das

I notice that Hertz is slimy as far as how they calculate the time you take the car. THe time on your contract is the time the agent opens up your reservation. Even if they screw around for 20 minutes to find a car, and even if you waste an additional 10 minutes getting them to fill up the gas tank (because it's not full like its supposed to), the time on the contract doesn't get adjusted (and can't get adjusted in the system, because I explicitly asked when I took out the car for the clock to be reset).

So...last weekend in OGG, I missed the 59 minute grace period by 2 minutes. They ended up crediting me for a full day when I complained that it took me 30 minutes to drive off the lot from the time they opened up my reservation, because they were slow as a snail and because the car had no gas in it, and therefore I hadn't really missed the 59 minute grace period.

Also, for those of you heading to OGG, beware of Hertz's lousy fleet. I ended up with a 2 year old Buick Century. When I complained upon return, I was told that Hertz owns some of the cars in its OGG fleet, and those owned cars are not turned back to the manufacturer on the same schedule as normal cars.

BTW, for those of you who are #1 Gold, how is the time calculated? I usually run really close to the grace period and want the check out time to be as late as possible.

Tummy

This is very interesting since we're going to be renting from OGG in October unless we can find a lower rate.

I've never had a problem with the grace period, but we usually pad our rental time by several hours unless it increases the rate.

jimjamkc

I am not sure the specifics of how time is calculated for Gold members, but I do have a story as an example of one instance for me.

I flew to Newark during some heavy storms. We were diverted and eventually arrived 7 hours late. I called Hertz to let them know I would be arriving late. Picked up my car and did not look into what the time said (never had a problem before). Turned in the car a day early, but was charged the "extra" day due to the time stamp, which was 2 hours prior to my original scheduled arrival in Newark (a total of 9 hours before I actually arrived).

Lesson learned. I will always check the time stamp now and if not within the hour, I may have to say something.

See ya in the skies!!!

ejmelton

When I know that I'll have a "tight" (just over 24 hours) return, I always check when passing the guard on the way out. But given your story, maybe I should check every time!

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"I was once dissappointed that I didn't get an upgrade, then I saw a homeless man without shoes. Somehow, the upgrade didn't seem all that important."

Seat1A

generally, it's quite generous. i recently made a reservation picking up at LGA at 6pm (actually arrived at 5:30, but i put 6pm on the reservation), and dropping off at 7pm the next day. it priced as a one-day rental.

i picked up the car at 5:45pm, and saw that the contract reported a pickup time of 7pm. so the next day, when i was running late, and got there at 7:15, it wasn't a problem.

they seem to pad by an hour or a bit over an hour on gold pickups, since they print the contracts before they know if you'll be on time.

CanuckFlyer

With my 5* Gold pick-ups, the contract is often put into a time/date-stamping device to be stamped just as I leave the counter. When I check the car in, the computer-generated receipt the agent hands me reflects that same time-stamp, so someone must go into the system and manually input my "real" time of pick-up according to the info stamped on my contract. It's pretty handy. It can't hurt to ask the counter staff to time-stamp your contract as you leave, assuming they have the hardware of course.

Edited to note: "That was my 500th post!"

[This message has been edited by CanuckFlyer (edited 09-04-2003).]

Seat1A

counter?? i never go anywhere near a counter if i'm planning to push the times, even if i hate the car...

monitor

It's a trick as old as the hills, Seat1A. Whenever you think that your return might be late, always pad about an hour to an hour and a half into your arrival time and you will have that extra hour or so at the end of your rental. I've been doing it for years and always choose Hertz in those situations where I might need the extra time.

rthib

Not to defend Hertz, but..
That's what the grace period is for.
They pad the time you say you are going to have the car by an hour incase something goes wrong on their part or yours.
They gave you an extra hour, but only used 30 minutes.

As others have said, I always pad my returns by 2 hours.

Beckles

I always put in my flight information in my reservations (which I know some folks don't do to try and avoid taxes), and the pick-up time on my contract in the car is based on that information and has always been plenty generous in my experience.

Razzle-D

This is a new one for me.... how can I avoid taxes by not giving them my flight number?

While you are at it, see if you can find a legal way for me to avoid my income taxes as well.

latony

This relates to my post the other day of which I don't really have an answer.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum79/HTML/000685.html

I am gold.
I am looking to book a weekend rate which starts on Thursday at 12pm. But my flight get's in at 9:45am. I just called Hertz and they said there is no grace period and if I pick it up before 12pm that I will be charged the daily rate and not the weekend rate. We're talking $49 vs $17/day. So as a gold, it will be pre-printed i'm assuming as 12pm, but if I leave the lot at 10:30am, does their systems record it as that? Will the car even be ready that early? My other option is renting it for the daily rate on thursday, drive back to the airport and switch to another car on the weekend rate. I'm staying till sunday night.

I'd appreciate anyone who can help.

CanuckFlyer

Well, rumour has it that if you don't enter flight information, some of the taxes won't be charged (the surcharges related to FF points, as I recall, though those aren't technically taxes).

When I've tried this stint on car rentals in Canada, it doesn't work. Haven't tried it for rentals in the US yet. It all may be urban legend material.

Miami_Flyer

I just had the Thurs. / Noon weekend rate situation happen at Hertz in BTV. Now granted, this location is counter service. I arrived at 945a and my original p/u was booked for noon. I told them I decided to take an earlier flight, they made a mention of the weekend rate not starting until 12 but when they printed the RA, I noticed they input 12 as the p/u time. I guess situations like these keep me going back to Hertz!

Beckles

You can select "I'm not arriving by air" on the online rental form and at some airports you won't be charged certain airport arrival related fees.

Personally, I'm not going to lie to avoid a few dollars in fees (which could be considered fraud, even if no one would ever do anything about it). I know for a fact at some of the same airports this works at if you select this and go to the counter, they will specifically confirm that it's true, requiring you to lie in person if you deal with someone at time of pickup, something I really wouldn't feel comfortable with to save a few dollars.