Impaul4

This is the first time I have paid for it. It was an extra $4 per day. I didn't mind paying that for this car. All the other times are free, I have never been denied a Camaro at Avis when I'm in Dallas or Houston. I visit Dallas every other week and I think they see that on my profile.

All I do is check the assigned car to me. Then I glance over the lot for the car I want and get the space number. Go to the preferred booth and say I would like the car in "J7" instead of my assigned. Hasn't failed so far. On this most recent trip, the Camaro was 5 feet from the booth and I said I would like that and they said $4 extra per day. No brainer.

zhutch

Oh hell yeah i'd pay that! Well, i might have to give it a shot when I fly into IAH for the weekend next weekend!

QBK

Where: ATL
Status: PC
Booked: Minivan (expected 6 passengers)
Requested (via PC line): Buick Enclave
Assigned: Chrysler Town & Country
Requested (at counter): CX-5 or Forester (only 3 passengers showed up)
Received: 2014 Enclave with 5K miles

In other news, when I called the PC line, the representative insisted that the maximum upgrade for PC was to Premium. Which I also heard on-site at STL recently. Is this new?

GNALUZU

No, that is not new. It is in the fine print, but it is there. Any upgrade above Premium is at the sole discretion of the facility.

QBK

Huh, okay. Didn't know that, which is obviously my fault.

I'll take that as a good thing; my experience has been that 2-class upgrades beyond Premium are pretty common, and since this is not a new rule, I can hope that my experience won't change.

Thanks for the information!

IAHtraveler

Hmm, news to me too but I was only PC for a couple months. On a similar note, when I got to PHX 2 weeks ago, I asked for the XTS as a CHM. I was denied and told: CHM must book full to get luxury (not true) and CHM are NEVER to be upgraded to specialty (rule is only to lux but I nearly always get X class). They had me in a Taurus and wouldn't budge, even though Avis.com showed luxury, 3/5 series were available.

After more pressuring, agent said they got an email 2 weeks prior with a reminder of that from the CHM desk. Manager came out and reiterated what the agent said and gave a 1/18 date for the email receipt.

I had my CEO & Pres from Korea with me later that week so I wanted better than the Taurus. They offered the XTS for 180/day. I pointed out the tag on it showed "upgrade for 60/day". I talked them into $20/day above my $33 daily rate. Good rate overall for the car but I had a sour taste at their attitude/incorrect info on the 2-class upgrade as CHM/trying to get WELL over the posted price of the XTS.

GNALUZU

Maybe it is Luxury that they won't upgrade above for PC. I always seem to forget that the two are different. Also, I haven't been PC in a while, so I tend to forget.

Sorry to hear about the bad service at PHX. With so much tourist travel I am guessing that they get pretty stingy because some people are willing to pay. Luckily, I never rent from my home airport (plus, while the rate may be good, you get killed on all the taxes and tourism fees).

GNALUZU

I do know this, if Avis does stop upgrade CHM to specialty I will seriously consider moving over to Hertz. I just got Platinum status with them through my Amex and am interested to see how it compares.

SusanDK

Where: MCO
Status: PC
Booked: Full size, 35 day rental
Assigned: Kia ??
Requested (at counter): A number of other cars, but they were very low on availability
First Received: Lincoln Navigator
Exchanged after 10 days and received: Brand new BMW 528i

They had nothing of interest when we arrived, offered a Chevy Tahoe and I can't remember what else. Finally settled on the Navigator which they told us was the best available but that we could check back in a few days if we wanted to exchange it after they had greater availability.

It was a smooth ride and we were kind of enjoying it as a fun option. However, after filling the tank twice for a total of $120 after 9 days driving around town, we called to ask if they could exchange it and gave a few requests.

The agent called us back and said we could come in and swap for the BWM 5. When we arrived, it was the brand new 528i with 5 miles on the odometer and it didn't even appear as if it had been prepped yet for rental as it still had the dealer papers and owner's manual, and had not yet had the Florida toll SunPass installed yet.

It is a fantastic car, smooth ride, and accelerates wonderfully which was a surprise as we discovered that it is a 2.0 liter engine (turbo). Very comfortable and fun to drive, includes Nav, moonroof, Sat radio, etc.

drzoidberg

I thought CHM were never entitled to Specialty upgrades? However, on occasion I've received Specialty upgrades for short term rentals.

Specialty upgrades aren't appealing when a luxury car like the '14 CTS or M37 can be had for the intermediate rate.

GNALUZU

Technically, that is correct. The T&Cs say that upgrades are not for Specialty, but, more times than not, I've been upgraded to a specialty car.

My comment was more along the lines of, if they were to strictly enforce this policy then I would consider making a move.

I was just in Vegas a few weeks ago and Hertz upgraded me from a Nissan Exterra to a Mercedes GL450. That was nice.

IAHtraveler

Same experience here. I only typically get denied specialty cars that are very new to the fleet, if it's a small franchise location, or if it's a location where the manager can't be reached at that moment. In the past year, I can only remember getting denied the following:

-XTS in PHX last month
-XTS in PHL. It was their first one and had <10 mi on it.
-Escalade in ATL (granted, I was going 1-way)
-Escalade in DFW when it was brand new there
-Z4 somewhere in the south

However, I've been able to rent each of these vehicles multiple times on intermediate reservations since.

makos

And it is much easier on your wallet at the pump

jisaac

Ditto. I have had very favorable experiences as a Chairman. Cannot recall any denials off hand with exception of once in Tampa they had me in a G37 and I said I wanted almost anything else. They pushed back because the car received "extra treatment" for me. I reiterated and accepted the BMW 328 since the 528 was too much of an upgrade.

jisaac

The Navigators are horrible. Only had them out of Atlanta twice. I prefer the Tahoe for similar size any day. The Navigator seems to strain when accelerating and was worse on gas than any other rental I can recall.