Hertz - What's the highest mileage vehicle Hertz has tried to give you

Arrived at MSP yesterday and got in the car, a Ford 500, drove to the security shack and noticed it had 35256 miles and the shocks were bad, so I returned it. No Gold desk at MSP so I had to wait in line for 10 minutes.

The CSR told me that this is business as usual though she had never seen a car with mileage so high. She gave me a Pontiac with 9000 miles. The Pontiac had message "needs oil change now" on the screen. What's going on with Hertz and high mileage cars? What's the highest mileage vehicle you've seen?

I think the highest I had was for an insurance replacement rental at about 16,000 miles, but the check engine light came on the third day I had it. So it had to go back and swapped for another car.

I have seen Avis cars at 35,000+ miles, but never Hertz...at least not yet.

The HLE near me winds up with a lot of high mileage cars. They sometimes have to lie to the computer to let them rent me a car that is showing up as a "turn back," and that is usually at around 28,000 miles. The 2007 Fusion I have now just turned 25,000 so it will likely be yanked soon.

Arrived at MSP yesterday and got in the car, a Ford 500, drove to the security shack and noticed it had 35256 miles and the shocks were bad, so I returned it. No Gold desk at MSP so I had to wait in line for 10 minutes.

The CSR told me that this is business as usual though she had never seen a car with mileage so high. She gave me a Pontiac with 9000 miles. The Pontiac had message "needs oil change now" on the screen. What's going on with Hertz and high mileage cars? What's the highest mileage vehicle you've seen?

What timing. Just returned to DFW, a 2006 Caddy DTS, that's right 06 - with 31,444 miles on it. Picked up the car on Fri - too tired to pay attention, thought the engine sounded a bit off, and the cocked steering wheel should have been another clue. Originally thought I had a car wtih 3144 miles, not the 31,444. ;-)

Returned it this AM - am driving a Shelby GT-H convertible for the weekend, at our Corp Rate of $33/day (full size). The on-duty manager couldn't believe the car was in his fleet (it had Georgia tags on it). I don't think that car will be rented again any time soon.

1st time in 4+ years as a PC I've ever had a car that "used". Like I said - too tired with all the flight delays to notice the problems until this AM. They took care of the problem nicely with the GT-H (and had some nice weather today to enjoy the convertible)!

I had an Elantra a few months ago with 27k on it. It had a burned out turn signal bulb, which kept the right side turn signals from blinking, and a bad shock in the back that made rubbing sounds every time I hit even the slightest bump. I didn't notice it until I was a nice distance away from the airport,and I was only going to be driving the car for a few hours, so I just kept it and hoped for the best.

I had a Ford Escape from DFW that had about 28k on it - and defective ABS/bad brakes, so that when you did a firm (not panic) stop, the right rear would pitch up and lock, causing the rear of the car to slide to the left. NOT fun! :td: :eek:

I'd returned a car I didn't like (nothing wrong with the first one, though) for that one, so I almost wondered if I got a retaliatory crap-wagon...

Traded the Escape-from-hell the next day and got something else - can't remember which, though, as I had about 6 months straight rentals from Hertz DFW last year. I saw a *lot* of different cars...

RFTraveler

Just turned in a 07' Mercury Montego with 28,315. Lots of sqeeks, rattles and wind noise. Heated seat on the drivers side didn't work either.

In fairness to Hertz, this was a one-way so they were probably trying to dump the car on another location. I had just turned in an H3 with 300 miles on the OD.

Reminds me why I haven't purchased an american car in years.

Hertz tried to give me a car with over 30,000 miles on it (I think it was a Matrix). I just asked for another car. Though I do prefer vehicles with a little mileage on them as the car has been broken in a bit and tends to work a lot better than brand new car with zero miles.

i personally returned a licensee Hertz car with 60,000 miles it was a 06 nissa maxima

I got a car with 26K on it at MFR. But it was in good condition (except for a few scratches in the paint) so I had no complaints. It helped that I was only driving locally for a few days. If I were taking off on a long trip from the airport I might be more concerned.

I'm on my first Hertz rental right now. It had 2 miles when I picked it up ^

I had an H3 that had 28K on it and it was a horrible piece of junk. Near free upgrade but the radio would not turn off even after opening the door. It just stayed on and on and on and forgot to manually do it once and ran the battery dead as a door nail. Hertz said it would be 2 hours before they would come and jump me. This was in a dark parking lot at 1am! I called back and said no thanks and walked a half mile to walk and got a jumper box. The passenger seat was broken and this that and the other...

In PHL, my name wasn't on the board, stood on line, wanted to give me a C car for C rental (I'm PC) but they relented and gave me a D with Sirius.. turns out to be a Ford Mustang with 31k miles sitting in no man's land (took me ten minutes to find) and the Sirius didnt work. But I expect this kind of crap from PHL Hertz. They suck. I didn't bother going back since I'm sure they could find a crappier car if they tried.

I have found over the past few years cars seem to be having more and more kms on it, in both the USA and here in Australia

In Australia we have HLE's (Which are all privately owned), these locations have the oldest cars and really don't care.

I have had cars in Australia from the HLE's with around 30,000-40,000 miles on it (of course displayed in KM's down here)

I made a complaint and spoke to the complaints department, the first person didn't care and pretty much said bad luck. Another person I spoke to said avoid renting from HLE's if you want new cars.

After three high mileage rentals from the HLE I now rent from the airport here, and get cars with only a few hundred miles on it and always get upgraded. Unfortunately this means paying a bit extra for the airport surcharge but I get better service and my car is waiting with my name on the board. The HLE doesn't have a board.

In PHL, my name wasn't on the board, stood on line, wanted to give me a C car for C rental (I'm PC) but they relented and gave me a D with Sirius.. turns out to be a Ford Mustang with 31k miles sitting in no man's land (took me ten minutes to find) and the Sirius didnt work. But I expect this kind of crap from PHL Hertz. They suck. I didn't bother going back since I'm sure they could find a crappier car if they tried.
Not a milage comment... I got a Mustang in FLL with non-working Sirius (radio worked, would switch to Sirius, the "call Sirius" scrolling message was appearing). I called the post-rental 800 number at Hertz, they took the Sirius receiver EIN, and in about 10 minutes, Sirius was working. Yes, it was a PITA, still a very quick resolution.

Steve B.

I have found over the past few years cars seem to be having more and more kms on it, in both the USA and here in Australia

In Australia we have HLE's (Which are all privately owned), these locations have the oldest cars and really don't care.

I have had cars in Australia from the HLE's with around 30,000-40,000 miles on it (of course displayed in KM's down here)

I made a complaint and spoke to the complaints department, the first person didn't care and pretty much said bad luck. Another person I spoke to said avoid renting from HLE's if you want new cars.

After three high mileage rentals from the HLE I now rent from the airport here, and get cars with only a few hundred miles on it and always get upgraded. Unfortunately this means paying a bit extra for the airport surcharge but I get better service and my car is waiting with my name on the board. The HLE doesn't have a board.



Just got a Brand New Commodore Omega from Perth Airport with 7km on the clock
Happy Days!

Its been about a year so I don't remember the exact mileage, but at EIS I was given a car with over 80,000 miles on it. It ran just fine though.

Just got a Brand New Commodore Omega from Perth Airport with 7km on the clock
Happy Days!

Commodore - Yuck

got a new-ish looking Mazda 3 at MCO...had 28K miles on it. Drove alright and I was only driving locally so I didn't care.

28K miles? expected that at an HLE...not a major airport like MCO! :confused:

I just turned in a PT Cruiser (I dislike them) with 25,600 miles and a tranny in need of service because it clunked when downshifting for stops. But the agent took another $20 off when I mentioned it for the inconvenience so ^.

I have noticed more and more higher mileage cars.

I just rented a car one-way from MCO-FLL for a long weekend. I didn't even check to see what it was, but it was a piece of junk.

It had 27,241 miles on it and made horrible noise when I drove it. I picked up the car late and didn't feel like returning it.

I think I'm going to start renting at Avis at MCO from now on. The last two times I've picked up cars at the airport location they've been horrible.

Rich

The Stamford/Fairfield/Norwalk CT area has typically has C cars that have close to or around 25k miles.

I did get an S80 in SFO with ~27k miles on it once....didn't have my name on the board...went in, got the keys along with a $50 certificate. Was Christmas day, and it was only for 3 days. Car had a VERY noisy windshield wiper motor.

I had a Camry yesterday with 27,545 miles on it. Rented from ORF.

I have found over the past few years cars seem to be having more and more kms on it, in both the USA and here in Australia

In Australia we have HLE's (Which are all privately owned), these locations have the oldest cars and really don't care.

I have had cars in Australia from the HLE's with around 30,000-40,000 miles on it (of course displayed in KM's down here)


Hertz in Tasmania is franchised, even at the airport. I once rented a car with 80K klms (~50K miles).

In the States, the highest mileage Hertz car I've had has been at 29K.

The Lexus IS250 at FLL had near 30k if I recall. The bigger issue was that the friendly computer told me I needed oil service soon when I picked it up and by 1/2 way through the rental it was demanding I get an oil service NOW.

Is this a new thing with Hertz..sending cars out in desperate need of an oil change?

Also, they apparently don't consider the IS250 to be a prestige rental; it lacked NeverLost.

Also, they apparently don't consider the IS250 to be a prestige rental; it lacked NeverLost.

I think the IS is a Specialty vehicle of another class.

BWI this past Saturday issued me an Impala with 31542 on the dial.

This week at DCA I got G6 with about 32k on it. Runs fine, but the interior is wrecked, didn't realize how bad it was until I got out of the garage.

I think I've gotten mustang with over 30k on it too from DCA.

I rent a lot of Hertz cars, about 80-100 a year, for the past 5 years. I NEVER got a car over 30K, barely ever got ones over 25K. Most were under 10K. I have had a number that were brand new (1 or 2 miles on them).

At PBI a few weeks ago, I got a Camry with TX plates, lots of dings on the doors and fenders, and 37K miles on it. I got in late, and had to rush to a customer site, so I did not have time to complain or exchange. I did let them know about it on return, though.

Not what I usually expect with PC.

I have had more and more high mile cars lately, and not nearly the level of upgrades that PC seemed to get in the past.

Just got a 07 Malibu with 36,298 miles on it from my local HLE. Rental was for a one-way 25 mile drive to the airport, ($13+gas to rent vs. $60 for a cab) so I didn't really care what I got, but this car is ready to fall apart.

I have had more and more high mile cars lately, and not nearly the level of upgrades that PC seemed to get in the past.

Yes I have to agree :(

At PBI a few weeks ago, I got a Camry with TX plates, lots of dings on the doors and fenders, and 37K miles on it. I got in late, and had to rush to a customer site, so I did not have time to complain or exchange. I did let them know about it on return, though.

Not what I usually expect with PC.

