dougzz

Like a few here I have more experience of USA rentals than UK where I have my own car, a VW Passat as it happens, they're fine for 4 and luggage, but you obviously don't have the sit up high effect. One thing I can say based on USA Avis rentals is they're really only focused on one aspect of the vehicle type, and it's not always obvious. In the US with Avis a standard elite SUV means a 7 seater, not a slightly nicer standard SUV as the name would imply. The Avis standard cars change a fair bit, they might say the example is a Chevy Traverse, but in reality all you see is Ford Explorers and too often Flex's which are more like vans than SUVs.
My attitude is always to arm my phone with a list of cars in the group, if I don't like what they offer and it's not among the cars in the group then I engage with the desk, I say engage as it's always best to start off friendly I find. But I think if the specific model is really important to you you have to book that specific model if that's offered, and not hope to get a certain model from a group, you're almost always disappointed by doing that.
You could ask here Fleet List (UK) what you might get someone may have recent experience for the location if you mention it. Good luck.

Ldnn1

I agree this is extremely confusing. I would never think of an A4, Passat, Mondeo or Insignia as being in the same category as a Qashqai, Tucson, Karoq or 3008. It seems the Avis categories haven't evolved to reflect the SUV market at all.

CKBA

Rental/hire cars are hit and miss. With Avis I've gone for (US) full-size (Avis) and ended up with a horribly small mid-size (Kelly Blue Book). The only car that's been consistently 'correct' has been the Fiat 500 from T5 Avis, although I usually manage to book, and get VW Golfs.

A phone call to Avis at the rental location usually helps if you're picky.

fluffymitten

Sorry to resurrect a bit of an old thread.

With Avis being so very variable in what goes into a group, how can you tell if you got the right car for the group? I often pick up a car from GLA and they seem to regularly give me a Vauxhall Mokka, which I can't stand driving, when I select a Golf.

I'm pretty sure the Mokka is a lower group than a Golf which, according to the T&Cs should give me a refund. However, as it's never an option when I book, I don't actually know if my assumption is correct.

I am due to pick up a car at the end of the month and have taken screen shots of the types of car on offer today so I can try and challenge the car assignment/get a refund of the difference if I end up with yet another Mokka!

wilsnunn

I have found that the Avis website lists the cars in each group for each country but even that has been unreliable, in France recently I booked a Peugeot 2008 or similar and the Avis France website listed the similar cars as:

Renault Captur, Citroen C3 Aircross, Opel Crossland X, Citroen C4 Cacturs, Ford Ecosport, Citroen DS3 Crossback, Jeep Renegade, Hyundai Kona, Hyundai i20, Seat Arona, Volkswagen T-Roc

When I arrived and went to pick up my car they tried to give me a Renault Megane which is clearly a rather different car to those listed. After some grumpy comments in my broken French I ended up with a Jeep Compass which was much bigger than what I had expected but was still nice to have.

florens

Got a Mokka too recently from Avis T5 after having booked Golf or similar.

flyingbee

Try contacting Avis directly by email. Like a poster above, I've had excellent response from them when enquiring about car groups. In September 2018 I enquired about the difference between Group E and Group P which appeared to be similar spec. The answer I got was:

Group P
Audi A3, Audi Q2 & VW Golf

Group E
Many models in the list I was given but examples for brevity here are Citroen C3 Picasso, Ford Focus, Peugeot 2008, Vauxhall Astra, Vauxhall Mokka, Vauxhall Crossland X

Try contacting Avis to get a more up to date list. Given the information from just over a year ago, you should be selecting a Group P, and if you get a Group E Mokka it's a downgrade. In the vehicle driven section of your rental documents it tells you the group of car driven.

Also, if not already, do join Avis Preferred.

masmadrid

Golf has been in their "elite" category for a long time (DDMR in ACRISS, I believe), and a Mokka is a definite downgrade. I got upgraded to a Merc C class because they didn't have a Golf.

(Mokkas are bloody everywhere. You can't escape them: Hertz, Enterprise, Avis. They're usually given when booking a compact (e.g. CDMR). Drives me insane. One of the worst crossovers)

SonTech

I got given a Mokka once to get me home from a ship I was leaving,, I had a 420 mile journey and had to fill it up twice, usually I can do that trip with one tank of fuel. Like you say, one of the worst cars I have ever driven Now I would refuse to take one.