CMK10

50 AA miles off a one day Alamo rental of $35 is fine by me.

sosafan

All of my rental car problems recently have been with National. Four times in a row, when I got to the booth, they gave me a contract with a different price than my reservation. So it is back to the counter with lots of arguing. Now I just go straight to the counter. I still have to argue with them about half the time. I haven't had any trouble the last few years with Enterprise, Hertz, Avis or Alamo.

The high pressure tactics that the OP refers to are just their business model. I find it surprising that you can still reserve a car and there is no penalty for a no-show.

lougord99

Skatering

I often worry about the infrequent leisure travellers when renting cars. I was standing in line for Avis/Budget in KEF this week, with a long queue of tourists in front of me. As Iceland is a country with large numbers of tourists, and where car rental is essentially necessary, the number of people who were naive about the process was alarming. Most people in front of me had all-in travel agent bookings, and were shocked that they were facing a 1400 EUR damage liability. Add to that the sand and ash insurance that is so often sold in Iceland, and the upselling was like nothing I'd seen before.

I wish people were more aware that rental car companies can't be trusted any further than you can throw them and must be treated with extreme caution.

randix

Even here in the states, in the unfortunate instances where I have to "stand in line" and watch/listen to the innocent in front of me being taken advantage of at the counter, how I wish I had the courage to walk up and intercede on their behalf, and serve as their advocate. Even when I'm on my way to pick up a Budget rental using Fastbreak, and see the long line for the counter as I'm walking by, how I wish I had the courage to go to every single person in that line and tell to sign up for Fastbreak and other similar programs, even if they don't rent cars that often, etc.

Why do I suspect if I did intercede, my presence there would not be tolerated very long...

fairviewroad

I hear what you're saying. But at the same time, you don't know the actual situation. For instance, they may be using a payment tool that doesn't include rental car coverage. They may not own their own vehicle and thus have no personal insurance that will cover the rental. Unless you know these things, it could be an expensive mistake to intervene.

All that said, those once-a-year renters who end up buying the entire insurance package help keep the rates lower for the rest of us.