'd just get a stare.

How do you know what your reaccomodation flight will be? It could be in an hour or two (or on a different carrier), so doing this may not be worth it.

Boy, I don't think that'd fly at LAX, ORD, ATL, DFW... you'd just get a stare.


I'm sure it wouldn't work at a larger station.

The couple of times that I've done this at DSM, I've finished meetings early, and tried to go to standby on an earlier flight..... so I knew for sure when I was confirmed later on.

What do people do with the keys to the car? My guess is that Hertz would frown on this procedure and slap some sort of charge on you for doing it. (Then again, I've never tried it...)

It was Avis but I was riding the bus to the terminal in PHX and an Avis employee said that he was on the way to short term parking to pick up a car. Someone was running late for a flight and it was just parked there and that this happens a lot more than I would have thought. He told me that they most often just leave the keys in the car. He said that sometimes they charge a fee, other times, they just forget it.

I got to test this recently in LAS.

When I got the the terminal I found my flight cancelled, was offered another hotel night - but no car.

Jumped back on the H-Bus back to the lot and tried to reclaim my town car. But no "it's been re-rented". I doubted it given the 30 minute cycle.

But when I turned away from the counter to pick up my Impala I was nearly run down by "my" car on it's the way out of the lot.

Indeed, re-rented within 30 minutes on a Sunday night at 8PM!

Lihu'e 1k