I've been renting from Thrifty for the last 5 years mainly because their rental price is usually cheaper than the other guys. I rent an average of a week a month which equates to about 60 days a year.

Until my recent experience with customer service in PDX I plan on leaving them to venture to a new company.

Based on a few reviews national programs appears to be top pick but looking at the activity on this forum and hertz has the most activity which means more people probably rent from Hertz than the other guys. There's a free Gold upgrade so i joined just now.

Is it an annual charge or is it a one time charge?

Was just wondering why you guys rent Hertz and not other guys like Avis or National (price seems high).

I suspect that there is the most activity here because Hertz is the largest car rental company.

I would also suspect that Hertz probably has the most business accounts, which is why most people are renting from them. My company uses Hertz as primary, so I tend to stick with them for the points and upgrades (while rare).

I have experience with Europcar, Hertz, Avis and Thrifty.
I used Hertz the most.

Tried Europcar once in a place Hertz was not available. Europcar was fine, I couldn't compare prices but they could not impress me enough to convince me to start renting with them more onften.

Avis: I decided two years ago to give Avis a try as they were a little cheaper than Hertz. They gave me a nice upgrade and the car I received was perfect. What bothered me was the fact you had to pass at the counter. I like Hertz system where you can just go the car get in and drive away.

Thrifty: One experience in Costa Rica. The price was different from the price on my contract. The GPS we received was not working well. They are cheaper but this really was a " if you pay peanuts you get monkeys" experience.

So for me reason number one to stick with Hertz is the ease that your car is waiting and you don't need to get in line at the counter.

I've never paid an annual charge, but have been told by the local HLE there is a minimum number of annual rentals to keep it for free. She thought it was four rentals per year.

I rent from Hertz when the price is right, rent from National when their price is better, etc. In all my years, not counting priceline car rentals, only once has Avis been the lowest price, and in that case both Hertz and National were charging over three times what Avis charged.

I think Hertz' walk-up counter rates are high, but you can easily get those cut nearly in half with the right CDP and coupon codes. Personally, I rent with Hertz because the HLE locations are much more convenient than the other agencies.

I have heard wonderful things about Avis, but I have also heard about nightmare rentals as well. I don't know much about the others, but I felt like my one rental with National (as Emerald club) was among the worst rentals I've ever had in terms of value, but the service wasn't bad.

All in all, I like to be loyal to a single company as much as possible, and for me the best combination of location, availability, price, and service seems to be Hertz.

I'm not very pleased with the trends in their fleet, and I don't feel like the Gold Choice is a good value for someone who doesn't want to pay to upgrade to a true full-size sedan, but I still think their service is up there with the very best.