I have had more and more high mile cars lately, and not nearly the level of upgrades that PC seemed to get in the past. I am in the same boat. Overall, the cars are in worse shape wiht a lot of miles. I do not knwo how the other chains are at the moment. So I am unsure if it is a, because of the IPO or the economy.

They tried to give me a Corolla w/ 33k+. Smelled like a musty rag inside.

I went back and paid $10/day upgrade -- it got me a Navigator w/ 1.5k. :)

Yesterday at DCA I received a Camry with 35.5K miles on it which also had warped rotors on the front disc brakes that caused the front end to shudder when braking and tires that I would have replaced already if it was a car I owned.

Local Hertz -> YYZ on Sunday. 46K (29K miles?) KMs on a Hyundai Sonata that smelled like an ash tray.

Hertz still have the high mileage cars running around that's for sure

Mustang in HNL 20,000 miles, however there were MANY more around with 30,000+ miles on it

:td:

While mine was high, it was a free upgrade from the Sebring convertible so I kept quiet and it was from a HLE, so I expect old cars! :td:

At PBI a few weeks ago, I got a Camry with TX plates, lots of dings on the doors and fenders, and 37K miles on it. I got in late, and had to rush to a customer site, so I did not have time to complain or exchange. I did let them know about it on return, though.

Not what I usually expect with PC.

I have had more and more high mile cars lately, and not nearly the level of upgrades that PC seemed to get in the past.

Highest car I saw come through my location was a Chevy HHR with 43,700.....
:eek::td:

Stumbled across and interesting article the other day, no idea how I found it.

VERY interesting reading for anyone interesting Hertz and how they operate

http://seekingalpha.com/article/90066-hertz-global-holdings-inc-q2-2008-earnings-call-transcript?page=-1

Basically, the cars are only going to get older with Hertz over the next year or so!

Key points, my comments in brackets

The average age of our active US fleet at June 30th was eight months. (My previous thoughts were that Hertz ditched cars after 6 months, clearly that has changed)

At Hertz, we measure customer satisfaction on a real-time basis using the net promoter's core program, where we survey renters on a real-time basis and how lightly they would be to recommend Hertz. I am pleased to report our continued year-over-year improvement. North American Rental Car is 3 point, 4 points better and Europe Rental Car dramatically improved by 11 points. We have been able to improve our service level even while reducing cost is impressive. (So they dont' care about old cars in the fleet, as most customers don't seem to care)

In the US, when we analyzed the feedback from renters, the two most frequently sided areas for improvement relate to gasoline and customer wait times. (Two issues which I don't care less about, my name is usually on the board, and I fill the car myself)

During the quarter, we continue to age our worldwide fleet to 31.9 months, a year-over-year increase of four months and an increase of one month when compared to fleet age at March 31. With our current fleet plan, we expect the average age of the fleet to increase by a few more months in 2008. This should not impact our maintenance cost or our customer service. (Time will tell on this, but not totally sure what this means, but it's an increase :td: )

I got a Corolla with over 38,000 miles on it at LAS. The car was in decent shape and drove OK so it worked out all right. I did check the tread on the tires before driving off.

I've gotten a few 25,000+ Hertz cars.

I can't complain. I'm one of those people that often racks up several thousand miles during a fairly short rental.

Had a Toyota Avalon with 37K miles at SFO recently. It drove far better than many cheaper cars with 7K on them so I can't really complain.

Hertz is obviously cutting cost. It is now 2008. Vehicles are made better than before so If you see a vehicle with 30k, it should still run good. However, the way that some people drive cars, can make a car much older than it appears.

I have been with Hertz for nearly 8 years. I have always seen vehicles with 30k and more. Now it is becoming more and more common. We have 2 types of vehicles: TURNBACKS AND WHOLESALES. The turnbacks go back to the manufacturer at x amount of miles which is usually low. Wholesale we own and will squeeze every last drop we can......

Hope this helps a little...

Hertz is obviously cutting cost. It is now 2008. Vehicles are made better than before so If you see a vehicle with 30k, it should still run good. However, the way that some people drive cars, can make a car much older than it appears.

I have been with Hertz for nearly 8 years. I have always seen vehicles with 30k and more. Now it is becoming more and more common. We have 2 types of vehicles: TURNBACKS AND WHOLESALES. The turnbacks go back to the manufacturer at x amount of miles which is usually low. Wholesale we own and will squeeze every last drop we can......

Hope this helps a little...

Thanks! My main concern with high mileage cars is whether they have been properly maintained. Based on your experience are you comfortable that regular maintenance is done? Are the tires, brakes, etc., checked on a regular schedule?

Got 39.4k mile Rav 4 this week.

About 28k on a Ford Focus once.

Thanks! My main concern with high mileage cars is whether they have been properly maintained. Based on your experience are you comfortable that regular maintenance is done? Are the tires, brakes, etc., checked on a regular schedule?

I appreciate your concern. I can tell you that when a rental car is in need of maintenance, it is red flagged in our system. The computer will not let us rent a vehicle if it is in need of service. Have you ever questioned why Hertz checks the miles when you return the rental? Even though it's unlimited miles? Well that is how we keep track on maintenance. On a Toyota Corolla we need to get the oil change every 5k. If the var has lets say 4,558 miles on it, then our computer system will only let us rent this out for no more than 3 days. It will say: ERROR~PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE REQUIRED. Once the vehicle's oil change is complete, a distrobution controller can only remove the vehicle hold once he/she has the receipt via faxed/ emailed. Hertz is very strict on reliability. Let's face it, we are 50% reliable while the car manufacturer is 50% reliable as well. Same for tires, brakes, etc;

I know it stinks to receive a vehicle with over 35k. I try the best I can to keep a younger fleet. My main concern would be cosmetic. Smoker car, stains, scratches, dents, etc;

Feel free to ask me anything you are curious to know...

Kind regards,

Da Hertz Guy

I know it stinks to receive a vehicle with over 35k. I try the best I can to keep a younger fleet. My main concern would be cosmetic. Smoker car, stains, scratches, dents, etc;

Only issue I've ever had my high-mileage cars from Hertz was obviously worn brakes. Otherwise, most of the 25k+ cars I've gotten weren't really much different from the new ones.

Only issue I've ever had my high-mileage cars from Hertz was obviously worn brakes. Otherwise, most of the 25k+ cars I've gotten weren't really much different from the new ones.


Excellent point my friend. It is our responsibility to occasionally check the brakes especially vehicles with over 30k. We do take customers concerns very serious when they notice something unfit such as brakes, noises, etc;

I haven't rented from Hertz much but decided to give them a try at MKE last week as the Avis location there has gone downhill lately (short staffed, no upgrades for me as an Avis First, higher rates than anyone else, etc).

Got a Pontiac G6 with 32,009 miles. Texas plates...registration indicates this car was first on the road in October '07. That's a new high mileage-wise for me from any major rental agency, but at least there are no problems with the car. Tires, brakes, etc. all seem fine. But based on what others have posted in this thread, 32K seems to be about the max for a Hertz car, so hopefully this G6 is going into retirement soon.

The '07 Kia Sportage I got last week at HOU had *drum roll please* 42,379 MILES! And I'm a 5* for what little it seems to be worth...

My highest was 42,430 renting a Pontiac G6 with Texas plates at MCI. Since I reserved a full size car already it wasn't the best Presidents Circle upgrade I've received. The car drove okay.

I guess I've been lucky so far. Highest I've had was a Mazda 5 with 15k on it.

My highest was 42,430 renting a Pontiac G6 with Texas plates at MCI. Since I reserved a full size car already it wasn't the best Presidents Circle upgrade I've received.

Well no kiddin' it wouldn't be the best upgrade you ever got, because it wasn't an upgrade. It wasn't even what you reserved. They downgraded you as a PC. I would've complained personally but to each their own.

I recently got a Mazda 6 with roughly 43K on the clock.

The car was in pretty bad shape and I just needed it for a one way from my HLE to the airport next morning so I cant blame them that they want to get rid of it. It was honestly the worst car I ever got from Hertz. The mat was ripped out, scratches all over and a damaged windshield. You should have seen the inspection form I forced to get very detailed for this particular rental :o

I have a little agreement with my HLE folks: I often have one ways to LAX so whenever they want to get rid of something I take it over there (as I dont care what sits in front of the house just for the night & its a 8 mile drive).

For this I just have to reserve an A for my weekends and almost always get something nice. Since I rent every weekend from Thursday till Sunday this is a great deal. Don't want a car for monday and tuesday because of street cleaning and wednesday is not important either.

Everything has it's advantages.

But: On a station that I dont frequent as much I would complain if a car is not meeting minimum standards that a premium customer should get.

I don't remember the exact make but it was around 25K.

I do remember one time I got this really crappy Subaru Imprezza (Toronto HLE) with a whole whack of miles on it.... not sure if this was the one with 25K... could've been more.

I don't remember the exact make but it was around 25K.

I do remember one time I got this really crappy Subaru Imprezza (Toronto HLE) with a whole whack of miles on it.... not sure if this was the one with 25K... could've been more.

I got an Imprezza last week and even though they are ugly, it had alot of power. :p I actually enjoyed driving it.

I got an Imprezza last week and even though they are ugly, it had alot of power. :p I actually enjoyed driving it.

True. I did feel like I was going on a road rally. :)

I just had a Cadillac with 34500 on it in Nashville. The XMRadio subscription had expired and the seat was sprung, but it was still a nice car, and 5X better than the Lincoln they tried to give me.

Just finished a 4 day rental out of PDX, Ford Mustang with 37433 miles, cig burn in drivers seat, small crack in windshield. Plus I am Presidents Circle, so much for those special upgraded cars.

my current rental is around 33-34k in a saturn vue. i had one this past week with almost 30k.

The most I've seen was a little over 50,000 miles on a Dodge Caravan. These days it's pretty much the norm to see vehicles with over 30Ks.

I dropped a 07 Camray back yesterday with 46k miles on the clock.

The car was in such bad condition that I made a complaint to the manager. The car vibrated when the breaks were used, and when driving between 40 and 60 MPH there was a whine from the rear wheels.

The returns agent who I spoke to first about the state of the car remarked that 'Hertz are saving money by keeping older cars' - to which I remarked that they were also loosing customers which such bad cars.

The good side to the story was that Hertz took this seriously, and i recieved a $100 voucher, plus a part refund of the non prepaid part of the rental. I only had the car for a day.

Hertz is a quality car rental company, and a car approaching 50K should not be part of their range.

I just got a G6 with 37K out of DCA this morning, which is the highest I can ever remember getting. Surprisingly very clean (though the black interior may hide some of that) and it seems to run fine.

What's really ironic is that I am driving a G6 from Enterprise right now and it has 16,000 miles on the clock. My G6 from Hertz last week was the exact same car with double the mileage. Used to be that Enterprise had crappier cars than Hertz, by far. But I'm paying $18.99 a day (for a Sun-Tues business rental) versus $60 or so per day that Hertz charges at MKE without a Saturday night stay. I have a business account with Enterprise so no hard sell on the insurance, and very efficient service - no line at the counter, so perhaps a minute or so longer from terminal to car than stopping at the Hertz Gold booth.

