DCA, never any SUV's

Old Sep 5, 2001, 7:33 am
  #1  
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Join Date: Oct 2000
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DCA, never any SUV's

I have been trying many different dates, even up to one year to the future and the DCA Hertz location never has any Explorers, or Expeditions or many time sno Prestige Colleectin Cars. They only have the three lowest car types, compat, mid, and full. I can't get anything decent even with #1Club Gold, that must mean upgrades are impossible.


Has anyone else experienced the DCA Hertz Location?
STAM4NICK is offline  
Old Sep 5, 2001, 8:41 am
  #2  
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Join Date: Jun 2001
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I use DCA on a fairly regular basis and, in fact, have had the opposite problem to you: I detest SUVs (it must be a European thing)!!! I booked my usual full-size a couple of weeks back only to show a Ford SUV in my stall! I went back to the Gold desk and asked for an exchange (secretly hoping I would get a nice Volvo, but to no avail). They gave me a Camry instead. But I haven't noticed as many SUVs at DCA as at other facilities (SFO, LAX, DFW, which, yes, are bigger airports). Sorry, that's not a conclusive answer, but the best I can do at the moment.
UAPremExecflyer is offline  
Old Sep 6, 2001, 10:20 pm
  #3  
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Atlanta, GA, USA -- Delta PM, Starwood Platinum, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond, Hertz PrezCircle
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Flew in and out of DCA for a few months straight. Once had a string of Ford Escape, Escape, and Expedition with Mid-size rental agreements. Got tons of Explorers, too. I would say that getting a Taurus there would be abnormality.

The DCA #1 gold dude is super nice, but he definitely plays by the book. If there's a car out there, no SUVs or prestige collection. But otherwise, they are usually pretty generous (at least to me).

Now DFW, on the other hand, is just Taurus galore! I've never seen so many Tauri (sp?) sitting in the same parking lot before. I felt like I was in a Ford plant or something....
danlo is offline  
Old Sep 18, 2001, 2:10 am
  #4  
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Los Angeles, USA
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I've never been able to reserve an SUV in advance at DCA, but they have accomodated my requests in person for an additional charge. If they figure it nicely, you come out ahead of what the advance reservation rate would have been. If they figure it nastily, it costs you more. But, you aren't licked if you are in DC. <grin>

On a trip this year, I asked for an SUV upgrade at Dulles and they added an upgrade charge of $30 per day to my full-size rate. I drove to the hotel, looked at Hertz.com, booked the cheapest web rate for a full-size at DCA and went there the next day to try my luck. They increased my rate to cover an SUV but not by adding a daily charge, just by applying the special rate for that car class (about $260 per week versus $130 for the full-size). The rate (as I hoped it would) turned out to be equal or below the normal full-size rate I had at IAD ($290 per week).

I probably could have kept the same one; I now know that most locations will just exchange contracts if you ask.

Charles
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