MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

I hope so, IIRC Zipcar will start airport rentals. Now this is the best. Finally last night I get a text that a car is available and waiting at LGA for a one way rental into Manhattan. I get into the car, a VW Jetta, and the gas tank is less than an eighth full. I think no problem there is a gas station right across from Hertz open 24/7. So I get out go to the gas tank and its a Diesel! Really, a diesel as a rental car (which in 18 years of consistently of renting cars with every rental company out there this is a first, HOD no less.)

So of course that gas station and several around it no diesel. Now my mistake was not to immediately return to the Hertz lot and call HOD. But as it was sleeting and now after midnight I ventured onto Manhattan thinking the big gas station on Houston Street which I will pass might have diesel. Unfortunately, not only does that station not have diesel a light comes on and tells me I've got 10 miles of fuel left. I make it to the garage on fumes and call HOD right away. I'm like a diesel for New York City, you have got to be joking. Very few stations have diesel and its not like I'm around truck stops. The agent was not particularly sympathetic, noted my account but said I will probably be charged for the very low gas.

Worse I feel sorry for the poor chumk that is going to take the car next. If anyone knows of gas stations with diesel between LGA and lower to mid town Manhattan please let me (and others that might find themselves with the same vehicle.)

Auto Enthusiast

from newyorkstategasprices.com:

Manhattan:

Hess 502 W 45th St & 10th Ave
BP 265 Nagle Ave & 10th Ave & W 204th St
BP 300 Lafayette St & E Houston St
BP 24 Second Ave & E 1st St
Mobil 718 Eleventh Ave & West 51st St
BP 466 10th Ave & W 36th St
Mobil 253 East 2nd St & Ave C

Queens, sounds close to LGA, but could be wrong:

Shell 92-10 Astoria Blvd & 92nd
Mobil 76-11 Northern Blvd near 76th
SPIRIT 75-15 Northern Blvd & 76th St
BP 88-20 Astoria Blvd & 89 St
Sunoco 30-02 Astoria Blvd & 30th St
Shell 98-02 Northern Blvd & 98th St
CITGO 85-05 Astoria Blvd & 85 St
Mobil 43-07 Astoria Blvd N & 43rd St
CITGO 4606 Ditmars Blvd & 46th St

oldgoldflyer

I did a one way last month on HOD from EWR to Manhattan, and I also got a VW Jetta diesel. Might have been the same one. Fortunately for me, it had a full tank of gas.

CrazyOne

Yeah, same one and nobody's filled it up since!

Wow, a diesel? Not that I have exhaustive knowledge or anything, but I do believe that's also the first I've heard of a diesel rental in the US. Just doesn't happen. Now this is excluding anything they may have done back in the late 70s/early 80s when for a while everyone wanted a diesel, but I'll bet even then they didn't because if anything it was harder to get diesel then I think. We had a diesel VW back then and often had to fill up at the truck pumps, LOL.

FlyinHawaiian

Man, that Jetta gets around!

I've been holding off on using OnDemand for my airport rentals, especially the ones TO the airport until the reliability improves.

themicah

Hertz made a big deal of adding the Diesel Jettas last year:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hertz...rtz-fleet.html

oldgoldflyer

It seems risky - I am sure more than one renter has tried to fill it up with regular petrol.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

There is a big tag on the gas cap warning not to albeit that might not stop some bonehead from doing it. I am thinking particularly with HOD in New York people using the car for going to the airport that probably are not going to have the time to ride around looking for a station with diesel. And unlike Zipcar, you can't choose your car in advance therefore you have no way of knowing whether you will get a Jetta Diesel. Just an imbecile move on HOD's part all around.

CrazyOne

Huh. Must've missed that last year. Or skimmed over it without it registering much.

oldgoldflyer

We should leave a "Flyertalk note board" somewhere in this Diesel Jetta, so we can all record our usage, lol.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

This morning for a 3AM pickuP no car other than at Elizabeth st. I had to cab it there. However, I get to the garage and the car was not there. After going back and forth with HOD on the phone they let me take a car reserved only for roundtrips, a Fiat. Since it was EWR the cab fare would have been more than the $50 cab voucher offered.

FlyinHawaiian

I am glad I didn't risk a HOD rental for our one-way to EWR a few weeks ago as we had a 0700 departure and the last thing I want to do at 4 in the morning is try and figure out Plan B.

roadman3313

My first rental with HOD was my last. Only thing I used it for was to get a replacement ZipCard for the one I lost.

San Francisco Mason Street. Car was dirty. Car smelled of smoke. Car had 1/8 of a tank. Car did not even have a fuel card! And then on top of that they did not understand what I was unhappy with?!? Manager called me back a few days later and they refunded the cost.

Happily back to using Zipcar in the Bay Area

oldgoldflyer

They seem to have issues of many of their rentals. Hard to believe they have not taken action to fix the situation.

MetricFlyer

I tried HOD a few months ago. After getting dirty cars with near-empty fuel tanks, I gave up. I've also had extensive experience with ZipCar in the past. Is it just a different crowd or something? I've rarely seen a dirty ZipCar.