Was at Hertz LAX this past weekend. Had a long talk with one of my favorite Hertz agents I've known for decades. I was showed how Dollar & Thrifty customers are blocked in the computer from getting the lower mileage, better equipped & higher end vehicles which go to Hertz customers. Quite extensive. That said, in the last few weeks, they've brought a bunch of USED vehicles onto the lot for Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty customers. My agent pointed to a couple of 2019 Mercedes E-Class vehicles they had available for paid upgrade (with over 50K miles). But there are many in all classes on the lot now. I also asked about new Tesla vehicles. They have NONE at LAX. A group came in recently but was completely leased out to Uber. Just stored them on the lot for a few days. Also, if you are planning on being in the Los Angeles area for or around the dates of Super Bowl 2022, you better get in a reservation immediately. They are close to being completely sold out for weeks surround it.

There were very few vehicles on the lot this past weekend because of the Rolling Loud Cali 2021 concert in San Bernardino. They were expecting many of the vehicles to come back with smoke damage. Look it up and you'll understand why. In the area just to the west of the exit gate and east of President's Circle, where the reserved SUV's and trucks are parked, for the first time ever there wasn't one vehicle. President's Circle was a travesty. Just full size vehicles and small SUV's. About 20 or so. Fortunately, my agent by speaking with maintenance staff had found me a nearly new brand new (3k miles) Chevy Traverse that had just been returned from the San Diego station. I just had to wait 20 minutes or so for it to be cleaned.

I wish I could say that the quality of vehicles are getting better at LAX but that clearly isn't the case. They desperately need new vehicles. The amount of customers is up considerably, though. But nothing like the lines over the summer.

Also, my agent told me that they had been told Hertz would be on Level 2 in the new consolidated car rental garage. They had to bid for it. Enterprise, Alamo, National would be on Level 1. We'll see if that was correct. The latest timing for the move is supposedly in about a year, late 2023. Looks to me like there is a lot of work to be done if they're going to make it by then.