Miami airport Hertz? How bad is it?

Old Apr 8, 2011, 4:53 pm
  #1  
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Miami airport Hertz? How bad is it?

I need to rent a car next week at the Miami airport. I selected Hertz since I'm a Gold member and figured I could bypass the lines that way.

The online reviews for this location are horrendous, people consistently complain about slow service, dirty cars and not being given the vehicle class they reserved.

Are the online reviews accurate? Is it really that bad?

What's the pickup process for #1 Club Gold members? Can I just go to a stall, get in my car and drive or do you have to go to a counter and get in line no matter what?

One alternative is to pick up the car at the Marriott Doral resort Hertz instead, but their business hours are not very convenient.

Any suggestions or alternatives to avoid starting the trip with a bad experience if this Hertz location is even half as bad as the reviews claim?

Thx.
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Old Apr 8, 2011, 5:22 pm
  #2  
 
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I personally was not happy with the MIA station when I did the FL driveout 2 summers ago. You can search the forum and see my account of how they did not want to honor my rate, in fact did not even know about the FL driveout, did not speak English very well, and gave me the worst car they had because it was a one-way. (Although to be fair, that last point is quite common, especially from offices in larger cities.)

I have not rented from a neighborhood store in the area, so I can't give you an accurate recommendation about the quality of service. But next time I'm in Miami, I most likely will.
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Old Apr 8, 2011, 8:21 pm
  #3  
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I've rented from the Miami Airport location, and the HLE on First Street and did not have a problem at either.

It was standard gold canopy service at the airport.

I'm not sure that going to one of the other locations would get you a better car, there are lots of people renting one way from the airport to the HLE's for cruises or the other way when they get back, so I'm betting the cars are pretty much shared by them all.
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Old Apr 8, 2011, 10:54 pm
  #4  
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This past December, I did a 1 way FLL-MIA and since MIA went to a consolidated rental facility, Hertz doesn't take renters to the cruise port like they used to when they had individual rental facilities. We got a ride with another agency (their driver said OK--saved a bunch on cab fare & gave the driver a very nice tip). Ended up paying next to nothing with a nice coupon.

We did the same return trip from the cruise port and picked up the car. Booked compact or mid, got a Honda Accord. (I liked the car). Car was in stall & return was OK.

I dislike consolidated facilities. Pay alot of extra in fees for mediocre service.

Next time, I will rent from the HLE closer to the cruise port. The prices were much higher than the airport at the time of my rental.
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Old Apr 9, 2011, 7:17 am
  #5  
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We rented at the airport (MIA) and dropped it off at the HLE the next day and they have shuttle buses (three of them at the time) that just make cruise port runs dropping off and picking up. It was the same cost as airport only. On the way back we reversed it, picked up at the HLE and dropped off at FLL that evening, it was way less than paying a shuttle for two from the port to the airport.

The HLE was busy, but they were handled it well, I would use them again if needed. The wait for the shuttle on both ends was zero, there was one at the rental and at the cruise port waiting for people.
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Old Apr 11, 2011, 3:05 am
  #6  
 
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I've rented at MIA a gazillion times by now and personally, I find it one of the best Hertz locations ever. I have never encountered any problems; I'm a Gold member and their Gold Canopy works immaculate. My name is always on the vultron board, the right car is always in the parking lot and I always get what I reserved, pending it's a Prestige, Fun, Green or Adrenaline Collection.

From I reach the rental center and goto the parking lot for Gold members, it takes 5-10 mins for me to pick up my car effortlessly and drive out.

I've only had one negative experience with a Mercedes-Benz E-Class being very dirty, 15 mins later I was driving off in a new E-Class.

The lines at the regular counters are sometimes endlessly long, even at the Gold counter if you choose to go there for some reason. But it's like that with any of the companies as it's a big rental centre with over 6500 cars.
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Old Apr 11, 2011, 7:07 pm
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Originally Posted by kimfrost
I've rented at MIA a gazillion times by now and personally, I find it one of the best Hertz locations ever. I have never encountered any problems; I'm a Gold member and their Gold Canopy works immaculate. My name is always on the vultron board, the right car is always in the parking lot and I always get what I reserved, pending it's a Prestige, Fun, Green or Adrenaline Collection.
I've had similar experiences; I never went to Hertz at MIA before the massive rental center was put into use, but since then it's been quite good, on par with service I've had at EWR, DCA, and TPA, but in a nice clean building.
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Old Apr 11, 2011, 8:22 pm
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The time I rented from Hertz MIA was before the new facility. But surely it remains the same staff?
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Old Apr 13, 2011, 3:36 am
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I rent a half dozen times a year at MIA Hertz - the new rental center is a big improvement. Sometimes I have had the feeling that the cars are a little less spotless than they should be. Never a problem with the Gold board - avoiding the lines is a big plus. Just be a little careful on returning - you drive around what seems like 5 circles before you go up a ramp to the returns. Slightly confusing, but a lot safer than having to cross the traffic like it used to be.
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Old Jul 2, 2012, 12:08 am
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Are rentals at MIA always expensive?

