Noctilux

Hi All;

I am in Tuscany for three weeks over the holiday season, in October I booked a Group H vehicle for the trip, which on the website is quoted as " Group H - BMW 3 Series or similar". When I arrived at Florence airport & asked what car I was being given, I was told an Audi A3, when I queried this I was told that because I had requested an automatic car & needed it for three weeks, this is what I was being given.

Now, it is a nice car, but in my book the Audi equivalent of a BMW 3 series is an Audi A4, not an 1.6 diesel A3, which I consider to be the equivalent of a BMW 1 series.

I am not going to make a big deal out of it, but I feel I have been screwed; so this is the only place I can 'vent'.

Thanks for listening.
N

RTW1

You're right... an A3 is the equivalent of a 1-series. But you should have done something at the rental office like insisting on a discount for a lower class vehicle. You might still do that on return or after, but your chances will be less than at the start of the rental...

bkafrick

"Or similar" isn't your personal opinion, or the opinion of anyone on this board, or a magazines, or anything....

What "or similar" means, is... any car within the same CLASS you booked.

So if an Audi A3 is CLASS H, you got what you were entitled to. Period.

No whining that you dont believe the A3 is comparable to a BMW 3-series to an agent. That will simply fall on deaf ears.

If an A3 is class H, then, you're done.

noah

Learn to drive a stick. Your world of rental cars will broaden significantly.

sapman986

Where does one find this definition?

I'd be quite surprised if the A3 and the 3 series are in the same class, even by whatever guide Avis are using.

The OP was jipped.

GW McLintock

Easier said than done... especially if you're in the US.

Me too. Then again, the Malibu and Impala are in the same class. So are the Ford Focus and Fiesta. Go figure

-J.

RTW1

That one is simply answered: https://www.avis.com/car-rental/cont...S00&country=IT

Avis doesn't seem to think they are in the same class (Intermediate vs Premium).

Teamstone

True, but both are listed as manual. Automatics only seem offered in compact and luxury.

May have been on of the few automatics on the lot.

bkafrick

So at the very least, you should have been given a lower rate since you took a vehicle in a lower class.

I dont think you have much leg to stand on. On the Italy car guide, as others have noted, the H-Class (BMW 3-series) is only listed in manual transmission. So, since you required automatic, they gave you what they had in automatic.

sapman986

If the manual 3 series is listed as a class above the manual A3, I think it is reasonable to argue that the auto 3 Series should be a class above the auto A3.

Were I in your position, I would push for some compensation as a result.

In Europe the perceived differences between cars are typically more marked than in the US.

Though I will say that I have received both an A3 and a Merc B Class instead of an A4/3 series/C Class in a couple of countries in Europe and it never really bothered me. Occasionally it works the other way. (e.g. - a Q5 instead of a Rav4 type vehicle in Greece last year)

bkafrick

You won't be able to argue that a car should be in a different class. The cars are classified as they are. No amount of complaining is going to have Avis reclassify them.

And requesting "compensation" is laughable. The best you'll get is to ask for the rate of the class of vehicle you received as opposed to the one you reserved.

sapman986

Again, I'll ask: show us where these are classified. The closest anyone has shown so far is the manual versions of each of these cars are shown as examples of different classes. If you can't show they are in the same class, your argument makes little sense.


Not sure what you find so laughable. That is exactly what I mean by compensation. I have been charged for a lower class of car than I booked many times. There's no reason this cannot be done after the fact. Just because you have not done this does not mean it cannot be done.

Also, unless you represent Avis in some official capacity, absolute statements like "The best you'll get is XYZ" is not particularly helpful to the OP.

bkafrick

You want to know what cars are what class? Why don't you simply call AVIS. There's no "proof" online except whats been providing, and I dont know why I need to provide you proof of anything. But, presuming they *are* different classes, which makes sense, then you won't be able to argue that they *should* be a different class than Avis already has them in.

Have you been to Flyertalk before? Its all about speculation from experience. This isnt some official blog from Avis. I'm not sure your advice is any more particularly helpful, unless you're some Avis representative in that case.