Returning rental vehicle a day late vs. changing reservation ahead of time
 

We have a minivan booked on Maui for 9 days in March.

Our travel plans have changed and we will be staying an extra day.

Trying to re-book on the website or by phone, by staying one extra day our rate goes up from $809.27 to $932.xx, an increase of over $120.00 for one day.

If we keep our existing reservation and just return the vehicle a day late, will it work out in our favour versus changing the reservation to the higher rate now? Or would we be better off attempting to extend the reservation when we arrive to pick up our vehicle?

Alternatively if anyone knows a cheaper way to book a minivan (need a vehicle that carries at least 6 passengers and luggage) can you let me know?

If you call the Hertz Extensions number @ 1-800-654-4174 you will hear a recording stating that you don't have to call if you are returning one day late. The extra day will be charged when you return.

+1 --- you will be charged the "going" daily rate for an additional day - whether it is cheaper to extend the rez prior to beginning it or just tacking on the extra day is up for discussion? I would assume that the rate shown when you try to extend it is the same whether you do it in advance or not.

As a courtesy to other travelers, when you know your travel plans are going to change, please adjust your reservations.

My schedule is totally unpredictable. I adjust my return as my schedule changes, but if it's only a one day extension, Hertz procedure is that you just return on the extra day. This procedure is probably saving them a bundle in time & $$, since they don't have to bother with the single day extensions.

If it is unexpected, I have no issues, but from a capacity control point, especially in the current diminished fleet market, if you know, its just common courtesy.

If you are only returning it one day late, the Hertz rental extension number tells you just to return it, no need to 'file' for an extension. You will be charged the CURRENT daily rate that you are paying, NOT the going rate. For example.

I guess I am selfish. Right before I left Oahu before Xmas, my rate was 35 a day. I noticed when I came back on the 20th, my corporate rate was not valid for two weeks and the rate was 120 a day!! Guess what, I parked that baby, flew home, and flew back and will be returning it tommorrow, when my corporate rate comes back into play. Sorry, not paying 120 a day.

Hertz do NOT want to know about you returning it a day late. You simply return it a day late.

End of story

Hi guys, I have a question here..

I currently booked a prestige car for 5 days, and my plans changed and I need to keep the car an extra day. On the reservation, they are basically charging me a week's rental already for the 5 days.. What happens if I keep the car an extra day so total days I'm keeping the car is 6? Will they charge me 1 extra day, or will the final amount be exactly the same, as the price is for a weekly rental already?

Does your rate breakdown on your page show "5 Days @ ___/Day" or "1 Week @ ___/Week"?

If the former, then you might be on a daily rate plan and charged an extra day. If the latter, it should be safe to just keep it an extra day and pay only a few $ more in taxes (as applicable).

Calling Hertz reservations to change your dates may rerate your reservation (not necessarily a bad thing--the price could have dropped!), but telling the CSR at the counter you'll be returning it a day late should not (but check first before signing anything!), so you can inform them there.

the reservation says 1 Week @____ /Week..

However, when I called Hertz to change the reservation to return it a day later, they tell me that it's not available for another day.. Kind of strange, but what is there stopping me from returning it a day later, or even a week later if I needed the car?

Nothing.;)

Car rental companies have little control over their inventory. They can only predict and plan. You can even return it to a different location not in the reservation. Some people do that when they don't offer one way rental. They just book a local rental and return it to a new city. You will be penalized in rate, but there is nothing they can do to stop you.

I am not sure about your case though.:confused:

That just means there's a block on reservations for the date you want to extend until.

As I mentioned above, when you actually pick up the car and talk to a counter agent, you can change your return date without rerating your rental and without them denying your extension request. (For them to do that would be very odd indeed and indicative of an extreme oversale situation.)

The thing to remember is that the reservations systems and rental systems are two completely different systems entirely. The reservation system searches for availability and prices based on forecasted availability algorithms, competition price searches, and instructions entered by a dedicated rate department. Thus, changing your reservation details will cause the reservation engine to search for availability with the new parameters, resulting in a new price (and sold-out message if applicable).

The rental system, on the other hand, just takes the data about a specific reservation that is handed to it and the rate plan assigned to that specific reservation (i.e. 1 week at $350/week and 2 extra days at $70/day) and computes the total price based on the estimated length of rental. If you return early or late, the system doesn't fetch a new rate plan from the reservation engine; it simply charges you whatever your rate plan calls for given the length of time you've had the vehicle.

And if the counter agent tells you you can't keep the vehicle an extra day, just do it. No rental company is going to send the security/repossession unit after you for keeping one extra day. Now if they haven't heard from you for a week, that'd be a different issue, but just returning a day late won't do anything except cost you an extra day.

Good info about the separate systems jackal. ^ Thanks.

Just want to add that generally if I know I'm going to be into a weekly rate, I book the entire 7 days anyway. As long as my anticipated times meet the criteria for the weekly rate (which you can test by putting in just the 5 days or whatever) then there won't be any change in rate for returning early. And you won't run into this sort of predicament if you need 6 days instead of 5.

This goes under the same theory as booking entire 24-hour periods even if your return is many hours earlier than that (something other FTers taught me several years ago). If I pick up a car at 6pm on Tuesday, I put the res in for return at 6pm on Friday, even if I'm really planning to return it at 8am on Friday. Never know what might come up that I want to keep it longer after all. They're going to bill me the same 3 days either way, so why not say I'm going to keep it all 3 days just in case I actually do? (Sometimes you have to watch this on weekends for tricky rate issues, but most of the time it should work well with full 24-hour periods.)

I know this is too late to help you this time tfung, but for the future....

Thanks for all the tips guys! Really appreciate it! I guess I'll just talk to the counter guys when I pick up my car and see what they say..