Like many FTers, I am starting to base my rentals more on price than anything else, since in the end, all I need is a set of wheels, and no loyalty program is worth paying higher rates (though Hertz is often lower than Enterprise on weekends at many locations) or receiving higher mileage cars. I've rented from Alamo, Enterprise, National, Avis, and Hertz so far this year and probably won't make elite status with any of them.

Yesterday I got a Toyota Highlander with 41K miles on the clock :eek:

Still a very well maintained car ! Scratches on the outside but 8$ gas for 40 miles city traffic (with 3 hours traffic jam) isnt bad.

Yeah, last week, i got an '08 Tucson with 20k on it.

This weekend, they tried to give me a Santa Fe, Escape, with over 30k on them.

My Rav4 that I ended up taking had 22k on it. . .

Thank GOD for Japanese cars :-)

I have been lucky enough to avoid joining the 35K club but my streak ended this week in OMA when I picked up a car with 35,500 miles. After seeing the mileage and the condition of the car, I would have asked for something else but the Gold Booth now closes at 8 pm (:mad:) and the walk from the counter to the cars at OMA is one of the longest hikes I've seen at any airport.

Next time, I'll check the mileage on the paperwork before departing the counter.

This stuff is getting old, Hertz.

Past few rentals

1. Escalade with 3,000 - Sensational
2. Escalade with 8,000 - Not too bad
3. Escalade with 13,000 - Was average and dirty inside, it just needed a good detail and drove perfectly still.
4. Escalade with 18,000 - Poor condition inside and out, Hertz didn't have any more Escalades at this location.

Funnily enough at LAS, there were not many prestige vehicles to be seen, and when asking at the counter they even said they rarely see a prestige vehicle such as a Q7/Escalade/ZHZ Corvette anymore.

:(

Last month in nyc, I rented a 08 Ford Explorer....with 35K miles!

It had Texas plates, yet was in NYC. Very strange. The SUV was fine and actually had pretty good mileage for an Explorer. Any other car I've ever rented has been under 15K. 2 that stand out are a 09 Corolla with 40 miles on it and a 09 Infiniti G37 with 140 miles on it.

I just become a Gold member so I hope I don't jinx it. It's my 4th rental of the year so it looks like I'm on my way to 5 Star...gulp..hope it's worth it.

I generally don't pay a lot of attention, but I do have a car right now with over 30,000 miles which seems high. It's a Mercedes C class and in good condition!
Update. I checked it has over 37,000 miles! Definitely high milage!

I think my highest so far was the 22k 2008 Mazda 6 in late December 2008. Pretty sure this car had been hanging around my HLE all year, but it drove fine (put about 1000 miles on it) and was clean. I've got a Compact reserved today for one day grabbing from a different HLE office in town rather than the one nearest home, so we'll see what they give me later this afternoon. Never rented from this one before.

EDIT: Got 09 Corolla with 1300 miles, NJ plates. Still class C4 so technically an upgrade, woo. Turned it back in already, but it was fine, though I still hate the Corolla drivers seat 5 years after first encountering it. The contract was printed and waiting, I was in and out in about 1 minute flat. So far, so good at Baum Blvd HLE. Will rent again next week.

About 6 months ago I rented an auto in San Francisco that looked as if it had been in a major sand (rock) storm and had 28,000 miles. I think it must have been lost in the back corner of the garage for the past couple of years.

Given the anecdotal evidence in this thread, I don't think that the Hertz locations have a consistent understanding of the whole President's Club / Five Star elite memberships are about.

If these people are the top renters and revenue providers for your company, why give them clapped-out high-mileage cars, or Korean cars, or "upgrades" like these mentioned above?

Yes, SEA, I am thinking specifically about you.

I often got crappy Chevy with high mileage until last week I finally called Hertz asking them to put in my profile that I dont want american cars anymore.

First time I exchanged an Aveo at the airport against a Mazda 3, 3100 miles !

This weekend i got a Mazda 5 with 500 miles on the clock.

Reserved A both times.

36,095 miles on a Grand Prix at Milwaukee HLE downtown. I've always avoided this model before, but given the poor reviews and the mileage I was suprised to quite like it.

Was given an '07 Honda Accord DX at RDU on Friday, 48,000+ miles on it and very very tatty. The damage sheet was literally full! Was able to swap it for an '08 Ford Edge with 28,000 miles on it.

Funny thing was, when I took it back, I realized it had an expired safety inspection!

For perhaps my last Hertz rental (at least for some time), I returned yesterday:

Out: 38220
In: 39862

Today's rental has 29,2xx miles on it, 2008 Ford Fusion SEL V6. It's a little scratched around the mirrors, and a bit stained on the floor inside, although I cut them some slack here because the entire interior is a fairly light beige. This was on a B rental, and it's a YC, and the Sirius is on, and it drives fine so I'm okay with it.

As a PC, I rented a 1-way Richmond-Dulles and what did I have to accompany me at 32c/mile on the I-95 (excerpt from on-line receipt) ?

Car Description: RAV4 4X4 SUN YMY90B
Veh. No.: 8766305
CAR CLASS Charged: F MILEAGE In: 50,355
Rented: YQ Out: 50,181
Reserved: F Driven: 174

I have long since given-up asserting my right to a 'guaranteed upgrade' on a 1-way rental. At least I know I've spared anyone at RIC the joy of renting it in future

I had my highest mileage Hertz rental at Boston Logan two weeks ago -- a Pontiac G6 with 45,410 miles on it. It drove okay, except there was an odd occasional thumping noise in the left front wheel well.

Logan does tend to give me higher mileage cars than other locations. Last week, my Ford Fusion left the lot with 30,092 miles, but drove like new.

Just yesterday.....picked up a minivan...from an HLE at a weekly rate.
- 43,500 miles
- 2007 Odyssey (yes, a 2007!) w/broken sliding doors (the "Slide Door" fault light is on constantly)
Not a bad price at $350/week but it does not meet expectations. We'll see if Hertz can make good on this one....stay tuned.

I had a Camry with 28,500 last week from San Antonio which I thought was high, but I guess not. Can't complain for $171 for me, 2 additional drivers, and 7 days.

Returned it with 29,700

It sipped gas too.

Rented at - 40,395

Pontiac Grand Prix GXP

Rented from the Marriott Moscone Center in San Francisco.

It was actually still in pretty good shape despite the mileage. I haven't driven an american V8 in a while. It was one of my favorite rentals recently.

I dropped off a 350Z yesterday. They gave it to me with 28803 miles. Leather was fine and trust me, it ran great. Had no issues with it.

ICT put me in a toyota with nearly 40K miles, and they were hard, hard miles.

Pulled severely to the left when I touched the brakes. Had I been there more than a day and a half, I'd have taken it back.

What a POS.

Got a Toyota Matrix with 43000 miles at SAT. Car had NY plates, so it was quite far from 'home'. The car had a problem with idle. It felt like it might stall at any moment. It was fine at speed though.

Hertz has given me worst without me complaining, but this one took the cake. I was renting the other day at PWM. They TRIED to give me a 45,000 mile Kia Rio, which I believe is economy (a), and I had reserved a standard (d) I couldnt fit in the Rio. So I told the person, I want a standard. He said no standard.... I had been on the lot and notice they were fairly full with cars. I said well... how about an upgrade?

He had to basically call a manager and have that person show up to give me a "grandma quis." At about this time I am banging my head on the counter, driving on the roads I am driving on in Maine in the winter, w/ RWD is suicide. So in the end I got a loaded Mercury Mariner, 16,000 miles, AND Maine tags. :) I would say thats a fair upgrade, but come on hertz get these 40K and 50K mile cars off the road.

Well, my luck has turned worse. Needed a car next week for 4 days, discovered a weekly was about 3 bucks more, so did that. Picked up this morning at 10517 Perry Highway HLE (Wexford, PA). 2008 Mazda 6 has 45,700 miles on it, Missouri plates. The only other car that looked likely I would get is a Corolla, though, and while it clearly looked newer, I can't stand the Corolla seat and will be driving a few hundred miles each way. I drove 1000 miles in one of these a couple times before and loved it.

So I drove off in the 6. Then after a few minutes I noticed the gas wasn't full. Pulled out the contract, it's listed as 4/8 so while that's pretty lame at least it was listed correctly on the contract (actually a bit in my favor, it seems). So far it drives quite alright, but what I didn't notice fully until later is how bad it smells inside. By the time I realized how bad it was it was past the closing time of the HLE. Ugh. (I don't know why it didn't seem as bad when I first got in it there, but it didn't.) I conceivably have time on Monday to attempt an exchange before driving out of town, but I don't know if that's worth it. If all they have is the Corolla I probably will take the comfort and smell over the newer car.

At least once I get to DC I won't have to drive it for a couple days. I put some scented Bounce dryer sheets in there for now, always a good trick for a smelly car. ;-)

I had my highest mileage Hertz rental at Boston Logan two weeks ago -- a Pontiac G6 with 45,410 miles on it. It drove okay, except there was an odd occasional thumping noise in the left front wheel well.

Logan does tend to give me higher mileage cars than other locations. Last week, my Ford Fusion left the lot with 30,092 miles, but drove like new.

For a second there I thought your car might have migrated over to Hartford. I just picked up a G6 today with 47300 or so on it. It's not the greatest looking thing and could have used some cleaning inside, but at least I didn't hear the thumping.

The owner of my local rental counter (non-corporate-owned) explained that the cars they are being sent have more and more miles. They aren't happy about it either, but that's all they can get. In fact, they have fewer and fewer cars available as well, as corporate seems to be cutting back on buying sufficient supplies of new ones.

Personally, I rent a lot and have for many years, but I've only had mechanical problems with rentals over this past year -- and more than once, with on cars that should have been retired from the fleet already. I had one with about 47,000 on it.

The car I have rented now has 28,000 and it's brakes are not good. I had to return a rental and switch cars a few weeks ago because of a tire issue. It's really getting out of hand.

Note however, that their rental rates are not coming down!!

:td:

The owner of my local rental counter (non-corporate-owned) explained that the cars they are being sent have more and more miles. I thought non-corporate owned locations owned their own fleets for the most part (i.e., they may have some corporate owned cars, but in general, they own most of the cars on their lot)?

Maybe Hertz is taking example from Avis, with franchise offices using corporate fleets. In any case, corporate fleets are the only way one-way rentals and breakdown exchanges could be allowed, since a franchise fleet would need their specific cars back.

