I flew into ATL late Wednesday night, took the train to the rental car center and found out at the counter that Hertz was sold out of cars.

This was a Priceline reservation ($150 for 5 days vs. $250+ rack rate) and thus was prepaid. I made the reservation only about 3 hours prior to my arrival, but needless to say I was furious. Hertz.com was still showing availability as well, despite the lack of vehicles.

Hertz counter staff had us handwrite our names, addresses and emails on a blank sheet of paper and told us we'd receive compensation of some sort in the mail, although they didn't know exactly what kind of compensation. They advised me to call Priceline for assistance.

I called Priceline and they told me to rent a car elsewhere, save all receipts and they'd research with Hertz, refund both my original $150 plus the difference in price of the other car rental, once the rental was complete and I faxed in receipts.

So I went up to National, got into a brand new 2013 Passat (450 miles on the odometer--Hertz probably would have given me something with 30,000 miles), whipped out my Emerald Club card and was on my way.

Hertz must overbook by quite a high percentage for so many customers to be left without cars. Fortunately Priceline resolved this situation well, and since this was ATL, other rental agencies were easy to access in the giant consolidated rental garage.

I usually rent directly from National except when the price differential is so large. Definitely learned the "you get what you pay for" lesson this time.