Originally Posted by
Often1
OP misses the point. He isn't the customer. The customer is Nationwide. Nationwide presumably has a contract w. Enterprise which provides for deep discounts from already bottom-of-the-market rates. In returnn, Enterprise gets to provide lousy cars.
Enterprise has OP over a barrell and OP has a choice: 1) miss work and find a real rental car; 2) shell out-of pocket; 3) lump it.
Nationwide & Enterprise are betting that there may a few angry customers here and there, but most elect option 3.
Ummmm. Yes I am the customer. Nationwide might be an 'internal' customer for Enterprise; but I'm the end-user. Either ways, it really shouldn't matter who the customer is. Enterprise has a rate, Nationwide is paying it. The least they can do is have cars that are at least on-par with safety. Yes I know these might be high mileage cars; but does that equate to really shoddy brakes, or bad alignment? As an example, I'll tell you this.
I was in Miami, and rented a car from National. I am Emerald Club member so I had an option of selecting from a bunch of cars. Unfortunately there was only 1 on the lot at the time and I didn't have the liberty to wait another 10-15 mins for another one to show up. It was a Dodge (can't remember exact mileage) but it was also 30k+ miles and it had shoddy breaks. Upon return, the lady asked how my rental went. Casually I said, 'you should probably get the brakes checked on this car as well as the alignment'. Immediately, she comped me $50 for saying this and apologized. Yes it was a great gesture, but have I rented from them again? NO. I have since moved to Avis and their 'try harder' approach. and believe me, they do try hard. I have actually written about a couple of their employees praising them for going above & beyond to get me happy!
I thought I heard insurance companies can not force the customer to work with a particular vendor, be it body shop or car rental. Right? So you can request Hertz, Avis, etc.
If so, remember that Enterprise does not give National credits on insurance rates, but Hertz will offer Gold points for them, as paltry as that's likely to be.
True. I did have an option. Unfortunately for me, when I called Hertz, they didn't have a vehicle available for me. But Nationwide can't force me to go with Enterprise. I could have gone with Hertz as well. I should have, since I would have received 5 day's worth of Gold points... Lesson learned though...