Originally Posted by
Sheep
Maybe people on this thread have some insight to share. I typically rent class G - Premium. My track record has been great with good vehicles, however yesterday I rented at my first Ultimate Choice location and the board directed me to the five star section (as per status). None of the cars there were close to a class G, so I shared my observation of the attendant who said to just take anything I wanted from President's Circle (ended up with a YI Avalon 2k miles). My question is with Ultimate choice would it not just be better for me to rent a intermediate and then pay the $35 for an upgrade? Those upgrade choices always seem to be mid-size luxury sedans or better.
I did the math for my trip next week if Ultimate choice section is lackluster:
Premium G - $78
Intermediate C - $36 + $35 premium upgrade = $71
Any thoughts? Am I missing something or is Hertz encouraging a premium customer to pay less upfront to roll the dice for a decent choice and worst case pay for an upgrade and still spend less?
My experience as a 5* reserving a PCAR at an UC location (FLL) was different. I was specifically assigned a spot with a PCAR. UC was pretty new there so I asked the agent why I was assigned a car instead of being able to choose and she old me it was because I had reserved a PCAR and there was no guarantee that that class of vehicle would be in the UC area so they assigned me one specifically. I was however free to choose anything I liked from the 5* section instead of my assigned vehicle. This all made sense.
All of that said, your experience was obviously different. Not sure if your experience was an outlier or mine was, but I suspect yours was (gut feel). You do make a good point though. It's probably worth spending less on an ICAR if you're generally happy with what is typically in the 5* section. Of course there are no guarantees though so sometimes it might work out for you, and sometimes not.