Hertz - Sirius Radio at HLEs

I recently noticed that my AAA membership gets me half off Sirius satellite radio at Hertz. It's normally $4/day, so it would be $2. Either would be well worth it for longer trips between cities which are often FM wastelands.

After investigating, it seems that, if not renting on of the Fun or Prestige collection cars that have Sirius included, you must rent a mid-size/intermediate or better to request Sirius.

The problem is that when renting from an HLE, the preference is noted, but not guaranteed. So it sounds improbable, or hit-or-miss at best. I have a rental in two weeks and have spoke directly with the people at my local HLE that I frequent and they have noted my request and hopefully will be able to pull something off. We'll see.

My questions are: Has anyone had much success getting requested satellite radio at an HLE? (Note, I'm not talking about those rare occurrences that you may stumble on a factory installed version on free trial.) Do you have any secrets to improving the chances of receiving Sirius at an HLE? Have you had the HLE juggle inventory from the local airport to ensure you get Sirius?

I recently rented from an HLE; I wasn't able to confirm Sirius as you noted.

I called two days beforehand and the request was noted in my reservation (for a F car).

When I arrived, they had no cars with Sirius. However, they needed to get some extra cars from the airport so in exchange for me waiting about 30 minutes while they picked one up from the return line at SFO, I got a Premium car with XM. No, I wasn't able to get Sirius as intended, but XM did the trick.

I haven't had much (if any) luck getting sirius at my local HLE. In fact, I've actually stopped requesting it, because I wasn't getting it anyway.

I find that sometimes requesting Sirius from a HLE means that you end up with a nice little upgrade.

It's getting harder and harder to get Sirius from any Hertz location let alone an HLE.

My last time I tried to get Sirius, well in fact the A6 at that stage said it came with it. It only had 6 or so channels and the HLE couldn't help me get the rest of the channels! He even showed me the rest of the Audi's in the lot and they were all in the same situation!

It's getting harder and harder to get Sirius from any Hertz location let alone an HLE.

My last time I tried to get Sirius, well in fact the A6 at that stage said it came with it. It only had 6 or so channels and the HLE couldn't help me get the rest of the channels! He even showed me the rest of the Audi's in the lot and they were all in the same situation!

Thats because full Sirius wasn't activated; only the trial mode. This happened to me earlier this year in Denver. I fought the upgrade I'd paid and eventually the station manager went to the car, checked the radio, and refunded it.

Happy to report I received a vehicle with full Sirius from my local HLE this weekend. Only downside was that it came in the form of a Ford Edge (SUV) so I spent more on gas (not to mention the ecological faux pas). But it was worth it given the breadth and depth of music to which I was able to listen.

My local HLE really came through for me. Props to the folks at the Bellevue, WA Red Lion HLE.

I found out the hard way this is not guaranteed. I rented a car for a weekly rental over the Thanksgiving holiday. Since I was going halfway across the country, I really wanted that radio. Now I know to rent from the airport next time I really have to have Sirius. On the plus side, I heard lots of local stations Christmas music along the way. :(