Differing rates w/ different licenses
 

Hi, I tried to search for this but I didn't manage to find anything.

I have both a US drivers license and a license from another country. Neither one has expired yet. Recently I moved back to the US and I changed my Hertz info back to my US license.

When I went to reserve a car, my rate was something like $700 for the week which seemed kinda ridiculous to me for an economy car. I had checked the rate a week or two ago and I remembered it being sub 300 (this was before the license change). So I change my license back to the one not from the US and it's $265 for the week. Same dates, same location, same car, etc.

Any idea why this would be?

Hertz prices rentals very differently according to the market it believes the driver is coming from, in an effort to determine how much they can get away with charging. Driver's license is usually a good way of determining this. That's why they have warnings at booking to the effect of "if you have booked this from a country not your own, please be prepared to prove that you were in that country at the time of booking somehow, e.g. hotel receipts."

In this case, they're probably assuming you are a leisure traveler under your foreign license, but a business traveler under your US license.

It could also be that your profile has items such as LDW checked off b/c it comes bundled fairly cheaply on foreign rentals, but is about $30/day for Americans.

Hrmm I don't think I have LDW checked but I will double check that when I make my next reservation.

I guess I assumed it had something to do with what they figure they can get away with but it is a really absurd difference. I don't see how they can expect someone with two valid licenses to book under the one that costs more than $400 more for the exact same thing.

Are you looking to rent locally (i.e. in the same city as the address on your license)? At least in New York, rental car companies will often have significant (~$50/day) surcharges for, say, Brooklyn residents renting in New York City, vs. people from out of town, for local liability law reasons.

http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2...nd-apparently/

And that's why us Brooklynites use Mint or Zip car. Gotta love included insurance and gas in the fee.

I read somewhere a while ago that the rental companies and legislature were looking to change the vicarious liability law that was behind the surcharges for NYC residents outside Manhattan and Staten Island.

Avis/Budget and National/Alamo did not have these surcharges. To the best of my knowledge, they don't have local offices in the outer boroughs, either, though. Enterprise didn't have the surcharges, and in fact does have neighborhood stores in those places. I read in that article that Avis knew of the higher risk, but didn't want to push away potential customers in an expensive market. Hertz and Dollar had been the ones with the surcharges. Dollar's surcharges were for NYC renters renting in Manhattan, JFK, LGA, EWR, and PHL. Hertz's surcharges were for NYC renters renting anywhere in the country.

Then the article said, Albany changed the law, with a compromise: CDW for rentals originating in NYS can be a maximum of $9/day, taxable of course. So Hertz now has on their website, "Rates now available to NYC residents," and the surchage paragraph has been removed. Dollar is the lone holdout.