Trying to reserve a car for a Sunday. Been able to get decent weekend rates elsewhere but best I'm finding for base rate is in the $60s for compact car. Planning to stay overnight at the MIA Marriott and saw that Hertz has an office there also, but those rates are even higher. Any advice? Ideally I'd like to pick up at/near MIA and drop off at Hotel Fountainbleau in Miami Beach. Thanks!
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Old Feb 12, 2013, 12:59 pm
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Originally Posted by stravels
Trying to reserve a car for a Sunday. Been able to get decent weekend rates elsewhere but best I'm finding for base rate is in the $60s for compact car. Planning to stay overnight at the MIA Marriott and saw that Hertz has an office there also, but those rates are even higher. Any advice? Ideally I'd like to pick up at/near MIA and drop off at Hotel Fountainbleau in Miami Beach. Thanks!
MIA is busy this time of the year, especially on weekends.
I am on a cruise (NCL Casinos at Sea comp), so renting from a Saturday to Sunday to get to my hotel in Hollywood (Casino comp). Luckily I am renting from a company with shuttles from the airport to the cruise terminal, and my company has a good corporate rate with them. So, rates for weekends this time of the year can look a bit nasty, especially with the majors.
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Old Feb 12, 2013, 5:20 pm
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I rent from MIA about 10 times a year, my name is always on the board and my car waiting even if I arrive a couple of hours earlier than expected. Never had any issues with the vehicles and as mentioned above the new rental centre is a big improvement

The service however, is shocking. It remains the only complaint I've ever filed with Hertz and it stemmed from an incredibly rude group of gold counter employees. I was at the counter doing an upgrade and while they were processing it (Gallardo, took a while to do) about 5 customers came in with questions. Now that Hertz Gold is free, I got the impression these people were trying to use the service for the first time and weren't sure as to the workings of it all. All the customers were English, so it's been a long day for them and all but one was a family with young children. They came in with questions about what car they had, where it was and stuff like that. The first response from a couple of the staff was along the lines of "Can't you read the sign outside?" or "Go read the sign and come back if you don't understand". One even responded initially with "Can you speak English?" to which the chap replied "Yes, as long as I'm not too drunk. Do you have a car seat here for my child?"

It was pretty disappointing, I understand that they may field dozens of such mundane questions daily but there is no need for such a discourteous attitude. I called up Customer Services to report the experience later and never heard back. MIA remains my least favourite location though it must be said that if you avoid contact with the staff it's a much more pleasant experience. Strangely the people who you deal with when returning are always really friendly and polite, I often have some goodies for them that won't fit in my luggage
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Old Feb 12, 2013, 8:43 pm
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if i book a full size at MIA what kind of upgrade can i expect?
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Old Feb 13, 2013, 6:55 am
  #14  
 
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I've rented from MIA a couple of times, never had a issue. Twice my car wasn't ready and they me if I wanted to wait or switch to another class, being that I always reserve prestige models I opted out to wait. Which isn't a big deal to me, unline other people who are always in a hurry. But as far as upgrading apperantly Hertz has a new system where you will get a Email letting you know what options of cars they have for you to upgrade to. Dont know if thats true or not being that I haven't traveled since late December, but I'll find out this weekend while I'm in Chicago. MIA has a gold upgrade section right next to the gold canopy and you could pick a car from there.
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Old Feb 13, 2013, 4:46 pm
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Not sure how this thread got started again as it appears to not be recent but:

Ive never rented in MIA but have returned here plenty of times. One of those times I even hung out for a bit in the general Hertz customer area while waiting to be picked up by a livery service.

The general line appeared to be very long at time. I took a bit of time looking at their car selection and most appeared clean enough for me (I'm very picky about clean cars) and well maintained in their Gold area. The Gold hut also seemed to have little to no wait for customer questions or problems while I was there.

I have never had a problem returning a car here.
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