Originally Posted by
redtigeriii
Mentioned it briefly in another thread, but I'm new to Hertz gold...second rental. Had a rental at LAS. Went to the board and my slot, the type of car I'd reserved was not there. I then saw someone else wander up and take the car from that stall, so I wondered what the heck was going on. Went to Gold Desk, they asked if I got a Prius (no, there was something else there plus that was gone too). They said ok, how bout I give you a Ford Mustang for the same price. I said great and confirmed the stall number. Went to it and a Cadillac was there, not Mustang. A line had now formed at the Gold desk so I decided to just take this car since they pointed me to this stall. Upon exit, they said I had the wrong car and would have to return it. I then asked if they could give me direction on what car I could actually take, and they said I booked a full size (I swear I'd booked a compact but I was so confused at this point) and could take anything from the gold choice area. So I looked for a car with the least miles and found the same type of car I'd had last time I rented with Hertz. 20k miles instead of 50k at least. All in all not the hassle free experience I'd hoped for.
Crap like this is why Hertz has completely lost me as a customer. I now use National anytime I can and Avis as a backup. I absolutely refuse to book with Hertz and am lucky enough that corporate policies and contracts allow me that flexibility (including the ability to pay the difference if the Hertz rate happens to be cheaper).
With National, finding a car with more than 12k miles on it is a rare occurrence, and I have the ability to just grab another one at will if anything about it bugs me that much. Choosing-your-own with Gold Choice at Hertz usually means deciding between a stripped Yaris that hasn't been cleaned or a 2-year old Impalibu with 40k miles and a nice smoky smell.