jackal

I'll be doing a Wild Car in OGG in a couple of weeks. Not sure if all the HI locations share a fleet and/or how intermingled their cars are (wonder if you can do one-ways and if people do so via the SuperFerry), but maybe it'll give you a little idea...

cldflyer

Booked at DTW. Got midsize. The counter help and manager were real jerks. I would NEVER rent from this location again.

mongobot

I'm also curious about Wild Car info for HNL. Will be there the week of Nov 10 and hope to hear what folks are getting at that location.

Thanks!

WillieBluffU

September 2008

Tampa

Mercury Grand Marquis

ncfinfan

Nov 08
Dulles (IAD)
Kia Sportage

ncfinfan

IAD
Nov 17th
Chrysler 300

prspad

HNL on 12/01/08 - Was given a hot, gas guzzling Dodge Charger 4 door!

freeloader

MCI on 11/19.... was given a choice btw a PT cruiser and a Caravan (tons of convertibles, SUVs, and normal cars available)... what a joke, but i knew it would be a gamble

took the PT cruiser.

majorwibi

I'm looking into doing Wild Car at SNA this weekend. I'm good with almost anything but since I'm driving around LA I would prefer not to have a massive SUV (Expedition size) and thats only because of my comfort level in driving big SUVs around heavy traffic areas.

If I get offered a BIG SUV do I have any option to "downgrade" to something a little more size managable or is that the game with Wild Car?

majorwibi

SNA 12/12/08 - Chrysler Town and Country

jackal

Looks like you didn't have to drive an Expedition--minivans are large, but at least they tend to handle more like a car and don't suck down nearly as much gas as a large SUV.

As far as your question about downgrading: you might be able to if you get a really nice agent or they have nearly as many of a smaller class available, but if not, well, like you said, that's just part of the game of doing the Wild Car. You might be able to talk them down to something smaller, but you don't really have anything concrete to stand on to back your argument: by taking the Wild Car, you're agreeing to take whatever they want to give you without complaint. This can result in great deals on otherwise expensive cars but also has a potential downside if you don't like larger vehicles.

superslickdls

I'm wondering if the wild card reservation is the same as just renting a "mid-size" car?

It seems that they will give you the mid-size if available otherwise upgrade you to the next highest.

Tuneman1984

Welcome to FlyerTalk! The Wild Car reservation guarantees you at least a midsize so there's nothing stating they HAVE to upgrade you when you book WC. Generally people have come to expect it but it varies by location.

jackal

Actually, if you look at the first post in this thread, you'll see that people are very rarely given midsize cars.

As Tuneman1984 said, there's nothing stating that Thrifty HAS to give you an "upgrade," but that's not the point of the Wild Car. The purpose of the Wild Car is to move inventory that might otherwise sit stagnant without pricing that inventory at a point which would cause a price war or otherwise mess up the market.

In other words, Thrifty can't price, say, a large SUV cheaper than a midsize car, because not only would it turn the pricing model upside down (picture an airline selling F for less than Y), but it would also certainly cause an extreme overbooking of SUVs, since rental car booking engines do not operate on a real-time availability basis. (When availability gets tight, someone has to manually go in and put a "block" on receiving new reservations for a given car class.) Overbooking their largest class puts the rental car company in a bind, since people expect "free upgrades" when their car class is overbooked, and there's nothing to upgrade to from a large SUV. And those booking large SUVs (or minivans or whatever other specialty car they reserve) will rarely be happy with a "free downgrade" to an economy car!

So it's a way to move cars that might otherwise just sit in a fashion that prevents messing up the model. It also ferrets out those customers who are not sensitive to things like fuel consumption or problems driving/parking larger vehicles (many people who book smaller vehicles actually don't appreciate "free upgrades" to larger vehicles when their car class is oversold because of these reasons) and gives Thrifty a way to move those people into a larger car class without them complaining about the size of the vehicle.

At most locations, what you get when you book a Wild Car is actually whatever car class has the most surplus available units. It's up to the manager's discretion, but it usually works like this: if today's reservation manifest has 60 midsize cars going out and 20 minivans going out and there are 80 midsizes on the lot (or scheduled to return) and 60 vans on the lot, you'll actually probably get a minivan, even though there are more midsizes on the lot, since there's a surplus of 40 vans versus 20 midsizes. So it's actually pretty easy to not get a midsize because midsizes are the most popular booking class, leaving actually fewer spare midsize cars than larger classes (though it obviously varies by the day).

And at the very least, even if you do end up with "just" a midsize, you're still getting it for less than what you can book a midsize for, so no harm done!

jans45

We were in Denver July/August 08 and got a fully loaded Dodge Durango. We loved it since we are used to a Suburban. Check in was very quick and return was too. We are going back to Denver same time and hope we have the same experience. You can't beat it!