Hertz - As a gold member, will hertz match a price or beat a price of a competitor?

Greetings,

I am a Hertz Gold member. I am traveling to HNL and OGG in a couple of weeks. I am able to book just about any class car I want using any discount I want. Usually Hertz is competive (within $10 either side) with other auto rental companies regardless of location.

When I check the prices with National at both locations, using a convertible auto as an example, I can save $60 at HNL for a three day rental and $109 for a seven day rental out of OGG.

Obviously, we are not talking about a couple ot dollars. Will Hertz match or beat those prices if I ask? Thanks for the replies.

Generally no - however, if you get in touch with the station manager, maybe. I had it happen to me once after a bad experience in LAS where the counter agent was a total dick. I wrote them a letter & the station manager asked me to contact him directly for future ressies...and I did - telling him I was moving my business in LAS to another company & he matched the rate....

Well in flrida the rates currently with all rental companies are outrageous 100 plus per day.

No. This past Dec I had a mid week, one night stay in LAS. All the other car rental agencies were in the $10-20 for a compact. Hertz was at $67 :eek: Calling them did nothing, so I rented with Dollar and saved the $50+.

I've only recently become a frequent car renter, and as I get to know the business better I've been thinking that the car rental business seems more of an asset management industry segment than a service industry segment.

My hypothesis is they purchase these cars and use demand forecast models and asset depreciation schemes to maximize profitability, which would explain why the rates from city to city and company to company vary so much.

If this is really how the business is run, then matching others rates make very little sense under this model.

Someone with more inside knowledge feel free to confirm or refute my theory.

I initially thought it's based on some sort of complex demand formula and trying to get the cars to 30K miles in a year so they can then be resold, but now I really think it's just a chicken pooing in a grid with numbers in the back.

I booked a car a few days ago for a trip in a few weeks. Rates were $60+/day. I found Dollar was the cheapest at $25/day but only with a minivan. I went to make a change to my reservation the next day and the rates for all vehicles had jumped to $70+/day including the minivan. Today, when I went back, the rates had fallen to $10/day for a compact and nothing was over $60+/day. There's no logic to that pricing scheme unless they've found a pattern for when people book travel and adjust rates daily in accordance.

Hertz has fluctuated a bit, but never by this much. At this point, I now make the cheapest reservation I can when my trips are scheduled and then check via orbitz as time permits to see if major fare changes occur. if they do, i'll redo my reservation. I prefer hertz for the upgrades I tend to get, but when the rate difference is significant, a chance at a better car isn't worth it.

btw, for florida some companies seem to be moving inventory. at budget, they have a $5/day one-way from florida rate for compact cars. that may explain the reason why some vehicles are priced higher for local rentals. you may want to try returning elsewhere even within the state

i don t think so

depending on the location

you need to show them a newspaper or a leaflet with a promotion to start discussing

usually they have their own ways of changing the price
good luck

bhnastx, have you gotten any good price matches out of your Las Vegas contact? Because I travel there nearly every other month and probably only book Hertz half the time because their rates are so out of whack. For example, Mar 20-23, compact, all rental companies except Budget and Hertz are $15-21. Budget is $32 and Hertz is $38. I know my Budget will Hertz if I use either of those companies (groan)

Has anyone ever tried to get a rate match the day of the rental? It never occurred to me to try, but if the asset management theory is correct, the last minute is when they'd want to deal...

I am a #1 gold member and rent cars to go from Syr to EWR one way and then from Ewr to Syr one way about a week to ten days later. I do this 5-6 times a year and National is always about 1/2 price with no CDP, coupon codes etc. I have never had luck trying to get Hertz to match Nationals rate. I even tried today with no success.

i work at the hertz counter and i usually meet or beat other car rental company prices. Come to the counter and have a printed quote from the other car rental company. I would beat it. I get a commission out of the rental and you would get a better rate win win for both of us :)

If we only knew where you where we would all flock there. I would love for you to be working in SYR or EWR.

But then everyone else wishes you worked at their airport.

Hertz4me, do you think that european counter staff have the same flexibility?

i think so, hertz gives us a alot of power at the counter with rental prices i don't think its the same with other car rental companies, i have friends that work at avis national etc and they can't price match, which is good for me :) i tend to give the best prices to customers without a reservation, they come to my counter first because were located the closest and 90% of the time after they receive quotes from everyone they come back to my counter.

ill give you an example, I once quoted a customer one-way and the base rate was like $180 a day for economy car which i thought was very high they went over to Avis next door to get a quote and they got $90, i told them i would beat their price by 10% if they decided to rent from me and they did :)