Originally Posted by
dliesse
Not excusing the rental companies, just playing devil's advocate.
Is it possible some of the problem comes from other renters not returning cars when they're supposed to? Are the rental companies like hotels, limited in what they can do to guests who overstay their welcome? I don't know -- I'm just raising the question. Since their reservations systems worked so well for so long I have to presume they're programmed to take into account expected return times.
If there is nothing preventing it, I'd say the solution is fairly simple. If you're late returning by more than, say, 3 hours (to allow for unexpected contingencies), you get charged three times the base daily rate -- no discounts applied -- for the overtime. Some people don't care how what they do affects others, they just respond to financial consequences.
That's just one of the issues. With pay-later bookings, many folks will no-show on their reservations. Then there are delayed/canceled flights, people picking up earlier than planned, people dropping off later than planned (for a whole host of issues), unexpected returns at a different location, vehicles that get into an accident or have a mechanical breakdown, people upgrading (or downgrading), poor inventory management at the local level, vehicle deliveries arriving later than planned, or not at all, etc, etc.
It's important to keep in mind that when you make a reservation, they don't "put aside a vehicle for you". That's not how it works, and it goes back to the classic Seinfeld car rental skit. The rental companies have a basic idea of how many vehicles of each class they need on-hand to service that particular day's pickups, but things can go awry--especially these days when inventory is so tight due to the shortage of new vehicles brought on by Covid-induced supply chain issues.