Hertz - Car Class ? Bait and switch?

I was in downtown MKE and needed a car to ORD. Selected my usual.
Vehicle Type: Taurus, Sable or similar.
They tried to stick me with a small Toyota, I said that's not what I asked for. She then said I have a compact I can give you.
After telling them, well do you have my Taurus or Sable or am I going to another company? (She was very rude BTW) I got a Grand Am.
What should I have been offered? I don't think the Grand Am is an upgrade.
What do the here experts have to say?

I believe the Grand Am is a YC class. So not thats not an upgrade to from the Sable/Taurus class, which is F. The small Toyota probably Corola is either a B or C class.

They obviously had a couple of specific cars they wanted to dump on your for the one-way, none of which were a Taurus or a Sable or any other F car.

I had this happen to me once: I was doing a CVG-IND one-way, booked in Mid-size. One-day rental, about $90 all in. When I arrived, they asked if I'd be willing to take a compact. They priced it out at something like $88 all in. I said no, I booked mid-size, I'd like mid-size. Then they countered with a $45 all in rate on the compact, so I took the compact. :)

They clearly wanted to get rid of that car. There was nothing wrong with the car - maybe it just "belonged" to Indy. (No, I don't remember if it had IN tags or not.)

I've done CVG-IND one-ways on more than one occasion, using different agencies. I am nearly always in a compact - either because it's the only thing they'll let me book at a reasonable price or because something like the Hertz switch-a-roo happens. (At least they were cool about it.)

They obviously had a couple of specific cars they wanted to dump on your for the one-way, none of which were a Taurus or a Sable or any other F car.

I had this happen to me once: I was doing a CVG-IND one-way, booked in Mid-size. One-day rental, about $90 all in. When I arrived, they asked if I'd be willing to take a compact. They priced it out at something like $88 all in. I said no, I booked mid-size, I'd like mid-size. Then they countered with a $45 all in rate on the compact, so I took the compact. :)

They clearly wanted to get rid of that car. There was nothing wrong with the car - maybe it just "belonged" to Indy. (No, I don't remember if it had IN tags or not.)

I've done CVG-IND one-ways on more than one occasion, using different agencies. I am nearly always in a compact - either because it's the only thing they'll let me book at a reasonable price or because something like the Hertz switch-a-roo happens. (At least they were cool about it.)
It was a $100 rental including taxes. Next time I'll go to the airport.

Heya :)

If you got a Toyota Corolla it's a C class (beats me how!) I'm too tall for it so I went and swapped it.
What you reserved is an F class car so you should have gotten an F class. They downgraded you on this one. :(

Also, I've talked about "out of place" cars and was told it doesn't really matter where the car was registered it's all the same to them.

I'm a bit worried... I have a 4-week oneway rental (LAX-DEN) planned in a few month. I already made a reservation for a Luxury (I can expect a Cadillac DTS or Lincoln TC, right?). Do I have to expect a downgrade for this oneway? Is this a common practice to give "special" cars to oneway renter the station wants to get rid of?

Thanks,

Hammer

I'm a bit worried... I have a 4-week oneway rental (LAX-DEN) planned in a few month. I already made a reservation for a Luxury (I can expect a Cadillac DTS or Lincoln TC, right?). Do I have to expect a downgrade for this oneway? Is this a common practice to give "special" cars to oneway renter the station wants to get rid of?

Not sure about the bait-and-switch possibilities, but considering how long your rental is, I would think that they would honor your reservation. You might want to try to call the location directly just before to make sure they won't bump you to something else.

Of course, there's always the possibility of an upgrade as well. ;) There was a Porsche Cayenne S at DFW that was sitting around for a while (was a one-way from LAX if I remember correctly). Then, one day it went back to LAX. I'm wondering what the lucky person who took it back had actually reserved -- imagine renting a midsize and seeing that in your stall... :cool:

They still had a Grand Am? I think they were going through a list of cars that didn't belong to that location. Seems to me any Grand Am should have been phased out already given that it was replaced in the Pontiac lineup by the G6 at least a year ago.

