zxsuxr

What a huge disappointed today was. Booked FCAR as Platinum and all they had to offer me was a Chevy Impala. The only European cars available was a MBZ GLE which would have cost significantly more. They attempted to try to upsell me on a CTS which is typically $165 a day, but they could do an additional $35 for me. Can't wait to show up in two weeks with my PCAR reservation. Place is a joke, they have 22 stalls, and 14 were empty at 7 am.

cmd320

Rented the XCAR category a week ago in ATL. All they had available when I got to the counter was the Cadillac XTS. I was offered an upgrade to the Audi A8 for an additional $100/day which in retrospect I probably should have tried to haggle for a little bit. I also volunteered to downgrade if here was something other than a Cadillac in a different category but I was told there was nothing available.

The XTS isn't a bad car on the inside, but man does it drive terrible. Feels like a boat on the ocean going in and out of corners and it's really heavy and sluggish. Not sure where Sixt got the idea that this car is in the same class as an E350 or 535i, but it most definitely is not.

mike929

Well just had my first disappointment today. I knew going in that it would be hectic with this being a holiday weekend. I reserved a SCAR. I show up and tried to go directly to the downstairs location since you have to stop there anyway. I thought I would be saving myself some time by doing that. Well the system was down ( so I was told ) and would take 20mins to come back up. So, I had to go back upstairs. There I waited in a line not knowing if it was one line or multiple, so I asked and the people in line said there are multiple. Mind you there were three representatives at the table, none of them said anything.

So, I waited and made it to the front and gave the lady my driver's license and Platinum Sixt card. She tells me they only have a Toyota Corolla. I said is that even for a Platinum member? I am fully aware that the double upgrade is not guaranteed ( until I can make DIAMOND ). But come on really?? She then tells me i'm not able to get an upgrade until my THIRD rental. Where in the world did that come from. I have never heard of this condition or been subjected to it. She also told me if I wait she might be able to get me into a Camry for a slight upgrade fee. OK, at this point I am done.

I go to check out my stand-by NATIONAL. The lot was pretty bare ( some Impala's LTZ, Chargers, F-150s...a Flex and SRX pulled up while I was looking. I ended up taking a 300C ( with Nav, heated/vented seats but no XM).

I hope this is not forecasting things to come!

mike929

I REALLY want to get that A8. I have had the XTS and agree with you. I do however like the CTS ( with the HUD ) is pretty sweet.

aboutmybizness

I rent from here all the time. They never have any cars available and it always seems to take at least an hour to get into a vehicle, even after I pre-pay. They are ridiculous about not being able to extend the rental more than once and for more than 5 days over the phone. If you want to do either, you have to physically go to the rental location to do it. What a headache! You can hardly ever get anyone on the phone. I get faster service via email. The reason why I keep putting up with them is because they're cheap. I rent all the time and they are the cheapest I've dealt with so far. If it weren't for that, I would have been done with them the very first time I rented from them.

aboutmybizness

I use the app for this location all the time. IF you have the option to pre-pay and choose vehicle it MAY make things a little bit easier. But you CAN NOT bypass the counter. They do not have an express lane at this location. Which makes absolutely no sense to me seeing as how they are located at supposedly the busiest airport. I have never been to any other location other than the airport though.

aboutmybizness

MUST be something about their cars. I had the same exact issue with an Audi I rented from them.

mike929

Hmmm, that's interesting. I will definitely check my tires from now on.

mike929

Well, I got a long rental pick up early in the morning. Doing 7 days, so i hope there is something worth getting. One thing to note, Sixt is now more expensive then all the other companies. One of the things I like most was the cost aspect of Sixt and the car/suv selection. If it will no longer be competitive I may have to start using other places.

I'll see how this goes. Last time they wanted to give me a Toyota Corolla and told me I could not get an upgrade that day until my 3rd rental. If that how it goes tomorrow again, I may have to take my business somewhere else.

FYI - status Platinum ( wish I could get diamond )
class reserved - XCAR

mike929

Well I ended going with National. Plans changed and I needed a large vehicle.

I had reservations for Sixt, National and Avis. Avis and National are on two different levels but Avis is right above National, so that makes it easy to check both of them within minutes. Sixt however is on the other side.

National had Expeditions ( I was told they are getting less Tahoes and more Expeditions, probably because the Expeditions are cheaper ) I believe a LTZ Tahoe is hard to beat, Jeep Cherokees, Durangos..etc. All seem limited on space. They also had a QX80 and Escalade ESV.

Avis had me in a Traverse, I asked for an upgrade and she said they could put me in an Explorer.

