lincolnjkc

More curiousity than anything else.

At LAX, the original car I was assigned (a Mazda 3, yawn) was blocked in by both cars and a couple Hertz employees just jabbering away.

Was in a hurry, so I grabbed a Chevy Malibu from Gold Choice with some dings, and (I didn't notice until I was in the exit lane) about 50k miles on it. The guy at the gate seemed really confused -- couldn't find a barcode to scan, eventually just took the keys into the booth and did whatever he was going to do.

When I got to my hotel I looked at the keyring and one side has the "typical" printed Hertz insert --

(Own Area: 0599 / Veh# 4108xxx / Lic # 6VPVxxx / Model: Malibu / Color Yr: White 12 / Doors: 0 / Class: X546512)

But the other side has a hand-written "DTG Car Rental Operations" tag listing the "Unit" as the same "Class" from the normal tag.

So purely out of curiosity [and because this car is one of the crappiest I've gotten from Hertz]... anyone know the story of this car?

SLV

Sounds like a similar car I received yesterday from SMF. Older 2013 Focus. Own area is also 599, registered to DTG as well. However, the car was from Nevada

CTNYC

That car is a car from the Dollar/Thrifty fleet (DTG = Dollar Thrifty Group) At one point Hertz probably was low on cars and brought some over from Dollar/Thrifty to rent out and is still in the Hertz fleet.

My dad rented an FCAR car from Thrifty in TPA (Was ~$100 cheaper than an economy car from any other company, including their own) and their cars were not cleaned... Windows were very dirty, was not properly vacuumed, was washed very poorly (lot of dirt still on cars), etc and does not surprise me one bit that the DTG car you got is the worst you have ever gotten from "Hertz"

Rut Dog

Zoom zoom!!

GW McLintock

I got a low-mileage 2014 Equinox 2LT FWD a little over a week ago and that had a DTG tag.

-J.

jan_believes

...but I became a big time Hertz fan to get away from D&T!!!!

Last thing I want is.....one of their cars!

lincolnjkc

So at least they aren't all garbage. Lesson learned: Check the tag carefully

forkknifespoon

Have a basic Chevy Captiva out now from DAL. 2014 with 5k miles, a DTG tag, and Texas plates.

CTNYC

I wonder how Hertz is going to go with the Dollar, Thrifty, and Hertz brands... IMO doesn't make sense to have all 3 - 2 is reasonable in the sense that one brand for business clients and one brand for leisure clients...

zhutch

Well, apparently they didn't think 3 was enough, as they now have FireFly, too...

CTNYC

Completely forgot about Firefly I wonder if Hertz is planning something big with all these companies.. Maybe rebranding Dollar/Thrifty to Hertz and Firefly, which would mean they just bought Dollar & Thrifty's customer base more than anything... Or maybe strategically trying to have Thrifty compete with Enterprise in neighborhood/insurance rentals, which would leave Hertz for their business clients, and Firefly for leisure vacation rentals I can't imagine that Hertz doesn't have some sort of plan for all these brands they have

briantroutman

So you “yawn” a car (Mazda3) that has been heaped with accolades—appearing on the Car and Driver 10Best list in one form or another four times in the past decade—and voluntarily take a car (Malibu) that has scored dead last in midsize sedan comparison tests in both Motor Trend and Car and Driver?

GW McLintock

Even at the risk of going off topic (I seem to do this occasionally...), I second lincolnjkc's sentiment. Yawn

-J.

lincolnjkc

The vast majority of my rentals lately have been Mazdas, and I will gladly *yawn* it day in and day out. It's not a bad car, but it's not one I would buy or take any enjoyment from driving.

Aside from the fact that I could actually get the Malibu out of the parking space and the Mazda was blocked by both other cars and Hertz employees that weren't moving I realty don't perceive any difference as far as rental cars between the Malibu and the Mazda in general. This particular Malibu was a high-mileage, dirty car with body damage -- but I could at least get it off the lot.

TravelinSperry

You can turn in the car and pick up another at any hertz rental location if you don't like your car.