Now I know that all car hire companies work on the principal of trying to scam their customers, but Dollar is the worst.

A couple of years ago at ATL, I arrived at the Dollar counter to be told that my car was not available because I was late. Yes, I was a bit late due to baggage and immigration procedures at ATL, but my reservation included my flight number which I assumed meant that Dollar would track my flight and keep my car for me. I had booked a Compact and was told I would have to pay to upgrade to another car. I refused to pay more and was eventually offered a minivan. I absolutely didn't want a minivan as this to me is not an "upgrade" and is in no way a good substitution for a compact car. I had a 6 hour drive to do and I was already tired after my long flight, but I had to wait at the Dollar depot for an hour before I was finally given what I had reserved.

Anyway, I booked with Dollar again a few months ago at ORD and nearly the same thing happened! I was told that I was too late (again they had my flight number) and that they didn't have the car I booked (an intermediate). They again tried to offer me a minivan which I would not accept. I was there arguing with the guy for an hour and finally I had to go outside for a bit to cool off. Then I noticed that there was an intermediate car parked in the lot. I went back in and demanded that car, and after 15 more minutes I got it.

I wrote to Dollar after each occasion and received replies that "they would look into things further" but nothing more. I've had problems with Alamo, Enterprise and National too, but nothing was as consistently bad as Dollar. Are the "high end" car companies such as Hertz and Avis just as bad?

I've nothing but good experiences with Hertz. I used to rent with the cheapest one out there, but just hate all the nonsense some of them put you through. I find that Hertz is often the cheapest, or close to it with their Hertz Gold #1 coupons, renting and returning is great. I had one problem last year of getting a smoking car. I had hoped it would dissapate with the windows down, but it didn't, and they let me pick up a nicer car at a hotel location near where I was staying. I also got a $40 voucher out of it as well. (This was before I was gold, too).

Thanks for the reply. I'll definitely have to consider Hertz. Actually I remember renting with them once in Dubai, and despite it taking quite a while to get the paperwork sorted, there were none of the sales trickery of the other guys.

Well if you're Hertz Gold or #1 Gold it's even better. I just show up to the rental location, and often you just pick up you car in the space number displayed on the board. All your preferences are stored, so you get a good car, no trying to sell you extra insurance and such.

I am Presidents Circle with Hertz this year. Even though they don't always get it right, I stick with them because I feel like they reward me appropriately and upgrade me generously, albeit by giving me cars that get 10-15 mpg!

When you DON'T get robbed at Dollar it's because the agent is incompetent, go to Hertz, you won't regret it!

I think your opening comment is best. All companies may not "scam", but I believe that nearly all "take advantage" of infrequent renters. Add to that someone visiting the USA from abroad, and it only compounds the "scam".

As for tracking your flight, how is Dollar (or any company) going to know that you are actually on that flight? Maybe you were bumped? Maybe you changed your plans and neglected to cancel your car reservation, especially since there is no credit card guarantee?

I make countless alternate reservations all the time. I may have 5 or 6 depending on my plans and the funky rates I find. I do my best to cancel out the ones I truly do not need, but I also have flown into a city and had multiple reservations with up to 3 different car companies. Sometimes I won't know until the morning of my flight whether I need a 1-day rental, a 3-day rental, or a weeklong rental. Since the companies often DING you for changing AFTER you pick up the car, I'll lock in a good 2-day rate, another reservation with a good 3-day rate, and maybe a third reservation with yet another company.

Car rental agencies are all about yield management. Lots of no-shows will happen sometimes. And sometimes, everyone shows up.

If you had belonged to the Dollar Express program (which is free), they may still have tried to manipulate you. I tell every single person to enroll in whatever frequent renter program they can find. You generally get a separate line, a decent upgrade, and most importantly, some respect from the clerks -- many times it is the station management who "work" the Express line and not the I-need-a-commission-badly rookie employees.

The Hertzies hijacked this post and I agree with most of what they said. Again, being part of the #1 Gold Club yields great benefits, although I sure do prefer the option to select "any car" with National (Emerald Club) and Dollar (Dollar Express).

I always book with time padded in. If I am supposed to go thru immigration, baggage pickup and perhaps a meal sometimes at an airport, I put in a later time for pickup. My colleagues and friends do the same. And, I have never heard of anything, which the OP has experienced.

I suggest do the same. Pad your times when making a reservation.

The way I understand it, franchise locations have two types of cars on their lot: "owned" cars that belong to them, and "pool" cars that don't. The "owned" cars stay at that location and the "pool" cars come in on one-way rentals, etc. The desk agents at franchise locations are under great pressure to rent the "owned" cars first for local rentals, in order to keep fleet utilization high and reserve the "pool" cars for one-way rentals. That is why you will sometimes see the car you want on the lot, but the agent will press you to accept a minivan or something instead. I learned this after I reserved an intermediate car with Dollar at MHT. The agent pressed me to accept a big, muddy, knobby-tired Jeep Wrangler even though there were three or four Dodge Stratuses just sitting there. She insisted the Wrangler was an "intermediate car" and was "similiar to" a Stratus. Fighting, sometimes at length, is the only option. I won, but I'm also permanently done with Dollar.

I use Avis almost exclusively now because when you're in the Wizard / Preferred thing you can reserve and pick up your car without interacting with any human being, and it's usually the car you ordered, within one class or so.

All car rental firms design their processes and fee systems to screw the customer, and it is definitely worse for neophytes and visitors from overseas who may find themselves paying hundreds of dollars in unnecessary fees. Dollar is among the worst.