I walked down to Sixt and looked directly on the lot. I didn't see anything worth trying to get.

So, I took the QX80 with a 16 dollar-a-day up charge. They would not come down on the up charge for the Escalade. This was still the cheapest out of the three vendors. I wish the QX80 would have been fully loaded but it was nice. It is a gas hog for sure but does have some get-up and go for the size of vehicle it is. It only had about 3200 miles on the odometer. Still no sat though.

wahooflyer

I rented an LCAR from Sixt ATL today and got a BMW 3-Series. $39 + tax on Hotwire which is an absolute steal (my corporate rate with Hertz for a full size is the same!) Must be low demand due to the upcoming holiday weekend.

The Bimmer is great, but the speed of service was incredibly slow. From the time I walked off the ATL Skytrain, it took about 40 minutes to get the car. Had to wait in line at the main counter, and then in line again at the booth inside the garage to actually get the car. Fortunately it was parked in the first row so there was no need to wait for someone to bring the car in. The renters in front of me were not so lucky - they were waiting for someone to pull in an SUV.

No way would I pay a premium for Sixt in ATL. They need an expedited rental program - it's ridiculous for a business traveler to wait in line so long. Even Alamo is much quicker with their kiosks.

N.B.: the credit card hold for me was an even $499.99. Amex flagged it as a "foreign transaction" and I got an alert email, but otherwise no big deal.

DBDC1990

Hello -

I'm renting an XCar from Sixt later this month at ATL. What should I expect in terms of car options?

Also, I've read about the hold they put on your CC, which I've never experienced before with any other agency. How much is it for an XCAR and how long does it typically stay on your card?

Thanks in advance.

cmd320

I believe it's $2500. In my experience it comes off immediately after returning. Never had the hold show up on my CC statement or anything.

UnderEst

I'm Platinum with Sixt and have been pleasantly surprised with their service in Europe; it's what's made me try renting with them in the US (over Avis). The only airport I can regularly rent from Sixt is out of ATL. My first experience was 'OK', received a new MB GLE, but it had 1/8 tank of fuel and wasn't ready when I went to pick it up.

Last week I had a PCAR rental and I was very disappointed. At the counter, the agents were friendly, but only seemed interested in upcharging me for an upgrade, even as a Platinum. They had "no instant platinum upgrades available" but did have a CTS ($65 more a day) and an Audi A4 ($35 more a day). Declined both offers and they assigned my original Audi A3.

The A3 is a nice vehicle, but this one had clearly seen better days. It still had pink circles drawn on it, in presumably chalk pen, highlighting the damage across the white car. Both bumpers were deeply scraped and the rear bumper had punctures/tears in it. The trunk was dinged up and the passenger side door looked like it scraped along a wall.

Went back to the desk in the garage and asked if something nicer was available. "No, sorry, we only have the CTS and A4 upgrades."

I'm not overly picky, but this car really should've been removed from the fleet. It was just shy of 40K miles and in terrible condition. I would've preferred something that didn't look like it just rolled in from a bumper car match in the garage.

toumei64

I reserved an XCAR with Sixt a few days ago at ATL from 2/22 20:00 to 2/25 20:00. At 19:30, the car selection in the app only showed an option of some gigantic 15-seater van, so I assume nothing was available at that time. When I arrived around 21:30 after my delayed flight, the only XCAR they had was a 2017 Cadillac CTS with about 2,500 miles on it. It was the relatively loaded premium/luxury/whatever version, but I hate driving Cadillacs so much--they're such awful vehicles. They're a comfortable ride and the engine runs well, but they handle like The Titanic and most of the high-tech safety features barely work or go off randomly (lane keeping assist, forward/rear/side collision warning, etc.).

Their rental area is very small and not well-kept, and they have a very small selection overall. When I picked up the car, they had maybe 3-5 other vehicles, including a Volvo XC60, a Mercedes C300, and some weird small Toyota sedan that I didn't recognize.

I called the next day hoping someone had returned a Mercedes E300 or a Volvo S90. They said that all they had were the Cadillac CTS but they were expecting an E300 later that evening and an S90 late that night. I called back around 22:00, when they said they were expecting the S90, and could not get an answer. I called about 6 times from 21:30 to 23:00 and no one ever answered the phone.
I tried again the following morning around 06:45, and had to call 3-4 times until I finally got an answer around 07:30. The rep told me that the S90 had not been returned and that they had nothing else. So, I gave up.

Next time, I'm going to make a back-up reservation for the National ES so I can at least get something I don't mind driving. I went into this knowing that Sixt is not necessarily known for customer service, but I wish they would stop wasting money on Cadillac. Ugh.