Programs: DL Gold, HH Gold, MC Silver, HI Platinum, BW Cancelled, RD Silver
Posts: 3,029
Oldest Rental Car EVER!!!!!
Work currently takes me to Wausau WI weekly, and my company requires we use Avis to rent our cars. My weekly compact car there has always been clean (no leftover GPS circles on the windshield goes a long way), and I've even gotten the occasional upgrade, not that I care, a compact is plenty big enough for my use.
But this week I had to take the lesser of two evils and choose between a Sentra (no thanks), and a Corolla (ugh). Took the keys to the Corolla and off I went. At least it looked in good shape and was clean inside. As usual I reset the fuel economy computer and the trip odometer. As I reset it, I cycled back to the mileage on the car.
46000+. I couldn't believe it. Key tag says its an '09.
But sure enough it proved true. As I got on the interstate, I could hear the wind noise coming through the top of the door frame, a windshield wiper that misses one inch of the windshield (in the middle of course), and a steady thrumming from the tires on the concrete highway. So much so that when I stopped for lunch, I looked at the tires to see if there was an exposed cord. What I found were cheap noname replacement tires, and evidence from where the car had been repaired in an accident (hence the wind noise).
But as I said, the car was clean, it drove straight, and did what I needed. The location is a licensee. Makes me wonder what Avis' standards are? Is a car with over 46000 miles and a October 2008 build date really what Avis deems acceptable? I know the rental car companies are keeping cars longer, but I can't remember ever having a rental with 30k+ miles, let alone 46k, even in Mexico!
Anyone else runnig into this with Avis, or is it a local issue? Thanks!
Then it got better and worse: A few cars the high 40K range in 2009 and the highest mileage car was a Ford Taurus closing in on 60K.
Then it got better for last year. Besides my first rental of the year which had 46K+ and my last one 48K+ all in all I averaged out with a 17K odometer.
This year, no 40K or higher, but a lot of 30K. As an average this year is gearing out to be the worst, but by far Avis has always had the lowest mileage cars.
Programs: DL Gold, HH Gold, MC Silver, HI Platinum, BW Cancelled, RD Silver
Posts: 3,029
Well then it sounds like they really are keeping the cars around longer. Had yours been in the fleet as long as this one was, or were they cars getting run hard over a shorter time period. Hard to believe the car had been in service for nearly 3 years. I rent a lot, a high 20k/low 30k hasn't been unheard of, but usually its in a Thrifty or Alamo fleet, not Avis.
Programs: UA Plat, Avis First President's Club, Owner's Circle - Green Bay Packers
Posts: 4,659
We are talking about Wausau here. There is a high chance that the car was used mostly for local rentals from autobody shops and mechanics. The Enterprise dealer here rents 95% of its cars to local dealers. (So much so that the first three locations that they had were INSIDE the Chevy dealer)
__________________ I can haz upgrade my *A miles/segments? United. Hello?
The cars you talk about were basically brand new compared to the one AVIS
Mauritius gave me.
It was an 8 year old Toyota Corolla with over 130,000km (80 000 miles) on the clock!
The clutch was worn out and was slipping in top gear going uphill.
Avis Jacksonville Airport (JAX) had an at-newest 2010 Chrysler 300 Touring on their lot today. It definitely looked out of place with 2012's sitting around, but sure enough, it had the stickers on it so was not a personal vehicle.
__________________ Sono un laureato da scuola di Hard Knocks
Programs: UA Premier Exec, CO Gold, AA Plat, Past 3-time WN Companion Pass Holder, Hilton Diamond, Ntl EmEx
Posts: 893
I guess I'm lucky, most of my Avis cars have been under 10K. Hertz, on the other hand, I recently got a car with 50K on it which truly shocked me, and this was at a corporate location, not a franchisee. It had a neverlost gps in it it, but it thought I was about 600 miles west of where I actually was.
I primarily rent from National, have no status with Avis but have been upgraded every time I rented from Avis this year, and I seem to remember the cars have all been brand new and were equipped, not stripped with nice extras.
Hertz Bangkok - Honda Jazz with 50K km and was told that's the newest they have, which I believe because most other times (primarily with Avis) I get a 70k+ km car with an unpleasant scent...