While San Francisco, for instance, might "lose" a car to Spokane, they might "get" another one coming in from Las Vegas. Under the old franchise fleet system, the owner in San Francisco would have to hope that someone else wants the exact same reverse trip, which is statistically unlikely. Or, pay someone to go get it, only to have someone else take it away again. Or, re-register the car that just came in, only to see it go right back out again. Or, try to recover a portion of the revenue from the destination operator, but then simultaneously pay it out again to another owner whose car landed on their table. Thankfully that silly system is gone.

I rented with Hertz for the first time this weekend and the '08 Mazda 5 Sport I got initially was awful. The Gold rep asked me if I was sure I wanted it (I reserved an F, but wanted something that sat six and vans were sold out when I booked) because it had 20K miles. She said it was their last one so she couldn't offer another with less miles. That doesn't sound like much but in Hawaii, that IS a lot since there isn't much driving to be done to begin with.

Anyway, the 5 was a wreck. The suspension sounded like it was going to fall out from under us. I drove back and asked for something else. The Gold rep searched on her computer for a bit - after I joked with her that I should have listened to her - and asked if a minivan was okay. No extra charge either. It was an '08 Uplander LT w/ 19K miles and it was very very well used :(. Dents everywhere, it was keyed, windows were gross, side mirrors were permanently stained with water spots, and the Goodyear Integrity tires were noisy as hell.

The Gold rep couldn't have been nicer and more accomodating so I am giving them 5 stars for that [I'm about to write to corporate because she made the trip so much nicer by getting us a van] but the actual cars are pretty pathetic. I've always rented through Alamo and their cars weren't ever this worn out.

Funny thing is that I bought my Camry from Hertz w/ 14K miles (it was in service for 12 months) and it smelled and looked new..and it still does. I thought with the premium Hertz charges, no wonder their ex-rentals still look new. Err... Guess I was wrong, but I can't really blame them for keeping their cars longer.

Anyway.. I'll definitely be writing to corporate about the nice Gold rep but I will mention that the cars were in poor shape. Part of my problem is that spring break is under way so they probably didn't have many cars available, but c'mon.. Looking around the lot I could tell a lot of the cars were put into service in 2007 (in HI the license plate numbers give you a clue as to what year they were registered).

I picked up a 2007 Honda Accord from Love Field in Dallas today ... 48,476 miles.

What's really strange is that it has tinted windows, I have never seen a rental car with aftermarket window tint (minivans, SUV's and the like will often have the back windows factory tinted).

After returning the afore-mentioned high mileage Accord this afternoon, tonight at ORF (Norfolk, VA) I picked up an '07 Cadillac CTS with 42,471 miles ... despite the high mileage, I'm not complaining too much since I only had a C class car reserved.

I rented in ORD on the 7th of March, and they gave me a brand new 09 Saturn VUE with only 2k on it :-)

I rented from MDW, and they gave my a brand-new 09 Subaru Outback with only 8k on it. :-)

I rented from CLE last week, and they gave me an 08 Camry with 40K+ on it :-( Engine sounded like the timing belt was ready to fall off, and there was an alignment issue. Drove back at 3am, and asked for one of the new Nissan Rogue's :-) Got one with 4k on it :-)

LAX on 4/30/09 - '07 Mercury Milan 47,377 miles

The car was in good shape though, clean inside and no major dings or dents. Drove fine, that's all that matters. For $32.00 a weekend day I'm happy.

I think what the majority of you will begin seeing more often than not is that you will either get a car that will be extremely high mileage or extremely low mileage. There won't be many cars between 18,000 - 30,000 miles.

This is a result from what happened last fall. There are two types of cars in this business. There are program cars (leased / "non-risk") and non-program cars (owned / "risk"). A program car is generally leased until it hits 15,000 - 20,000 miles and then it is "turned back" to the manufacturer. It was a lease and therefore there is "no risk" involved with the sale of that car.

The high mileage cars are the non-program cars. These cars did not sell at auction last fall. They were returned to service after this happened. These cars will sell quicker once the used car market improves. However, since the market has been so poor, the mileage cap limit was raised several times. It is now near 60,000 miles.

There weren't many non-program cars added to the fleet in recent months.

--

Also, small market airports do not receive new cars. They only get what they receive as a one-way or what they truck in - if demand justifies the expense of trucks.

Picked up a Dodge Caliber at PHL Hertz, had 49,xxx miles and AZ plates. Transmission sounded like it was ready to drop and car was rough and loud. I feel sorry from the person who drove it from AZ.

I had this car 21 days.

I picked up a Solara convertible at PSP a couple of weeks ago. Thought the odometer read 4,915.2 miles, but realized in the light of day that it was 49,152. Because I had a 2+ week reservation (and the starter only engaged once every three attempts, on average), I exchanged it for a Sebring ragtop. Somehow, this felt like payback for an experience three years ago at the other end of the spectrum -- Same airport, Audi convertible, with 11 miles on it.

After being almost a weekly renter with Hertz for the past two years...there are only a few things that will make me do an exchange:

- Anything related to steering misalignment
- Dis-functional air conditioning
- Smell in car

The crazy things I have done in the past include:
- Replaced windshield wipers myself (many different rentals, presented receipts and got credit for them after returning)
- Repaired a radio wiring harness on a Fusion that was clearly damaged when they originally installed Never Lost (Sync would not work, no backlighting on the radio)
- Twice brought a car in to a dealership myself for warranty service (once for a broken speaker, once for an ABS light) when the dealership was near my day destination and I liked the car I had.

I've now had 43 different rentals for 2009, split between Avis and Hertz (9 more needed for PC at Hertz).

My biggest knock on Avis was the constant 'upgrade' to the Mustang. Boy did my back not like that - esp. driving on NYC potholes (er. roads)!

But this is about Hertz.. I have been regularly getting cars with 30-45k miles on them. Some smell so bad like perfume (they kind they use to cover cigar smoke) that I have to drive with the windows open, others have had bad brakes, a Camry with a bad front strut tower.. but even worse, one had the transmission light come on half way to the airport and started seeking between 3 and 4th gear. It was fine as long as you kept it above 55 and it didn't need to downshift! Time for a new tranny in that one!

I had a car in Jan that had the windshield washer fluid freeze up (they used water instead of antifreeze!) and it was one of those mushy 29-31 degree days where you need to wash the window every five minutes.. it was late and I had already crossed the toll bridge when I discovered it. I ended up buying a $7 gallon of washer fluid at a gas station and pulling over every now and then to dump it on the window manually... Hertz refunded me the $7 upon return. I wanted the rental for free since it took me twice as long to get home as it should have.

IMO, the car rental experience has really gone downhill this year. If just one of the companies could stand out as 'top notch' they could really get a lot of people to defect to them. And.. since American cars are so cheap right now, a long term view would be to replace as much as the fleet as possible - Detroit would love it too.

IMO, the car rental experience has really gone downhill this year. If just one of the companies could stand out as 'top notch' they could really get a lot of people to defect to them. And.. since American cars are so cheap right now, a long term view would be to replace as much as the fleet as possible - Detroit would love it too.

I've actually had very nice cars in BOS with Hertz my two trips in April, much to my surprise. The last was a very low mileage (under 700 miles!) beauty which still had that new car smell.

However, that changed this rental. And it's my fault. I originally was given a sub-10K mile Toyota Camry, but I spend a lot of time on Masspike and it didn't have PlatePass. So I exchanged it for a PlatePass-equipped Toyota Corolla with 35K+ miles and many exterior scratches and windshield dings. Those I noted on the rental record and the car seemed okay until I discovered blown rear speakers and a driver's side mirror that doesn't adjust (so you can see behind you) while on Masspike. I'm stuck 'til Thursday night.

To your point, it used to be when I rented cars I always delighted in having something nicer or newer than I own. Now I fondly wish, most times, that I could advance ship my 120K+ mile, 2001 Subaru Forester ahead of me.

And.. since American cars are so cheap right now, a long term view would be to replace as much as the fleet as possible - Detroit would love it too.

Most are still overfleeted and buying cars at a cheap price is only half the battle. A big reason for cars being kept longer is because the existing cars are not selling for the right prices.

3 rentals in the past couple weeks:

ABQ 4/24, reserved C: My slot had a Malibu, which I considered just driving off in, about 30k, but I went over to the booth and he offered me a couple things, would have given a small SUV if I hadn't been keeping for a week (needed an oil change too soon), but I got a Camry with "only" 15k. Was a great workhorse for 1500 miles of driving around New Mexico. Tons of Priuses at ABQ, seemed like every other slot had one.

Pittsburgh Baum Blvd HLE 5/4, reserved C: Mazda 5 with about 22k. It seemed fine, really, and I would have enjoyed driving it out to Ohio. But when I got out on the highway it was pouring down rain and it felt unstable. Stopped at gas station and found pretty well worn front tires. This was on top of empty washer fluid and what appeared to be an expired Virginia inspection sticker, which I was going to ignore before the handling issue. Backtracked a bit to PIT for an exchange. Exchange was to Chevy HHR with about 38k, ugh, but it had new tires, so I didn't push for anything else (they seemed grumpy at PIT). Only rained for about an hour, d'oh. Then I didn't look closely at my receipt on return and had to complain about extra servicing charge added at the exchange time. Ugh. But I did get a $25 coupon waiting at my next rental and eventually corp says they are crediting the 10 bucks as well.

Pittsburgh Baum Blvd HLE 5/7, reserved C: Saturn Vue with about 38k. This was a one-way, though, and I expected to get something that they didn't care if they saw again. Not a bad ride, really, have to give GM some credit here. Although I got the kind of bum car that one morning, the folks at Baum Blvd have been friendly and always had my car ready. They were apologetic about the previous rental and had that coupon waiting for me just a day after I had talked to them, and the call came from a local office just about an hour after I submitted the survey. Better to not have problems, but at least here they were on top of the complaint, I'll give them that and some more chances.

I've had two different cars recently from BTR that had over 52,000 miles on them. The most recent was a 2007 Camry with 52,370 miles.

The car smelled rather fowl and the breaks handled poorly, if I wasn't in so much of a hurry I would have gone back and asked for a different car. Upon return, the agent told me they were keeping these through 60,000.

Currently renting a Saturn SUV from PHL with 37xxx on the clock.

I'm 5* and this was not an upgrade.

Mazda 6 with 36k miles. It was their only car left with neverlost. It is Des Moines so I actually believe them.

Some type of large Ford with about 26K

I got a Ford Edge with 39,000 miles, easily the one with the highest mileage for me. But it looked new from the outside and the interior has been kept up VERY well. So no complaints.

After returning the afore-mentioned high mileage Accord this afternoon, tonight at ORF (Norfolk, VA) I picked up an '07 Cadillac CTS with 42,471 miles ... despite the high mileage, I'm not complaining too much since I only had a C class car reserved.

