Hertz - Money not an Issue, Just VIP Service

Hi All.

Have the fortunate position to be able to rent without (much) regard to cost. As long as its somewhat reasonable, it's expensed.

I went with Avis for a while- but never felt like Avis First really amounted to much. Sometimes I could 'sweet talk' myself into a nice car (ie Crossfire in WA) but for the most part, it was just another title to put on your FlyerTalk profile. ;)

So I started on Hertz in Jan, naturally it's like starting over- no status yet, back to earning like in the old days. Titles/status with names like "president's circle" have me thinking that it just might be worth putting the time in.

I also recently got a free Emerald membership from Delta- and the idea of skipping down the Aisle sounds appealing.

So my question is, without regard to price, what car rental company responds the best to super-frequent renters? :-:

If price is not an issue, why not just rent the specific vehicle you want?

Maybe I goofed when asking my question, price is not the issue within reason. The point was that I'm not price shopping as much as asking for general opinion on the frequent renter services. :)

A midsize is a midsize is a midsize... a full-size is a full-size... etc.

Unless I'm being gifted into a fun class car, the actual car doesn't really matter (for the most part- we all have our extreme dislikes, ie: pt cruiser).

My experience in the highest status is limited to Avis. Looking to hear if the top of other mountains have better views before I start climbing. :D

I think it depends which specific benefit you really want.

The ability for you to pick your car from the Emerald Aisle is a nice feature at National, but their selection is not as wide as Hertz, so you balance the abillity to pick from a fleet of mostly American full size cars vs the possibility of ending up in something nicer at Hertz.

I think most PCs will tell you that their upgrade success varries dramatically -- just look at the thread in this forum about upgrades. IMHO, a total crap shoot. Similarly, you'll find that your treatment and acknolwedgement of status varries tremendously from location to location.

I think you'll find that most, but not all, people on this forum are generally Hertz fans -- I think their customer service + fleet diversity make them an easy choice above the other options, but I'm sure I could do almost as well at Avis.

Are you renting from the same location every week? If so, build a relationship with the station manager. If not, then you'll have to earn the hard-way.

I've only been Pres Circle for about a month - but have done 10 rentals & ever one's been upgraded when renting mid & full-size cars - I've gotten a couple of Audi's in the mix.

As noah said, Hertz takes good care of its customers & is proactive about responding to issues with satisfactory resolutions. 99% of rentals don't have issues - and the rare issue isn't usually a huge deal, IMHO. I like the free day certs I get every 2-3 months for 15 rentals - they come in handy & I haven't paid for a personal rental in about 3 years now as I use my ZE1 points.

Hertz PC is a guaranteed upgrade. National has the Executive selection, which is hit-or-miss in my experience -- sometimes it's full of PT Cruiser "upgrades". With Hertz, I have "Explorer" as the specific vehicle preference on my profile and about 90% of the time, regardless of what class of vehicle I pay for, I get an Explorer. So I'm happy. As noted by others, Hertz service is generally top-notch and any issues are quickly resolved at the Corporate level with no stress. Can't speak to Avis First. Gave Avis a lot of chances to impress me about 2 years ago as Preferred Select, but I continued to get stripper Grand Ams every week, so I've not had a paid rental with them since.

From my experience Hertz also replaces their fleet a little more frequently then some of the other carriers, so a newer car is usually the case.

Hi All.

I went with Avis for a while- but never felt like Avis First really amounted to much. Sometimes I could 'sweet talk' myself into a nice car (ie Crossfire in WA) but for the most part, it was just another title to put on your FlyerTalk profile. ;)

So I started on Hertz in Jan, naturally it's like starting over- no status yet, back to earning like in the old days. Titles/status with names like "president's circle" have me thinking that it just might be worth putting the time in.

I also recently got a free Emerald membership from Delta- and the idea of skipping down the Aisle sounds appealing.

So my question is, without regard to price, what car rental company responds the best to super-frequent renters? :-:

Avis Chairman's Club probably has the best service but Hertz has better cars.

Hertz is pretty good - *if* you reach the 40-rental mark. Five Star does not yield Prestige upgrades much at all. Frankly, it doesn't yield many upgrades of any kind outside of occasion compact to mid or mid to full.

I've switched to National in 2008 due to bad experiences at the primary location I rent most often (Hertz Seattle). I had been a Hertz primary renter for many years with almost all positive experiences except for Seattle. However, at the 20-30 rentals per year level, I believe the Exec-level Aisle at National will yield better cars. Even on the regular Aisle, I'm finding an XM car about half the time.

My first 4 EA rentals of 2008 (regular Aisle):

- SNA - Impala XLT with XM
- MCO - Chrysler 300 with XM
- SEA - Saturn Aura with XM
- SEA - Pontiac G6 GT, no XM

The SNA and MCO rentals had some more interesting choices, but we had 4 people for both trips and went a bit on the bigger side than I usually like. The car I have now (the G6) is perfect for a solo business trip - 220 horses in a very compact package - just wish it had XM... National definitely has a higher mix of General Motors cars than I typically see elsewhere, but for short rentals, they usually mix some decent products into the EA. It's not a long line of underpowered Cavaliers or Centurys like it sometimes seemed like 5-10 years ago.

I think it depends which specific benefit you really want.

The ability for you to pick your car from the Emerald Aisle is a nice feature at National, but their selection is not as wide as Hertz, so you balance the abillity to pick from a fleet of mostly American full size cars vs the possibility of ending up in something nicer at Hertz.

I think most PCs will tell you that their upgrade success varries dramatically -- just look at the thread in this forum about upgrades. IMHO, a total crap shoot. Similarly, you'll find that your treatment and acknolwedgement of status varries tremendously from location to location.

I think you'll find that most, but not all, people on this forum are generally Hertz fans -- I think their customer service + fleet diversity make them an easy choice above the other options, but I'm sure I could do almost as well at Avis.

I agree completely. I do about 80-110 rentals per year and recently moved almost all of my business over to National after they (kinda) status-matched me, but Hertz has its benefits too.

With National, as an Executive (equivalent to 5*) for the past three months of rentals, I have had upgraded selections from the Executive Aisle 100% of the time, the majority of those more than one-class upgrades. The ability to pick your own car definitely helps in this regard. My home location (SAN) have gone above and beyond once or twice, and let me take a CTS or S60 when the Aisle had nothing decent. As mentioned though, the fleet selection is limited -- on a mid-size reservation, it's almost always a Lucerne, Grand Prix, Impala, Avalon, etc.

Hertz either treated me exceptionally well or poorly as PC. SFO, ORD and DFW basically would give me anything I wanted within reason (though sometimes even YH cars like the G35 and A4 on C/F reservations), and if I wanted Prestige, they would give me awesome upgrade deals. On the other hand, LAX, ATL and SAN would give me dirty/older cars, often no upgrades and in some cases, would try to charge me for upgrades I was supposed to get as a PC anyway (LAX got a bit better after I complained, though). As a result, I still go to Hertz at one of my "favorite" locations, but National otherwise.

My experience with Avis has generally been adequate as a no-status Preferred member, though considering my rental frequency, the lack of a proper rental points program means I probably won't give them significant business anytime soon.