Discount Codes/Corporate Codes Require ID?
 

After looking over the postings I see there are a lot of Corporate Rate codes that when applied online, really cut down the cost! I've never used any of these before and I'm afraid that upon pick up or payment, they are going to ask for a corporate ID or some kind of proof for the discount. Have any of you had problems with this?? I see someone posted a corporate ID that would save me a lot on the underage surcharge fee (I'm 24), my only worries are that they'll question me about it...

Does Dollar require ID?

Wirelessly posted (The Roaming Phone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5F136 Safari/525.20)

It's rather stupid, IMHO, on DTG's part, given the potential for [morally wrong] fraud due to codes being spread around on the Internet, but apparently it is the policy of the corporate sales department not only that asking for ID is not required, but that it is not allowed.

But know that if a rental agent finds a reason to suspect fraud, he or she can make life very difficult for you--they may require ID anyway (and you'll have a hard time fighting the additional charges with customer care later on, since you weren't authorized to use it in the first place), they can give you the worst/farthest car on the lot, or they can simply refuse you service entirely (and can even call their buddies at the other agencies to put you on a citywide de-facto blacklist (everyone will just tell you they're sold out). I've seen it happen at several agencies (not just Dollar).

Personally, I'm not comfortable taking the chance, and my conscience won't let me do that kind of thing anyway. I've been tempted, as I've had to pay the underage charge several times myself.

I have found it helpful to try to negotiate with the rental agent--tell them you'll buy a prepaid tank of gas or upgrade to a larger car if they waive the underage fee. Helps their numbers look better (bigger commission) and you get something for what you were going to pay anyway.

Dollar Promo Code
 

I just updated an existing reservation for LAX 8 days. Tried some of the codes posted here, but none worked. The Dollar site actually suggested that I use Promo Code # 715, and it knocked off 60 bucks from the total. NICE!!

Sorry for the necrobump -- this post is for the benefit of Googlers like me. No freaking way this has ever happened. Anyone who Googles this, don't believe it. They never ask for ID in the first place. If they do, you either just say "I'm out of business cards" or you're a complete idiot.

Don't impersonate a government employee, that's a crime. "Impersonating" an IBM employee is not.

You'd find lots of stories about this if this were true. And if an agent threatens to "blacklist" you (puhleeze), laugh in his face, go on your laptop, book a car and go pick up the other car.

Lying to prevent something of slightly dubious moral standing (we're not talking rape or murder here, we're talking a stupid car rental discount) is 100% hypocritical.

That said, you should NOT use a car rental corporate discount for a company you don't work for, because it's wrong. That is why you shouldn't do it. But, I'm just being honest that you will 99.9999999% get away with it if you do (I was never carded when I did it in my college years, not even once).

If you decide not to do it, it should be because it's wrong, not because you're scared of some fake consequence.

I agree with judolphin that using a discount code for a company you don't work for is wrong. That being said, I've never been asked to provide ID showing I work for my company when using our corporate code.

If it's the underage fee waiver you're after, try either the resurrected Underage Coupon with Hertz or www.hertz.com/goldfamily.

I said may and can, not will. Yes, there is a huge chance you'll get away with it. My point was that doing something to cheese off a rental agent is never wise, since they have potential recourses that can be worse than waiters and cooks peeing in your soup.

As for your argument not to believe my post: all I can say is I am posting from my personal experience. And which one of us has more experience in the rental industry? :rolleyes:

I've got to back jackal on this one. While a one-off experience will not likely be enough to put you on a "do not rent" list, all rental car companies are cracking down on fraudulent activity regarding discount programs, coupons, promotions and status levels with repeat/habitual offenders having their rental privileges revoked. This post on the Avis forum can serve as "official" confirmation:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/avis/...y-into-pc.html

While misrepresenting oneself to get a discount/status upgrade, etc. may not seem like a huge deal to the consumers who get a sort of "Robin Hood-esque" thrill from cheating the system, the companies being swindled view this activity as what it is, fraud and theft, and take appropriate responsive actions.

I don't think any of us here disagree that obtaining any benefit through fraudulent means is wrong and definitely on the darker side of the grayscale of morality, just wanted to provide another voice confirming the severity of the consequences of such actions.

Also, when I said "a citywide de-facto blacklist," I did not mean you would be put on an official do-not-rent list. But contrary to popular belief, at least when you're dealing in a consolidated rental facility (as opposed to individual off-site offices), most employees of the various rental companies are actually [sometimes very good] friends with each other across company lines. Therefore, they're more motivated to "help" one of their friends at another company (by backing them up and "protecting their own" if a customer is rude to them) than to do what you might expect and try to solicit business. I have seen it happen where a rental agent at one counter will quickly call his or her friends at other counters the customer may be approaching and quietly say, "Hey, that guy is a jerk/shady/a liar/whatever--don't rent to him." The other agent then proceeds to either say, "Sorry, we're sold out" or quote an obscenely high rate. That's the "de-facto blacklist" to which I referred.

Don't shoot the messenger--I'm just telling you what happens in real life.

I'm afraid I disagree with you on that one!

I have never bought any vehicle made by Ford Motor Company since discovering the whacking great 40% discount they were giving a couple of the large UK banks a few years ago. To my "Retail Customer" mind, if Ford could afford to give corporates those sort of discounts, then it was the "Retail Punter" who was subsidising them!