Ahh, lovely ORF... I had the pleasure of being "upgraded" to a Saturn Aura with 46k on the clock last week. Mechanically, it seemed to be fairly sound, but it smelled like a wet dog had smoked cigars with the windows up, and every surface was stained. I guess it beat my other choice, which was a minivan...

corolla in sfo with 36??? miles plated colarado
and a focus in san diego 33??? miles both filthy inside and out no others available at hotel location.

cal

31,000 mile Pontiac from Hertz at PHL. The alignment is out of whack too.

Last weekend in Manhattan... a Mazda 6 with 49,000 miles.

Poor alignment and poor gas mileage

Just picked up a Nissan XTera 4 wheel drive in PIT with 40,203 miles.

Surprisingly, runs fun, though it definitely shows the wear on the interior.

2008 hyundai tucson with almost 32,000 miles on it today at ORD. exterior is ok, interior is pretty beat

47,400 mile Toyota Corolla at the Albany airport today that they insist is an Intermediate. Smelled like a smoky tavern.

OKC Airport tried to give me a Corolla with a hair under 40k miles today. They refused to upgrade me (they said PC upgrades are "requests only"...when I asked her what she thinks a "guaranteed upgrade" as a published PC benefit means she didn't answer me).

When I went out to the garage and opened the trunk to load my luggage, the smell of smoke was pretty bad. I've never been able to tell a car reaked just by opening the trunk before! I opened the driver's door and stuck my head inside....the smoke was absolutely unbearable. I went back inside and waited in line again. I was told I'd have to take a Yaris or nothing else. The Yaris only had 3700 miles on it and I was already behind in my service call, so I felt I had no choice but to take it...

Just returned from Richmond, VA. A new record for a Hertz rental (full size Impala) for me when I picked up a car with California plates that had 58,200 miles. I tried to get another car, but they told me that no other was available. The thing rattled, shimmied, smelled bad and more.

The quality of Hertz has gone way down the past few years. I am considering trying another company to see if things are better elsewhere.

I am also unhappy about the cars that they try to give you when you rent a full size. I recently got a Solara convertible, Kia Sportage, Ford Fusion, etc. and they always tell me that these are full size! The Solara convertible was perfect for taking my business clients to dinner being it was a 2 door car.

Hyundai Azera with almost 37k at MKE--car stunk and was beat to hell and back. It did still handle ok though. I've noticed Hertz giving out high mileage cars that smell bad and are all beat up and shot to hell. I thought this was a Budget thing. I'm shocked at Hertz's car quality these days. I guess since everyone is broke these days, including companies, they're trying to make their cars last longer. Unfortunately rental cars live hard lives and 50k on a rental is equivalent to about 150k on someone's personal car.

OKC Airport tried to give me a Corolla with a hair under 40k miles today. They refused to upgrade me (they said PC upgrades are "requests only"...when I asked her what she thinks a "guaranteed upgrade" as a published PC benefit means she didn't answer me).

When I went out to the garage and opened the trunk to load my luggage, the smell of smoke was pretty bad. I've never been able to tell a car reaked just by opening the trunk before! I opened the driver's door and stuck my head inside....the smoke was absolutely unbearable. I went back inside and waited in line again. I was told I'd have to take a Yaris or nothing else. The Yaris only had 3700 miles on it and I was already behind in my service call, so I felt I had no choice but to take it...

My dad was given a Focus at OKC that smelled like an ashtray and exchanged it for a Yaris with 1600 miles on it. Probably not the same car, but could be being that he returned it June 15th with probably around 2,000 miles on it. Kinda random that both your swap and his were from a compact to a low mileage Yaris for the same reason.

At LAX this week...reserved fullsize...got Grand Marquis what had seen better days....33000 miles,,,,,about 50 miles out of LA the oil change warning came on...and the trunk decided to open by itself....changed it at La Jolla...they tried to give me another Grand Marquis...said NO WAY...and got an Altima with 8000 miles and it is great..hybrid so uses little gas..

Cars rarely need an oil change when the oil change indicator lights come on. 99% of the time the mechanic who performed the last oil change forgot to reset it. They are very easy to reset.

Last week from AMA, Got a 33k 2008 Pathfinder.

Pretty sweet and in nicely run-in.

BM

PHL tonight, 2007 Jetta with 40674 miles. Scratches on every panel, tire pressure warning light on, check engine light on, lovely smell. 1130PM so the Gold booth is closed and no one around. Glad to be 5* Gold......

On the flip side, at Logan late Monday afternoon -- where it was a goat rodeo, due to many, many Gold members not having their names on the board and crowding out the Gold booth onto the sidewalk -- I finally received a shiny red Toyota Camry with 524 miles.

It even still had that new car smell.

A nice change from several previous 30K+ or 45K+ rentals.

Picked up a Mercury Mariner this morning at PHL with 48,300 miles on it.
This is the highest so far....the car is a mess, loud noises from the tires, and engine...the interior is dirty and smelly.

Tried to trade it for another car, they offered a Grand Marquis with 40,200 miles on it in worse shape...

My luck avoiding the high mileage club finally ran out today - just picked up an '07(!) Solara Convertible with 49,5xx miles on it from BNA. The passenger side power window doesn't work, but otherwise it seems to be in surprisingly decent shape for so many miles in the rental fleet.

Reserved a Mustang at SEA for a 2-day rental (around $150 all in).

Checked the board but did not see my name, so I went to the counter. As the agent was pulling up my rez, I asked if there were any conv available (while deplaning at 8:30am it was already warm). Agent stepped out, came back and said "only one left, a Solara". Never having driven one, I said let's go for it (at around $290 all in).

Got to the stall...it was 2007, had almost 48,000 miles, dinged/scratched up, CA plates almost expired, and a door dent that I filled out the pre-insp form for so I don't get blamed at return.

Until recently, most everything at YYZ was 25-35K on it. But recently in YXE (corp location) I got a Hyundai SUV with 68K on it (!). Glass had a huge crack in it, so got another Hyundai (bigger one) with 35K on it, and in DESPERATE need of an alignment.

-Brian

Well, it's not exactly high mileage but fits with the Hertz going down the toilet theme.

Milwaukee HLE celebrated my first 5* rental (midsize booked) by giving me a Corolla with a dent in the side, very strong smoke smell, no remote entry and no cruise control. In maybe 100 National/Avis/Hertz rentals since 2004 it's the first time I've had a car with no remote entry. Only 10K miles though. Woman there claims they had no other working cars.

Your going to see more and more high mileage cars in the future. Remember it's only a rental car.:(

Got an 08 G6 from DCA this morning with 48800 miles on it which smashes my previous record of 34k

It is in surprisingly good shape and it has XM/Sirius :)

No remote though as I discovered when I got out of the car :(

Got an 08 G6 from DCA this morning with 48800 miles on it which smashes my previous record of 34k

It is in surprisingly good shape and it has XM/Sirius :)

No remote though as I discovered when I got out of the car :(

The XM still works??? :confused:

Usually it's only good for 3 months. So unless somebody took an EPIC road trip in it, I guess they're paying for the subscription.

never mind, wrong forum... sorry!

Just finished my one-way rental from Downtown Denver to San Diego Airport.
I was give a Ford Focus with 43,500 miles on it. It actually wasn't a bad car, so I didn't care. I put another 1,700 miles on it.

In classic Hertz style, I tried to price a rental from Denver apt. to San Diego airport for 3 days. The price was over $1000, but when I priced it from downtown Denver to San Diego apt. it was $300.

I got to the car rental in DT Denver 20 minutes early and asked for my car. The rental agent said that my car wasn't there, it was being driven over from the airport!

Rich

SLC Airport - Booked a Mazda 6 and for the first time in 15 week long rentals at SLC, I was given a 2008 Mazda 6. I'm five star and have gotten worse and worse rentals at SLC and noticably worse since I've been five star. When I was just Gold #1 I received all sorts of upgrades, Explorers... 4 Runners, Fusions, Impalas, etc.

Anyways this jem had 40,200 miles on it and when you accelerated the wheel pulled every which way but straight. If you didn't drive with two forceful hands you would also end up in another lane while driving down the freeway.

I called 24 hrs later after pickup and said this car will be a beating to drive to Idaho Falls and Pocatello and back and I need another vehicle. "Yes we have a whole truck load of Subaru's, you can come in and get one." I ignorantly assumed that might actually be a Subaru Legacy type vehicle. I get to the normal front desk because the Gold booth is closed and she said she had an HHR or a bunch of Imprezas with 6 miles on them. I commented that neither of those were the same size as a Mazda 6. She informed me they were. I then tried to envoke my 5 star one class upgrade (the garage was full outside of the Gold Lane) and I was informed she didn't have anything else and that the Impreza is "like the old subaru legacy they just renamed it." I said I'll take it but its neither the same size as a Mazda 6 and they still have 2010 Subaru Legacy's.

Another shining example of having 20 car types to pick from but when it comes down to the desk you seem to have far less. If I want an HHR I think I can book a PT on the website (I never have but I feel like I see it every time) but when you say that to the front desk they say no its a midsize same as a Mazda 6. But this is also the location that tried to give me a Mazda 3 when I booked the 6 on the website and tell me that its now the same size. I fought them on that one...

A HHR is a YC, a one class upgrade from C. I think they are changing Imprezas to C's. Don't expect Mazda 6's once the 08's & 09's are gone. The 2010 Mazda 6 is a F.

At AMS, they gave me a VW Golf V with more than 80.000 km on it. I took it because it still looked nice (at least outside), but inside, it looked already very used. After 20 km, the oil lamp came. Finally, I got a Hertz rep to fill in some oil into the engine, but a lot of discussion was necessary to get that. First, they wanted me to buy oil - but I am not paying a rental fee in order to do the maintenance for their cars...

The XM still works??? :confused:

Usually it's only good for 3 months. So unless somebody took an EPIC road trip in it, I guess they're paying for the subscription.

Actually it had it on the contract, or I wouldn't have even bothered checking for it given it being a GM. Maybe now that Sirius and XM have merged, Hertz started activating some of the cars that have XM radios. Not really sure.

A HHR is a YC, a one class upgrade from C. I think they are changing Imprezas to C's. Don't expect Mazda 6's once the 08's & 09's are gone. The 2010 Mazda 6 is a F.

I don't expect Mazda 6's since they're older and the new ones are obviously much larger but I order them on the website because there's usually a 20 to 40 dollar premium over a week's time to book the G6 pictured car (standard?). The Impreza seems to be about the same size inside but the trunk is much much smaller than the Mazda 6.

Having driven the Impreza 300 miles today one way (hope they weren't trying to keep the miles low on this car, they'll get it back with almost a 1000) it drives pretty nicely. Better than a Mazda 6. The seats are hard as a rock but its a cheap car, I wouldn't expect much more.

As for the HHR being an upgrade over the Impreza... not in my book. Isn't GM going to stop making the HHR (hopefully)? PT's and HHR's are the bottom of the bucket when it comes to rental cars, with the exception of Kia Rio's. I was happy to see the PT's dropping out of the fleet.