Just a hunch, though. Do you know what model "small Toyota" they offered? A Corolla is now unfortunately a C, but that's still far from F. I think a Grand Am might have in some weird cases been considered D, but that's still not F. If they offered you a Toyota Solara, though, for instance, that may have been closer, though it's a 2-door and not too popular around here. (I don't think that goes for D rates, does it? Maybe it does, in which case it's still not equal.) And if it was a Toyota Camry , well, that is considered F after all. Having just ridden in one last weekend (not from Hertz, but a family member's car) I'd say it would be a reasonable choice as an F class car. I'd take it any day over a Taurus.

Unless it was a Camry they offered you, I'd say you are entitled to a somewhat lower rate. Sometimes there isn't much difference between C and F rates on booking, but if I booked F and they don't have it and only want to offer smaller stuff, then I'd be looking for more credit.

They still had a Grand Am? I think they were going through a list of cars that didn't belong to that location. Seems to me any Grand Am should have been phased out already given that it was replaced in the Pontiac lineup by the G6 at least a year ago.

Just a hunch, though. Do you know what model "small Toyota" they offered? A Corolla is now unfortunately a C, but that's still far from F. I think a Grand Am might have in some weird cases been considered D, but that's still not F. If they offered you a Toyota Solara, though, for instance, that may have been closer, though it's a 2-door and not too popular around here. (I don't think that goes for D rates, does it? Maybe it does, in which case it's still not equal.) And if it was a Toyota Camry , well, that is considered F after all. Having just ridden in one last weekend (not from Hertz, but a family member's car) I'd say it would be a reasonable choice as an F class car. I'd take it any day over a Taurus.

Unless it was a Camry they offered you, I'd say you are entitled to a somewhat lower rate. Sometimes there isn't much difference between C and F rates on booking, but if I booked F and they don't have it and only want to offer smaller stuff, then I'd be looking for more credit.
It had 19,000 miles on it.

I have a lot of one-way rentals. It seems I either hit the jackpot or completely get the shaft. I've had G35s, Avalons, and so forth when renting mid-size. But, I've also had the worst cars I've ever gotten from Hertz, including a smelly, dirty Taurus with nearly 30,000 miles on it (the highest mileage total I've ever had from a Hertz rental--this was from a franchise location).

I hear that a lot about one ways, and the OP's is just another reinforcement of the theory that sometimes or maybe many times they have a specific car they want to send away. I only have the one experience, got a perfectly ordinary Mazda 6 on my SFO-PDX, with bonus of free Sirius (didn't request or pay for that, but it was in the car they gave us).

I'm a bit worried... I have a 4-week oneway rental (LAX-DEN) planned in a few month. I already made a reservation for a Luxury (I can expect a Cadillac DTS or Lincoln TC, right?). Do I have to expect a downgrade for this oneway? Is this a common practice to give "special" cars to oneway renter the station wants to get rid of?

Thanks,

Hammer

Well, here at Pittsburgh I always rent F -- full size. As President's Circle I always get upgrades. This is what I have gotten with class size indicated in parenthesis

Grand Marquis (G)
Toyota Avalon (H)
Volvo S80 (H6)
Lincoln Town Car (I)
Cadillac STS (I4)

So I think -- Luxury is class H or higher.... maybe wrong!

though i cannot speak specifically for hertz(I work for avis) but I imagine the same thing goes on.

On one way rentals, its the agents job to get back one way rentals from one location to the home location. All agents have certain empowerment guidelines that allow them to negotiate you into a smaller or different car at a huge discount. They will never get punished and the practice will forever continue.

Suggestions on how to avoid it, no matter what company it is, put notes in the reservation stating (MUST HAVE XXXXX CLASS or better). That usually is enough to scare away any rental agent from trying to dump small cars on you. In fact, its always advisable to place notes in all your reservations, esp if your in a rapid pick up program like hertz gold, avis Perferred, emerald club, fastbreak etc etc.

All rental companies use these programs to get their "inactive" cars on rent. Which is why you may book a full size and end up in an SUV as a "comp upgrade" because you are a "perferred" customer. its just a way for them to get revenue onto cars. There are occasions that I send out more than 50 people in different class cars than they book, never smaller than they book.

Whenever I see notes specifying a car class, size importance, or "NO VIBES", I am going to listen to those notes because I dont want that customer coming and making noise.

So when you book one way travel, make sure you imply that your needs for this rental are directly linked to the size of car you want. Then you also have more BAIT to complain.