Hertz - A question regarding corporate accounts and discounts

I am posting a duplicate of this in the avis, hertz, and enterprise forum, that way I can get an answer as it relates to each company. (I am sorry if this is not allowed)

Hi, I am thinking about opening up a corporate account for the students to use at my school. They would be about 5- 10 cars taken out every week (usually full size or premium). What type of deal/discount do you think I can get them to give us. Also some of the students are in the 21-25 age range, what is the best way to negotiate with the car rental company, that way there won’t be an underage fee?

Thankx

P.S. Someone told me that hertz has a deal that the "president" of the company gets free upgrades etc.. does any other company have such a deal, also would the "president" get such a deal even if he does not rent that often, but on the corporate account itself there are allot of rentals?

I'm not sure if there is an "official" minimum rental amount for corporate accounts, but you might want to check on that first. If there is, perhaps you can try striking a deal with your local Hertz location (assuming you'll rent from one place?)...

As far as upgrades for the company CEO/president goes, I believe that would be part of the negotiation, where Hertz would grant you "Platinum" status -- which gives you free upgrades, pickup at airport, etc.

Are you a student trying to set something up - or are you actually an administrator at a school? If you're a student, in all honest, you may run into a bit of a challenge if you're not an official represenative of the school. If you're an administrator, I'd look into this with your school's legal dep't. AFAIK, all the major rental car companies have provisions for discounted rates for corporations - even if they are renting to the 21-25 year old crowd. Most companies receive volume based discounts that are generally set at the 5-10% rate unless they have negotiated rates that are non-discounted, but fixed priced (like IBM & other large companies). Anyone can set up a small business CDP & have employees that get the discount. It's a pretty easy process. However, if you're looking to get comped platinum status - I'm sure there's a lot more to it than just being the "president" of a "company". I was in the car this morning picking up a rental with the manager of an HLE near my house (I love HLE pick-up/drop-off service - it's convenient as hell!) - we talked about various Platinums people in the area - he told me that all the owners of the local Ford dealerships are platinums & that most celebs that flew in to the area were as well. He also said you have to be the president, CEO, CFO, or the big-whig contract negotiator for the company to get it as its invite only. As a side note, he also mentioned that Will Smith (the Fresh Prince) was a platinum since he rents from Hertz when he's in Philly.

If the school reimburses students when they rent full-size or premium cars, I am interested in enrolling :p

Hertz will give a discount number to just about any group that asks -- contact Hertz and find out who their sales reps are in your area for details. Keep in mind, however, that you can probably swing an equally good or better discount by using the codes of some other group such as AAA.

A corporate discount (with things like LDW included on a contract basis, etc.) is another matter, as I think it's only given to legal entities, and a loose group of students probably wouldn't qualify.

Have you checked with your school's travel department to see if they already have a discount program in place? Most colleges and universities have had discounts for many years. When I was a college student, I used my school's discount all the time, and it was great because it allowed me to avoid the under-25 surcharges and hassles.

Thank you very much for getting back to me.
Sorry it took me so long to respond, but I had set up the “instant email notification” feature, and I was waiting for the emails, but I guess the feature doesn’t work properly ;) .

The exact case is as follows: I am a student at the school, it is a relatively small school, we have about 75 students currently enrolled here. There is no legal or travel department, there is only the dean, and I assist him in running many of the legal/ other matters of the school. So he asked to me look into arranging a corporate account for the school.
There will be approximately 5 – 10 rentals a week, ranging anywhere from a one day rental, to weekend rentals.
So being that I don’t really have someone to turn to to get advice, I would really appreciate any advice I can get on what I should ask for and what I should push for. (discounts etc..)
Thankx
P.S.
Also being that I am doing all the arranging, what can I push for my self ;) ( the dean wont be renting, so in regards to the Rental Agency should be concerned, I am the President). I myself won’t be renting all that often.