Just finished my one-way rental from Downtown Denver to San Diego Airport.
I was give a Ford Focus with 43,500 miles on it. It actually wasn't a bad car, so I didn't care. I put another 1,700 miles on it.

In classic Hertz style, I tried to price a rental from Denver apt. to San Diego airport for 3 days. The price was over $1000, but when I priced it from downtown Denver to San Diego apt. it was $300.

I got to the car rental in DT Denver 20 minutes early and asked for my car. The rental agent said that my car wasn't there, it was being driven over from the airport!

Rich

I wouldn't be surprised if the high mileage car was given one-way into CA because of their weird emissions laws. If an out of state car drops in CA, it can't be rented locally and so becomes a non-revenue headache until they find another customer going one-way out of CA. Now, let's think about this for a moment. If they give a car to CA that's ready for turnback, then the CA office won't have this issue for this car this time.

I'll bet CA to downtown Denver would have been cheaper, and might have resulted in a nicer car. A Denver airport drop would have likely been the same price. Off-airport San Diego to anywhere in Denver probably would have been cheaper than pickup at San Diego airport.

When I did suburban San Francisco HLE to suburban NY HLE, they honored my subcompact price but gave me a GA-plated Ford Escape AWD with 11k mi, new car smell, and Sirius. I had actually wanted the subcompact for gas mileage reasons, but the branch indicated they had to go get this car from somewhere else and this was the only out of state car available that day. I guessed they might have gotten it from the airport nearby, which would have charged double the price had I booked it directly from there. The car looked like it had recently come from Georgia, with the clock still on Eastern time, as if Hertz was in a hurry to get the car out of CA before it goes into inactive non-revenue status due to the emissions law.

I forgot to mention that the car had CA plates. They were probably happy that I took it back home.:p

I priced many different options in many different directions because this trip was a road trip just to drive around that part of the country. I wished I would have saved my list of prices. Usually, the cheapest CA airport prices were ONT and SNA, but I was flying back to PHL on a red-eye so I didn't want to connect.

The DT San Diego Marriott HLE, was only slightly cheaper than the airport, but it was easier to drive to the airport than take a taxi.

One way rentals are always bad!

In every one that I have had I always have a much older car with 20,000+ miles on it!

The plates always match where I am driving it to, which makes sense to Hertz

Never try to change a car for a one way rental, Hertz don't want to hear it and will say no to everything basically unless the car is unable to be driven.

The plates always match where I am driving it to, which makes sense to Hertz

In overseas markets, such as Australia, the corporate store/independent licensee divide is an issue. See previous older posts in this thread from people who have rented in Australia and specifically mentioned the unusual coincidence regarding license plates considering the location rented from and going to. Some posters to this thread have seen a similar coincidence when renting between certain locations in Canada.

The car I was assigned for my FL to NY trip was one of the relatively few cars in the MIA garage with FL plates. The others were all IL, TN, TX, NC, VA, MD, NJ, NY, CA (even though CA pays a fine to give away their "special" cars), PA, MA, etc. I was glad I didn't get the gas guzzler with NY plates. But Hertz said that in the US at least, it doesn't matter where the car originally came from since it's a randomly circulating corporate fleet. My CA to NY trip was with a GA-plated car simply because it was an out of state car that the branch manager was able to get his hands on.

Every rental that I seem to get in the USA for one-ways always has plates matching where I will be returning the car!

I'm in a new job where I need to travel from the northern 'burbs of Chicago to downtown Chicago. So, I visit my HLE each week for a car. Most of them I get have between 10k and 20k. The other day I got one that 36k.

Hmmm.

Every rental that I seem to get in the USA for one-ways always has plates matching where I will be returning the car!

Hmm, interesting coincidence, I guess. The CA manager had said that historically they've used cars with Arizona or Oregon plates for one-ways out of state, presumably due to geographical probability. (Ex, I live in NY on the border of NJ, and so about 60-70% of the time I've had rental cars registered in NJ) I saw a few such AZ and OR cars parked near my hotel in CA the night before I went to get mine, although I wasn't sure whether those were coming or going.

I know they used to try to get cars back to their original location years ago but for the most part, no one cares anymore. I can see why CA cares but there really isn't a reason to go out of your way to return a car. It was rare to have a reason to send a car back.

I think they are changing Imprezas to C's.

The key tag said the Impreza was a YC

Rented a mid-size at DTW for 3 weeks starting 8/04. Got a Ford Fusion with 38,654 miles!!! I don't think I have even come close to that many miles on any rental ever! And I rent 40-50 times a year. What is the highest miles on the odometer you have seen on a rental??

Please add your experience to the other thread, a very nice discussion on this topic.

just got a Malibu with 55K miles from BUF. Not a good car. I don't reccomend renting from there. Not even any gold service.

Rented a Toyota Prius at ORD with 39000 miles last week. Would have haggled with them but was late for a meeting. Later on found out that there was a big dent on the front.

I am President's Cirle member and this is what they treat PC members by giving them clunckers.

There is an existing and rather active thread on this subject already:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hertz/799153-whats-highest-mileage-vehicle-hertz-has-tried-give-you.html

52,000 miles on the ticker.

Tires virtually bald, steering vague, brakes shot and inside worn.

I scored a car with 52,000 miles on the ticker. Tires worn, brakes shot, steering vague.

Nice car from a HLE.

(I didn't take it back - too much in a hurry and yes, I'm prez circle.)

Given a Saturn Aura @ MCO with 54,847 on the ticker and a wet smoke smell. The satellite radio wasn't active but I had been charged for the service. Gold counter put me in a MB C300 with 6500 miles. Needless to say I'm much happier.

One way rentals are always bad!

I've had a few decent one-ways, though at least one was Hobson's Choice; the Web site claimed no availability (at the tiny UST airport--I'd flown into JAX but was picked up by a relative, and was driving a long way back from UST), but calling the counter found one car available: whatever the Mazda equivalent to the convertible Mustang was. It even had working XM.

As for high-mileage vehicles, hmmm... I think at ORD I got a Nissan of some sort with about 35k miles on it. I'd gotten stranded at ORD due to WX and decided the rental was cheaper than a cab to my hotel (and would earn points). Couldn't believe that at 11pm the Gold counter was closed... and the guy at the regular counter tried, even though I had a Web reservation, to fill out some complete profile on me ("Is this rental for business or leisure? Does this credit card have $150 available for us to authorize? [for an $18 rental!] Are you sure you want to decline the insurance and fuel?" etc.)

43,+++ out of Nashville on a Mazda Minivan.

Transmission trouble. Temp guage kept telling me it 75% of the way to hot, and the AC would then die. I discovered I could accellerate it into a lower gear to get the temp down and get the AC back on. Drove the last hour punching the accellerator to make the AC kick in. It was a Priceline pre-paid, so the Gen Mgr gave me a Hertz certificate for use on my next rental. Worst Hertz car ever for me.

My 09 Toyota Camry in PHX has something like 37K miles on it. The past several rentals in PHX over the past month or so have all had 30K+ miles

Chevy HHR with 58,000 in SLC a couple of weeks ago.

Chevy HHR with 58,000 in SLC a couple of weeks ago.

An HHR is in itself grounds for getting something else but at 58,000 miles. I'd return it before my heart even had time to produce a beat.

The key tag said the Impreza was a YC

Odd, the Impreza I looked at today had YB on the tag. It was an '09 w/ 12K miles..ended up asking for something else cause it was a bit small and I booked a C.

Three Prius in three different cities: Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney - all at around 70,000km!! Unbelievable. One agent told me that the Prius will be out of the Australian fleet before long, while another said they were waiting for the new model! Your guess is good as mine as to which is correct.
The only reason I get the Prius is that it saves on the petrol costs and under our agreement costs the same as a Yaris. I find them the most boring car to drive.

Hertz are keeping the Prius here as far as I know

For a normal rental they are as expensive as a Full Size Luxury car, yet people rent them as they save petrol :rolleyes:

70,000kms is pretty much a record for an Australian Hertz car!

Some days at work I browse through http://www.hertzcarsales.com.au/results.asp?selMake=&selModel=&selState=&t=s

Most cars seem to be selling between 30,000-50,000 kms!

A franchise location once gave me a 60,000 Ford Falcon, which I returned and all the other were about the same. I canceled my reservation and went to the airport and got a much newer car from there.

The franchise locations in Australia get the older cars :td:

The franchise locations in Australia get the older cars :td:

Hertz does not give them older cars. Licensee locations purchase, maintain, and sell their own fleet. Every now and then you will get an actual Hertz car from them but usually you'll be going one-way. They don't want to rent you a corporate car because they will only get a fraction of the revenue.

Are you sure this is the case in Australia ?

Either way they have older cars and I simply do not rent from them anymore because of that

Well, I guess there is a possibility that it may be different in Australia but it would pretty much defeat the purpose of having a licensee if you had to provide them the cars.

Last couple rentals: Pontiac G6 (D on a C rental), 30-odd thousand miles on the clock, can't remember exactly. Nissan Murano (YQ on a C rental), 43,500 miles on it. Both of them drove fine. The G6 was in pretty good shape, had leather, sunroof. This Murano was definitely a low-rent version and with tan interior was looking a bit rough, but drove nicely, too bad I only had it for one day. The 15k Camry was the newest out of my 9 rentals this year, I think. I remember having a 2k Corolla at some point not too long ago, but I don't remember if it was this year or last.

today, as a presidents club who rents from this location twice per month, i received a filthy car (dead gnats in the window handle area) with 40,773 miles. seriously.

Picked up a Maryland-plated 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe at MHT last Friday (8/21) with 47,104 miles on it! Never gotten something with so many miles, but maybe it's because of the class of vehicle. Do they keep SUV types longer? (The manufacture date on the label on the door was in July 2007, so this was an early 2008. It may very well have been in service for two years!)
Fwiw, I returned it on Sunday (8/30) with 48,760 miles.

As to earlier posts about newer cars at some locations: At BOS on Sunday, picked up a Kia Forte with only 4,925 miles on it. Looks nice, runs nice, and I was pleased.

However, no silver lining comes without a cloud. Whenever the car is closed up for a couple of hours, a gag-inducing smell fills the car. Checked under the seats, inside the compartments, and in the trunk. Seems to be coming out of the upholstery in the back, where I suspect a previous renter poured a quart of milk into the seats. Or worse.

Since I'm an hour away from the nearest Hertz location, I gave in an bought some Glade Fabric and Air spray and have to douse the car twice a day to make it tolerable. Only one more day to go. :rolleyes:

Dropped off a Prius Saturday in Houston

In: 35,757


It probably should have been sold off as used at 25,000

The brakes were shot, at least two tires were no longer legal, the body was fairly scratched up, a mirror was missing a front cover, and the AC system smelled like something died in it.

I'm sorry but I really don't think people who put 1600 miles on a car on a 9 day rental should be complaining about high mileage cars.

