Is it possible to place a request for a specific car model (e.g. 2011 Hyundai Sonata) on an Avis rental? If yes, how do I do that? Do I need to call the rental location? I am Avis First.

Good luck. In my experience, even calling the local agency will not guarantee you squat.

Book the class of car you want (if you want the '11 Sonata, book a standard), and hope they have one available.

I usually walk the lot and see what they have on the lot before going to the AVIS desk. Of course, in smaller facilities, this is easy. In huge facilities (IAH comes to mind), walking the lot would take days. Then I write down spaces that have cars I like, then I request those cars, and when the agent says they dont have any of those, I give him/her the space numbers and see what they can find.

p.s. AVIS First means squat these days. I havent had an AVIS First upgrade in months.

p.p.s. I'm driving the '11 Sonata this week. While its decent, its nothing to write home about. I asked for one this week to see what all the fuss is about. I'll go back to asking for the Taurus next week. I guess it beats the Impala & the Maliboooo.

I agree that calling will probably lead to nothing (esp if it's a big office because they rarely answer their phones, IME). However, calling can't hurt.

I also do the walk-the-lot trick before going to the counter. However, I'll usually take the keys from the one I want & go to the desk and ask for that car as I hand them the keys... usually works, but doesn't always make friends.

And is the Sonata a standard?? The old one was considered full-size, so I'd be surprised if they changed that down to a std.

The 2011 Sonata is physically smaller than the 2010. And according to the contract in front of me, its Class E looks like they reclassified it.

Depending on the lot, many have numbered spaces and you can request a car that way i.e. 'could I have the Sonata in space 216?'

I have seen Sonatas as full-size as well. To be safe, book full-size for the rental. If you walk up with a reservation and request a specific vehicle that's in a higher class, the agent knows you are more willing to pay for an upgrade.

Cool, I'll update the sticky before too long. Thanks for the info.


Several times, I've had the wrong car in a specific slot, so I no longer trust this method. The keys are a sure bet.

Really?? I've asked for higher class vehicles many times in the past and was rarely asked to pay more or charged more. Many times, they just said "it's not available" or "I can't do that for what you've booked" but they never assumed or knew I was willing to pay more... which I usually was *NOT*.

I shouldn't have said 'knows', I meant 'might guess'. While Avis First does come with a space-available upgrade, if I rent a midsize and ask for a Subaru Forrester(sp?), I'd expect them to say 'well we have one for $X/day more'.

While it's admittedly the best way to be crystal clear about which specific vehicle you want to rent, I'd be wary of grabbing keys from cars already in parked in stalls. Consider the following scenario:
--I see Car A in Stall X, it's in my reserved class and the model I want so I take the keys.
--Customer B is at the counter having his rental completed while I am out looking at cars and Rental Agent C assigns Car A to Customer B out of the computer's inventory.
--I head into the counter and give Rental Agent D the keys to Car A and he prepares my contract.
--Customer B comes storming back into the office, loudly upset that Car A has no keys and he needs to be at a meeting 10 minutes ago.
--Now, I can either claim that Car A is mine because I have the keys and a contract for it (as does Customer B) or give the keys to Customer B, but either way I look like a jerk.

If an agent can't find the car you want in the computer using the stall number, you can always ask to have someone physically go out to the vehicle and get its information. You may find out it has already been rented to someone, but you may find out that it had just been parked and hadn't made its way to the inventory yet and it's your lucky day

The 2010 Sonata was F class (full-size). The 2011 Sonata I have this week is E class (Standard)... at least thats what my contract says.

When you're renting at the counter if you booked standard and ask for a specific model in that category, is there any chance that they'll give that car?

If they have that model available in their inventory there's no good reason for them not to honor your request.

If you can locate the unit number, that's the best bet. If you aren't sure where to find the unit number (not sure specifically how Avis does it, but look for a barcode on the windshield or rear window), they should be able to find the car you want by license plate number.

Indeed. A good salesperson picks up on these cues. The key to getting a good price on an upgrade is to act like you are sorta kinda tempted by the car (not overly excited) but that the price difference is a major obstacle. Rental agents are trained to respond to the customer's objections in specific ways. Someone who says, "Hmm, that's just a little too expensive" might find the upgrade offer discounted a few percent (i.e. from $50 to $40), while someone who says, "I'd like it, but that's WAY more than I wanted to spend!" might find the upgrade offer discounted from $50 to $15.

The agents you find must not be very motivated salespeople...