powerup25

I will rethink again before renting anytime again from Sixt.

I guess now we know why all their locations kept on closing...

http://www.carrentalscandal.com/
https://www.facebook.com/carrentalscandal/

AutoSlash

There's two sides to every story, but on the face of it, it looks like they had sellers remorse. They changed course from a franchise model in the US to a corporate-owned model, and then strong-armed their franchises to wrestle the locations away from them.

One thing that's not in dispute is that a number of former franchise owners are quite upset with them, and there is quite a bit of legal wrangling going on. Where there's smoke, there is usually fire...

Auto Enthusiast

I always thought Sixt didn't understand the American customer renting cars in America. In Europe the franchise model can work if people usually arrive by intercity train and use the car roundtrip. In America a lot of people do regional one ways, and cross country in the summer. The fact that Sixt gave different operators franchises in the same region and thus one way rates would be a problem shows this lack of market knowledge. As does, missing an opportunity for cross country one ways between corporate stores because they set one way rates much higher than competitors.

powerup25

9 out of 11 franchises, that means a lot, and the way how they did it, its disgusting.

cestmoi123

Took a quick look at the website, couldn't get past the spelling errors and grammar mistakes. If they're going to make a case, they need to make it much more coherently than this.

shorthauldad

Sixt's one-way rates in the UK have increased significantly in the last six months.

What apparently was a flat Ł25+tax fee now depends on the specific pick-up and drop-off locations. (MAN - LHR came in at an additional Ł46.66+tax when I discovered this new "feature" a couple of months ago. It's a whopping 151 miles... )

Oh, and good luck finding a list of these new fees - you can only find the one-way fee by pricing up a specific trip; if your plans change mid-rental, as mine did, you've no idea what you'll be billed for the one-way.

cestmoi123

This is a pretty normal scenario for the US - there isn't a specific "one-way fee," but rather one-way pricing is based on (among other things) relative demand at each location, and the pricing is built into the rate. So, one-way PHL-JFK could be much more or much less than one-way PHL-IAD, depending on type of car, date, time, season, etc. etc.

AutoSlash

One-ways are a small minority of total rentals--about 10%. I highly doubt the inability to do one-ways is a huge part of Sixt's failure to gain a sizable market share in the U.S. There are franchises at the other companies that have similar restrictions, and they seem to be doing OK.

That's not to say Sixt didn't/doesn't have issues. Among the ones stunting their growth in the U.S. market are:

• The "who??" factor (no one knows who they are, and people are leery of trusting an unknown)
• The onerous policy restrictions (you can't even take the car out of state in some cases--much more of a common situation than dropping it off somewhere else)
• Poor reputation (when people go to research the unknown company, they encounter myriad negative reviews, because each franchise only cared about its own immediate revenue rather than the reputation of the brand itself, and such shortsighted behavior led to negative customer service experiences. To compound that, Sixt's corporate customer service is very poor, so complaints about service went unresolved)

Buying the franchises out and making them corporate has started to improve the experience for customers renting at Sixt in the US, but they are still in an awkward position in the market--by all rights, with the premium German cars they carry, they should be positioning themselves as a premium product (and advertising as such), but they're pricing themselves like they're a deep discounter, and then the experience customers have at the rental counter and lot is significantly worse than the experience a frequent traveler with Hertz/Avis/National has (long lines, nitpicky about damage, unforgiving staff, etc.).

Auto Enthusiast

All good points, but the large chains usually put franchises in small markets that presumably require specialized local knowledge more than one way capabilities. Ex Small airports in rural areas near National Parks. Even then, locations tend to belong to a franchise with multiple locations, recognizing the interest in regional one ways between National Parks.

GUWonder

I've seen more problems with Sixt than with Hertz, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Alamo and Silvercar combined.

That's even as Sixt is a very tiny percentage of the Hertz or Dollar rentals I've seen.

Everything else appearing to be just about equal amongst the above mentioned rental car companies, it's Sixt which I would try to avoid.

milestoneguy

Looks like they are picking up some steam!

http://www.autorentalnews.com/channe...h-florida.aspx

milestoneguy

From the looks of the write ups done and the websites they have created. I would make an assumption that this is going to get ugly. I can see if perhaps one franchisee didn't know what they were doing however I doubt 80% didn't.

I did a bit of research and found that most all franchisee have filed suit. Some have settled some are still litigating.

Closingracer

So true. I was making plans to go to Orlando and drive down to Miami since national didn't allow me to return to new York from Miami. I originally looked at Sixt since I know I could get a lux car for a fair price. Noticed the one way fee even on a one day res was $1,000 to go to Philly. No way was it worth it.

Auto Enthusiast

Part of the problem is Sixt may be expecting European tourists to be interested in that one-way over a month. But there are many, many more Americans who would do it over the course of a week, or even just a few days, for several reasons. One of those reasons is Americans seldom get a whole month of vacation. If Sixt didn't get that when they set their rates, they lost a huge opportunity. Customers are not going to change their behavior to stay with a vendor, especially one they barely know.

joelfreak

I know the MSP location was VERY pissed, and told me that basically they would be leaving Sixt ASAP.