Cordelli: I never drove a Prius that didn't have some sort of smell to it. They always reminded me of the last generation Focus. All of them had a weird smell to them as well.

I'm sorry but I really don't think people who put 1600 miles on a car on a 9 day rental should be complaining about high mileage cars.


Why because the precious cars will have too many miles on it for the next person ? :rolleyes:

Bad luck - Hertz states "Unlimited Mileage" on all except prestige rentals, even then it's 100 miles per day, so Hertz deem 100 miles per day to be fine even on a $60,000 vehicle.

Hertz used to have the best fleet, but they have gone downhill, yet prices have remained high.

They cannot have it both ways.

Why because the precious cars will have too many miles on it for the next person ? :rolleyes:

Bad luck - Hertz states "Unlimited Mileage" on all except prestige rentals, even then it's 100 miles per day, so Hertz deem 100 miles per day to be fine even on a $60,000 vehicle.

Hertz used to have the best fleet, but they have gone downhill, yet prices have remained high.

They cannot have it both ways.

If you think you can make money by having customers put 1600 miles on a car every 9 days and then turn the car every 20,000 or every 12.5 rentals then good luck. Customers cannot have it both ways either.

If you think you can make money by having customers put 1600 miles on a car every 9 days and then turn the car every 20,000 or every 12.5 rentals then good luck. Customers cannot have it both ways either.

How do you know that is average usage? Reading here? If I said that I used my Hertz rentals an average of 25Km a day, would that mean everyone does?

Of course not.

The answer is that there are some drivers who put on a few, some allot. Driving habits have most likely not suddenly changed in the last few months, so that Hertz cars have higher mileage. It is most likely that Hertz has decided to lower the quality of their product to meet some internal measure of savings.

As an aside, while I average 25km/day on my rentals, I once put 8,000+km on a minivan in one week!

Brian, who is picking up a car for the first time in nearly three months from Hertz — interested in seeing the mileage (and the class given)

If you think you can make money by having customers put 1600 miles on a car every 9 days and then turn the car every 20,000 or every 12.5 rentals then good luck. Customers cannot have it both ways either.

It is not my problem that Hertz allowed Unlimited Mileage on most of their rentals it is clearly stated when making a booking both on the phone and on the internet.

As such they don't mind the few drivers who do alot of KMS in a short amount of time.

Customers are allowed to follow the rules/renting guidelines set by Hertz which is either

A) Unlimited Mileage
B) 100 miles per day with Prestige rentals.

So a customer can do as many miles as they want in a day, and they should still expect newer cars than what is going around the fleet at the moment.

I did 500 miles in a day in a Prestige vehicle, as it was a one way rental there was no mileage restrictions :D The SUV only had 1,000 miles on it when I got it :D

Again I followed the rules which stated "Unlimited Mileage" so I expected the car to be in good condition and under 1 year old. If it wasn't I simply would have cancelled the reservation (at no cost to me, but it would cost Hertz in a car sitting around doing nothing for a while) and rent from across the road

It is not my problem that Hertz allowed Unlimited Mileage on most of their rentals

Oh, boy, be careful what you wish for. Putting a taxi meter on the rental would push customers into taxicabs or airplanes.

In fact, a few weeks ago I went with Enterprise for a pickup truck with a 150 mile cap. I didn't want to do this, but all the other companies were sold out of (unlimited mileage) minivans that day. I was hauling furniture, so either vehicle would have fit the need. I spent some tedious time calculating a route that would not subject me to mileage charges. This was a different, often more congested yet "shorter" route. My calculations were right on target. When I returned the car the next day, the rental agents joked how I made it by 5 miles under the cap.

It is not my problem that Hertz allowed Unlimited Mileage on most of their rentals it is clearly stated when making a booking both on the phone and on the internet.

As such they don't mind the few drivers who do alot of KMS in a short amount of time.

Customers are allowed to follow the rules/renting guidelines set by Hertz which is either

A) Unlimited Mileage
B) 100 miles per day with Prestige rentals.


I didn't say that it is your problem that Hertz allows unlimited mileage. I maintain my opinion that people who put lots of miles on rental cars should not be complaining about high mileage cars. No where in the guidelines set by Hertz does it say that you will get a vehicle with less than 20,000 miles.

You're crazy if you think that rental companies don't mind the few drivers that put a lot of miles on cars. Let me know how you would feel if you were renting your car and 9 people drove the car a total of 1000 miles and your 10th person drove it a total of 2000 miles.

I had a guy put 7000 miles on a Tundra in one week. Hertz got $300 for it. Anyone that would choose $300 over 7000 miles should be fired immediately (That is 4 cents per mile!). I do not blame the guy for doing what he did, he was on an unlimited mileage contract, and he followed the rules. However, I would have driven him to a competitor with a smile if he said that the 28,000 mile truck he got had too many on it. I would have been able to rent the car to someone else but even if I couldn't, Hertz would have been better off having the truck sit on the lot for 7 days than rent it for that rental.

Some people on this forum were complaining about an excess of what sounds like new car smell. Ah, it's impossible to please everybody.

The Escape I drove cross country, with 11k mi, had so much new car smell I was tempted to open all the windows. Then near Des Moines I passed a truck carrying sleeping pigs and realized I prefer new car smell over manure.:cool:

From YYZ: RAV4 with 59K KM on it. A nearly new high for me!

PS, it just came out of the paint shop!

-Brian

Some people on this forum were complaining about an excess of what sounds like new car smell. Ah, it's impossible to please everybody.

The Escape I drove cross country, with 11k mi, had so much new car smell I was tempted to open all the windows. Then near Des Moines I passed a truck carrying sleeping pigs and realized I prefer new car smell over manure.:cool:

Unless your new cars smell like gallons of well-aged sour milk, or perhaps a large quantity of meat sauce from Taco Bell poured into the upholstery and allowed to ferment in the hot sun, I can pretty much guarantee this wasn't new car smell.

Not at least any new car I'd want to buy.

I'll take the pigs. At least that doesn't travel with you.

I don't rent cars just to drive around in them excessively. I can't afford to do so. I rent a car because I don't own one. Some rentals I've gone just to the airport and put 40 km on it. Others I've run errands and racked up 300-400 km over a weekend. On occasion I've moved back home and done around 1,600 km.

Personally, my issue isn't mileage, but maintenance. I find it ironic how some who owns a Honda with 250,000 km on it at home will complain about a rental car with 50,000 km. Last February in Kelowna I went with National (a franchisee) and got a 2007 Fusion 4-cyl with 61,000 km on it. Other than being a bit gutless, it drove fine. As long as the car gets regular servicing, and brakes and tires replaced when necessary, one can keep the car in-fleet as long as necessary to turn a profit on the disposal.

However, Hertz is a fool to think they can simply keep the car in the fleet and not do any servicing on it at all. That's not just a cheap way to cut costs, it's downright dangerous in some cases. I'll gladly take a car with a bunch of miles on it, but give me a car with bad brakes or tires (I check them out anytime I get something over 30,000 km or so) and I'll be back to exchange.

Gold member.....I am currently in a fullsize at FLL with 39,500 mi.

I find that the lower the rate/higher discount, the worse the vehicle is that they give you. Only fullsize when I arrived were Accords & Camrys. They offered to "upgrade" me to an Explorer for $20/day additional. Wasn't worth it.

Gold member.....I am currently in a fullsize at FLL with 39,500 mi.

I find that the lower the rate/higher discount, the worse the vehicle is that they give you. Only fullsize when I arrived were Accords & Camrys. They offered to "upgrade" me to an Explorer for $20/day additional. Wasn't worth it.

An explorer is a downgrade from both of those vehicles. I recall in 2008 when gas was $4.00 kindly explaining to the Gold counter the exact same thing, she admitted that I was late and everyone else had taken the cars, leaving on the SUVs on the lot. That should tell them a lot about the desired rental mix. with the exception of the random Saturn vue, I'll refuse a SUV every time.

The 2008 Saturn Aura I just rented had 37,800 at check out and will have closer to 39,000 when I return it. I commented to the agent that mileage was getting higher and higher. He apologiezed, blamed corporate and mentioned that he had recently checked-in a Toyota Sienna van with 61,000 miles.

At 50 MPH the front end shimmied so bad the whole care vibrated. 110F outside and the AC barely made a dent. After driving to Ontario (my destination) no cars were available at the airport so I had to drive additional 30 minutes to San Bernardino HLE.

I'm President's Circle for two years running, and only the San Bernardino staff treated me like I was a valued customer. They were friendly and helpful (Hertz lurkers: Scott in SBD), upgrading to a low mileage Matrix (YC) with excellent AC, and got the correct booster seat I had reserved (which neither LBG or ONT had on hand!).

All too often with Hertz it seems to be excellent service (SBD HLE) or poor service (LGB HLE, ONT). Rarely is it in between, i.e. simply satisfactory.

I noticed this site linked from the main hertz.com site: http://www.hertzrent2buy.com/Content/Default.aspx?scclid=r2b003 They offer 3-day rentals of Hertz vehicles available for sale.

When sorting the entire inventory by mileage, there's some cars creeping up on the 60K mile mark. My guess is that this is a site that shows risk inventory that Hertz hasn't wholesaled or otherwise removed from the fleet (yet).

Very interesting find!

"All stated mileage is an approximation because the cars are actively being rented. Mileage is updated daily"

So YES these cars are still being rented.

The highest I found was "Toyota Sienna LE 2008 Illinois SCHAUMBURG 59,916 Miles CHAMPAGNE $17,800

I also had no idea Hertz has so many Hyundai's, if I ever end up with a Hyundai it won't be leaving the lot with me driving it

What's wrong with Hyundai? Some are very nice, especially the Azera. It's comparable to a Toyota Avalon, and would be a great shame to pass on to get into a Chevy Mailbu.

SNA airport. Either Hertz or Avis, can't remember, but it was a PT Cruiser with 90,000 miles and a transmission that slipped.

Not sure that I can believe there was a rental car in any of the majors fleet with 90,000 miles on it!

Sorry but that's just not believable!

I'm a Gold member and just rented a Camry in ATL this past weekend. The car had TX plates and a little over 35K miles. Nice enough car but it had stained upholstery and lots of scratches and dings.

Funny thing is the newest car I ever rented - a Taurus in BUF with only 200 miles on it - was the one that left me stranded. We drove the car to Niagara Falls, and it wouldn't start when we were ready to leave.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8320/4.5.0.81 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

52,000 - Ford Fusion at JAN.

Funny thing is the newest car I ever rented - a Taurus in BUF with only 200 miles on it - was the one that left me stranded. We drove the car to Niagara Falls, and it wouldn't start when we were ready to leave.

The only rental car I've ever had to completely die was in Hawaii....it had 6 miles on it when we picked it up and a couple dozen on it when it died. They had to come out with another car and a ramp truck to take away the dead one.

