Originally Posted by larsll
The difference between Avis and Hertz depends on where you rent. Generally both firms are good, but in NCE where I rent cars 30-40 times a year Avis' service is abysmal whereas Hertz is generally very good.
The major problem with Avis here is that they don't care to pre-prepare your contract -- and the Preferred line is only open whenever they feel like it. On a Friday evening you are generally stuck in line with tourists who have to debate with the agent for half an hour to decide which insurance options to take out. Generally the agents there are very new in their jobs, not knowing too much about car-rentals. (I don't know how many times I have signed on top of "SIGNATURE ON FILE"...)
Hertz on the other hand delivers the goods according to plan. Contract and keys always ready, seldom takes more than 5 minutes to get on the road. Staff is also more experienced, and that helps out a lot when you want to change something.
proceed with the knowledge that not every avis operation works that way. Where I work, avis has all preferred contracts done 1 hour before estimated arrival time and we have a designated preferred agent, whom has at minimum 1 year as a regular agent. Also our key box agents have on average 5 years experience each, and if you don't like the car they can make the exchange on the spot without waiting in lines. The most common delays for preferred are "expired credit cards" and "first time preferred renters."
once your past those two situations, its usually smooth sailing at our operation. Im sorry to hear that other operations don't operate at the same level. I have only seen renters sign on the "signature on file" line for vehicle exchanges, to document the exchange.
At our airport, we get walk over complaints from hertz gold members all the time. They get turned off and walk down the road to us. Part of that is the experience level of our staff. In your experience, hertz was more the senior staffed organization than avis. At our airport, its the opposite.