rogue4jc

Got into ATL on Sat. Took train from the terminal to the rental car center. The line was literally 50 people deep on the Thrifty/Dollar check in!!!
Everyone else were empty!

At first I thought ok just my damn luck for booking Thrifty but come to find out EVERYONE else had run out of cars thus the empty lines in the other counters! Budget, Alamo etc.

How is this possible? I can understand if they overbooked a few but 50 people at a specific gap in time? I mean I had reservations and so did most everyone there.

To make matters worse AFTER I got to the counter and cleared the paperwork I still had to wait another 1/2 before a car was available. All in all I/everyone else waited for over 2 hrs between first standing in line and getting into a car.

/end rant!

AutoSlash

If it was United, they would have let you get into the car, but then have security rip you out of your seat before exiting the rental lot.

Seriously though, all of the rental companies overbook to some degree to deal with up to a 30% no-show rate. Sometimes you get into a situation where a lot more people show up than anticipated (just like the airlines), and then it has a cascading effect since the folks without cars at the overbooked companies are accommodated at the companies that do have cars. If it's bad enough, then everyone runs out of cars like what happened at ATL when you were there.

The fact that you got a car at all is somewhat lucky, even if you don't feel that way. I'm sure there were others who got turned away from other companies who were probably willing to pay 2X, 3X or 5X what you were reserved at. Oftentimes the rental companies will use that situation to their advantage to pad their profits with customers who absolutely need a car and are willing to pay exorbitant walk-up rates.

All of that said, it sucks and it would be nice if the rental companies could do a better job a managing their fleets. They would all like to implement cancel and no-show fees, but they're all worried about losing business to their competitors, so these sorts of situations will continue for the foreseeable future.

rogue4jc

That's just very wrong then. Delaying or out right cancelling a car is not like ordering a pizza where the consequences would be much less severe.

In my case I missed out on visiting CNN/Coca Cola however some folks denied a car could potentially have very adverse affect on the family, business etc.

I wish rental car companies stop doing this BS stuff.

In business there is such thing as acceptable loss or even shrinkage.. the onus is on the company to provide what they advertise. If someone is a no show then they get penalized so there is no real loss in revenue anyway. Overbooking as part of the SOP for the sake of compensating loss revenue should not be part of the equation. To me it's more like greed!!
Some loss should already be calculated into the actual business transactions.

TravelingNomads

Maybe there were a lot of airline delays and people decided to drive instead?

WorldLux

Or a couple of renters were late and the cars therefor not ready.

jackal

Agree.

Disagree. If that happened, rates for the rest of us would go up. Everyone overbooks: airlines overbook, hotels overbook, and rental cars overbook. Even restaurants overbook. They all overbook different amounts, because no-show rates vary, but without overbooking, some seats/rooms/cars/tables will always go empty, and the rest of us would have to pay higher rates to accommodate for that fact.

Rental car companies overbook by a higher margin because no-show rates in the rental car industry are terrible: in some cases, upwards of 30%. That is probably affected by the fact that rental car companies actually don't penalize people who don't show up (contrary to your statement). Rental car reservations are (largely) fully cancelable at any time without any penalties whatsoever, even if you no-show. Most rental companies don't even take your credit card number to secure a reservation, so there's no way you can even get charged. Hence, people often book and then forget to cancel when their plans change, or they book multiple companies as a back-up in case something goes pear-shaped (as it did in this case), or they simply don't care and make speculative reservations and never bother to change them when their plans fall through.

While ranting about a company not doing what they promise to do is perfectly acceptable on FlyerTalk, giving advice on how to best handle it is also acceptable. So, let me advise you that next time, you should register for the free Thrifty Blue Chip program. It's free, so there's no downside to doing so, and renting as a Blue Chip member means your rental is pre-processed before you arrive so you can go straight to the Thrifty kiosk in the garage and leave the lot without waiting in line at the counter. And in an extreme oversale situation like you encountered, Blue Chip members are the first to get on the road with a car before anyone else who has waited in the long line at the regular rental counter.

The same goes for Dollar Express, Budget FastBreak, Hertz Gold, Avis Preferred, National Executive, etc., etc., etc. Always reserve with a frequent renter program; there's no reason not to and it generally avoids or minimizes your hassle in situations like this.

JLewisinSyr

You want them to stop overbooking, expect the following in return:

- Cancellation fees (which don't exist)
- No Show Fees (which don't exist)
- Change Fees (which don't exist)
- Higher rates (even more so than they already are)

Bonehead

First thing to do in such a situation is verify availability at an off-site location (companies like Enterprise are usually all over major cities) and grab a cab.

Of course if you arrive at like 10 PM you're likely SOL.

RJPA

I don't know... I would be steaming mad if I were starving and didn't get my pizza.

KRSW

Easy...flight cancellations. I saw something like this happen at AVP (Wilkes-Barre / Scranton, PA) airport two weeks ago. AVP's a small airport. The last flight of the night and everyone was trying to get a car for the evening. The rental car places had some extras, but not many.

Fortunately, the Enterprise agent was sticking to his guns and honoring reservations first, walk-ups second...and he was also wise enough to see when the reservation was made. Some people had walked up to the counter, were told about the lack of cars and that only reservations were being handled, so the people made a reservation on their phones and starting complaining loudly. I'm glad I'd booked mine a few days in advance!

jackal

As someone with experience in the rental industry, that's a pet peeve of mine. If the rental agency doesn't have cars, why on earth are they still allowing reservations?

I fully understand (better than most) the IT reasons for why this happens as well as the financial benefits of maximizing utilization by intentionally allowing overbooking and being slow to close down bookings, but frankly, it's inexcusable to actively be telling people they don't have cars for them and yet still be taking reservations. The rental companies need to get their IT in gear and handle day-of availability stuff much better than they do now.

IANAL and I do not know if a non-prepaid reservation would legally stand up to being called a contract, but it is my belief that every reservation should be treated as a contract (subject to the renter qualifications being met, of course). It frosts me when rental companies treat reservations as requests or invalidate them at their will.