Bah you should try Hertz Ireland, they put out cars with over 100000 kilometers on them although the paperwork will read 99998 as their system wont allow them to rent anything over 100000 kilometers on the clock.

Hell the last time I was there I saw a 2003 nissan micra on the lot, I shudder to think of the state that car was in.

Last Friday at FLL, rented a Mazda 6 for the weekend. Had N.Y. plates on it and came with 33,800 miles. No problems and enjoyed the ride. A few small dings and some stains inside, but nothing serious.

bj-21.

I rent every week, I'm a PC member, and my cars regularly have 25k-35k on them. Although I did get one with 44k in ORD. I'm just happy to get an 08 or 09 these days.

44000 on a Ford Edge at IAD this weekend. Best car ever. I requested a downgrade from a Grand Marquis. I had 3 kids w/ me (one carseat, one booster). The GM was serious overkill and very pretty.

The Edge was perfect...dirty, scratched exterior, stained carpets. Everything I could have wanted while hauling my family to an outdoor wedding in the rain/mud.

YYZ: 03/10
2008 Chevy Uplander (R6) with 66+K on the clock. Drives like s**t, but I need the space...

Dublin, Ireland last weekend - 2007 Toyota Avensis auto 111000 (km)
Dublin, Ireland 3 weeks ago - 2007 Nissan Tiida auto 68000 (km)

The rental record for the 111000 vehicle showed 11000, so if their system can't even handle a car with a six figure mileage, then how is the customer going to be pleased.

I can now add my high mileage vehicle to the thread. Yesterday in ICT, I was given a 4 door Saturn (brown with brown/brown interior) with 41,300 miles. My reservation had a confirmed request for Standard vehicle with Sirius. Unsure if this Saturn qualifies as a "standard" vehicle and there is no Sirius. There is a sticker on the window indicating Sirius is in the vehicle, but all I catch is the weather throughout the US and a phone number to call.

I thought of going back inside to ask about the rental, but did not want to run through the rain again.

I am a PC, which more and more I think means "piece of crap" to Hertz.

In August I got a VW Passat in Barcelona with some 95000 km. I inquired about it, and they said they were not refreshing the "big cars", so all Passats and such were up in the 90000 km range, some pushing 100000. The body was showing its age and use (essentially wrote off the entire vehicle in the damage form), although mechanically it behaved quite well.

New high for me: mazda 6 w/ 37K and engine service light on. :rolleyes:

On the positive side, with crappy cars at Hertz and no more BD mileage I don't care about PC requalification anymore.

Current Volvo S60 from CPH - 41,000 km. Record: obsolete model Ford Mondeo from WAW with 76,000 km (41,000 miles)

As noted elsewhere - and on my own post earlier - it's getting worse and worse...

I can now add my high mileage vehicle to the thread. Yesterday in ICT, I was given a 4 door Saturn (brown with brown/brown interior) with 41,300 miles. My reservation had a confirmed request for Standard vehicle with Sirius. Unsure if this Saturn qualifies as a "standard" vehicle and there is no Sirius.


You probably received an Aura and that is a fullsize.

I can now add my high mileage vehicle to the thread. Yesterday in ICT, I was given a 4 door Saturn (brown with brown/brown interior) with 41,300 miles.

This does not surprise me.

I recall one of our rental agent commentators saying that small airports usually don't get brand new cars in-serviced. They have to rely on whatever one-way rentals they can get, or in their rare high demand periods, trucked in. We've also seen several examples of certain locations (ahem, cough cough, Hertz MIA) giving out junk they want to get rid of on one-ways.

So, let's put two and two together. People say Albany NY has lousy cars. People say Buffalo and Syracuse have lousy cars. Last winter someone said Des Moines Iowa had a limited selection and mostly junky cars. Now someone says Wichita Kansas has crappy cars.

By the same token, I passed by a Hertz HLE on Long Island recently. I was almost certain I saw a familiar tomato sauce red Cobalt with FL plates parked nose out in front. I couldn't tell if the license plate was in fact the same, but again put the pattern together. Spades said GM cars are the worst for turnback, and the car MIA gave me to drive to the northwest NY suburbs had a lot of cosmetic scratches. My local HLE manager said he might be tempted to give the worst car he has only for a short haul one-way like to JFK. Whereas my HLE does a lot of business in one-ways to and from Newark, JFK and LGA do come up sometimes. Likewise, Long Island gets occasional one-ways to and from EWR, but mostly to JFK and sometimes to LGA. I'll bet this car was bounced around since each location probably didn't like it either.

I tend to agree with your points. My problem then becomes why do I as a PC get stuck with this vehicle? Give it to someone who rents once a year.

Maybe because tired high-mileage junk that everybody else wanted to get rid of is all the location has?

Someone said they got a 48 k mi Ford Fusion or something in a rural Tennesse or Alabama airport, I believe. Maybe the location meant well and upgraded the customer to the best car they had, relatively speaking. The other choice might have been a smaller car with less mileage, but then the customer will complain they didn't get their upgrade.

Just picked up my intermediate rental at BWI - turns out its an '08 Mazda 5 with 42800 miles on it. It looks ok, but the tires are pretty bad. I'm 5 star Gold, but you'd never know if from the cars I generally get.

BWI certainly is no boonieland. But, somehow I doubt cars that have reached such mileage and age would be sent on one-ways anymore. Unless of course someone here has the firsthand experience to prove me wrong. :confused:

Unless it has a mileage restriction, high mileage cars are better candidates for one-ways. No one wants high mileage cars because of the complaints that they cause - if they can be sent on a one-way then they probably will be.

Got a 39,000 mile Camry in San Juan. It had stained seats and made a funny noise when accelerating.

LAX - Mazda 6 with 42K miles. Filthy. Atrocious car for anyone, let alone a 5*. Between 5* and Amex Plat CDP, I expected some sort of an u/g from what I booked (the Mazda 6), and asked about it. They said no, b/c I wanted neverlost. This despite it being 7:30 in the AM and hundreds of cars around, most seemingly w/ neverlost. Plus it cost me ~$120 for a 6 hour rental.

I rent from Hertz at LAX once a month - I need to find another option.

Greg

Rented a Mazda 6 from PHL a few days ago with 44,000 miles. I really should have asked for another car, but I was in a bit of a hurry. It was a 2008 model and looking a bit worn. Also the first time in quite a while that I haven't gotten an upgrade, although the three day rental, with UA discount only cost me $44.00, including tax, so not a bad deal.

Infrequent renter here (maybe 6 rentals/year, usually with Hertz), so maybe I just have always been lucky.
Rented at LAS McCarren Airport.
Got a Pontiac G6, for a decent price ($93 all-in for 3 days).
43,500 miles on it (!), a new record for me. Yikes!

BTW, also two of the doors couldn't be opened from the inside, the brakes squealed incessantly, and the directional signal wouldn't go off unless you manually pulled it down--the "click" that auto-cancels your directional was apparently broken, too.
When I told the agent about these problems, she just smiled and nodded. Didn't write anything down, was pleasant but uninterested in any issues with the car.
I'm tempted to send an email complaint to corporate, but with the return agent's attitude, it seems like this is now the new "normal" for renting cars.
Your thoughts?
Thanks!

You must have missed this long thread :)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hertz/799153-whats-highest-mileage-vehicle-hertz-has-tried-give-you.html

As you paid $93 for 3 days for that car perhaps they found the oldest one to give you :p

Most yesterday at AMS I've had in 5 years or so.....53,553km Alpha Romeo 156....still a nice drive though and like it better than the crappy new cars they give sometimes ;)

Which two doors?

I got an '09 Chevy Malibu at SLC with 32,980 miles. Clean and runs well, and they said it was full-size, but it seems a little small. I think I should have gone with the Impala. Still, for $11.75 a day, I can't complain too much.

Guess it's not breaking any records here though for mileage. :p

Which two doors?

I assumed the child safety locks were set (rear doors would only open from outside in that case). Annoying, but I can't imagine too many scenarios where the Hertz folks actually need to open the rear doors from inside, so it got overlooked. Not saying that's right or ideal for Hertz, but they're so seldom used anyway because not may people even know they are there. Easy to fix, just look for a switch on the door edge near the latching mechanism.

I picked up a Camry at SFO with ~39200 miles on it last week and returned it today with ~39800 miles on it. I think there was something weird going on with the alignment or brakes, but the most annoying point was there was no key-fob-remote and the key did not work in the trunk. So, everything I returned to the car with a package I had to fumble to unlock the door, pop the trunk, and so on. In the future, if there is no key-fob-remote, I will remember to check the key in the trunk!

I used to drive alot from my place of work where there was an HLE on premises, to JFK/LGA/EWR. For these quick one-ways, I used to tell the agent that I'd like "whatever car they want to get rid of" in an attempt to keep some good 'local rental' cars in the local fleet which I would then pick up on my return trip when I'd move from a one way to a local rental. I was always driving a Mazda 5, 3, or on occasion a high-mileage 6 to the airport. We generally tried to keep the Taurus/Sable/Milan/Fusion within the local fleet as long as possible. Plus they usually had Sirius, and SYNC, which was GREAT!


This does not surprise me.
My local HLE manager said he might be tempted to give the worst car he has only for a short haul one-way like to JFK. Whereas my HLE does a lot of business in one-ways to and from Newark, JFK and LGA do come up sometimes. Likewise, Long Island gets occasional one-ways to and from EWR, but mostly to JFK and sometimes to LGA. I'll bet this car was bounced around since each location probably didn't like it either.

Interesting that you strategically volunteered. The only time I would offer to take junk is if I were going one-way into Miami Airport and wanted to get back at them for giving me "the worst car we have" to take to NY last summer :D

5* member renting a full size in SYR. Today, after waiting for a car for 30 minutes, they tried to give me a Camry with 57500 miles on it and very bald tires. After I refused it, they gave me a tiny Hyudai SUV with 35000 miles on it. It still bugs me that they consider a Camry a full size car, but then to give a 5* member something with that many miles on it..........its time to switch back to National.

I was always a bit self-conscious looking inside each car in the Emerald Aisle...searching for the one with Satellite radio + low miles. ;)
But yeah, at least you have a choice.

...its time to switch back to National.

SYD (Australia)

Toyota Camry with 29,000 miles. First impression when I saw the mileage was :td: but the car was in perfect condition inside and only a few tiny marks on the outside.

Drove like new and everything was fine!

I was very surprised as this is the one of the highest, if not the highest mileage vehicle I had ever received from Hertz. At least it was an upgrade from what I had book and it drove like new!

I'm President's Circle, and last Sat in LAS I got a 2008 Toyota Rav4 with 34,810 miles on it. I only used to it get to my hotel via the strip, so it was returned with 34, 821. The car was making odd noises, and while I didn't check the tires, I wouldn't have wanted to drive it much more than I did.
(PS- the LAS lot had lots of other cars available, but as I was renting only for one day, I didn't want to go in and ask for a different vehicle).