Similarly, corporate Car Rental customers who enjoy big discounts are getting those discounts at my expense! A week's car hire should yield the same profit margin whether it's me renting a car or some company putting a sales rep in it. (In fact, I give a better profit margin because, by and large, I treat the car with a damn sight more respect than corporate employees!)

So, if I come across a corporate code that gives 60 bucks off, why shouldn't I take advantage?

Corporate-sponsored travelers often rent much more than the average bargain-hungry retail weekender. Corporate renters also tend to have lower usage than said weekend day trippers. Corporate contracts therefore bring in considerably more revenue and profit for the rental companies. And that's even with the big discounts offered to them for the purpose of encouraging and rewarding the best customers.

It's not the retail customer who is subsidizing the corporate one, but rather the other way around. Without such business travelers to even out the demand and usage during the week, when most retail customers are at their stationary workplace, rates could be higher on the weekends when the business travelers are at home, and the high usage retail folks come out shopping for bargains.

Not true! Retail punters pay cash - often in advance of the rental. Large corporates pay on 30 day crerdit accounts (if you're lucky), more often taking 60 or even 90 days and credit chasing before settling their accounts.

What you say about wear and tear is great - in theory. However, the average company car user abuses the vehicle - I know, I park next to two VW Polos that the BAA have on a daily contract. The cars were brand new six months ago, have never been washed and have never been serviced and my five year old Polo now outshines the pair of them! Both of those cars will be on the scrapheap long before my little 1.2S that is, as you say, used at weekends.

It is the Retail Customer who is the "mug" - we are most definitely subsidising the fat cats who can afford to pay!

Regardless of your self-justification, you're committing fraud.

At what stage is it fraud? Is it not fraud for the car rental company to charge one person $50 a day to hire a car and another person $20 for exactly the same motor on the same day?

Whilst I grant you that a "bulk buyer" discount of up to 10% may be justifiable, working on profit margins that enable corporates to enjoy discounts of 30% and upwards shows that the poor retail customer at the bottom of the food chain is paying way over the odds.

No. And if they're guilty of it, countless other industries are even more guilty. Most of us FlyerTalkers sit in First Class on airplanes having paying 10% of what the person next to us paid. Are the airlines engaging in fraud by selling tickets at prices that different segments of the market will bear? Hardly.

The OP seems to agree on charging different people different prices, but disagrees on who.

Corporations already spend much more than most retail renters, with thousands of people renting from expensive airports all over the world each week. Same for hotels. Hence the big discounts not offered to casual retail customers.

The OP might be alluding to this: If the corporate rates go up, business travelers absolutely have to go somewhere and so will pay whatever it takes. But if retail rates go up, the customers are more likely to run away.

The fact of the matter is, just like the tyre industry (which now has to discount by 55-60% to everyone), the car-rental and hotel businesses have screwed themselves into a position where very few people are prepared to pay the full rate! (You can even pick up a 35% voucher code for car hire, or "Pay for 3 nights get the 4th free" voucher from your local supermarket!)

With all these offers abounding, if someone who hasn't picked up a coupon happens to find a voucher code on the worldwide wonder, why shouldn't they use it? The company concerned is the bigger fraudster for loading its prices unfairly in the first place.

Is it unfair to load prices based on differential utilization?

So for instance, if a hotel has 50 rooms available for a holiday weekend, they offer the first 10 a month in advance at a 20% pre-pay discount, shunted under the table to Priceline and Hotwire. Then the next 10 with a 15% advance booking discount. Then the next 10 at a 10% discount. Now the rooms are starting to dwindle, 30 out of 50 taken. No discount for the remainder, and a $25 price hike for rooms 40-45. At room 45, the Internet lists them as sold out. Rooms 46-50 are double what the person in room number 1 paid, to preserve inventory for the real needy last minute takers.

By the way, economics says that discounts are not always what they appear to be. It's a form of anchoring. Quote a high price, and then offer a discount, that is actually the price the business is willing to accept for that customer. The high anchor price then makes the customer think they're getting a relatively good deal.

So, who is the one defrauding who?

I had a fitted kitchen salesman at my house one night offering me a fantastic 65% discount which expired at midnight! While he was sitting on my sofa, helping himself to our nice cream scones and tea, he pretended to phone his boss and then announced that he would offer us 75% off - "but only if I signed the order form tonight and he was able to fax it into the office from my house!"

I smiled, and agreed, asking if I could just see his price list first to check that the correct discount was being applied! Naturally, the deal couldn't go ahead because none of these firms actually work to a price list so 65% off or 75% off means jack!

So, bealine, any British Airways corporate codes you can share with us to help reduce the fares your employer is charging?

Airlines (except perhaps non-IATA) don't work that way.

We agree "Route Rebates" with selected businesses that promise a certain level of business. At the end of the year, (or quarterly for the larger corporates), the rebate is paid (which is only a percent or two anyway - no big deal unless your travel expenditure runs into millions of dollars!) If the travel spend hasn't been as large as that promised, the rebate doesn't happen!

Our discounted fares work in the time-honoured tradition of "the earlier you book, the less you pay". That way, Mum, Dad and Auntie Flo get exactly the same opportunity at purchasing cheap tickets as Sheikh Al Maktoum!