BThumme

Had a noon reservation for Friday, July 13th. Got there around 1130 am. Lots of Chrysler 300's, incluiding a 300s, an inifiniti Q30 (thought about it, but I hate how close the gas and brake are), and a bunch of impalas and malibus. No fusions - it's been a long time now since I've seen one of those, or even a taurus. Also a toyota avalon xle. Ended up picking up a Nissan Altima SL edition, which oddly enough I picked up last week from GRR and dropped off in Dearborn.

Anyways, I spent about 20 minutes at DTW. Some guy just got into a Q70 when I got there, and stayed in the car until after I left. I think that was kind of bush league you can sit in a vehicle for 20+ minutes and talk on your phone, especially in a nice vehicle like that. But whatever.

Premium section was a couple camaros. I did see in the reserved section an Alfa Romeo car, which I haven't seen before. What would that fall under - luxury?

SixAlpha

Did the Alfa have Canadian plates? I seem to recall seeing someplace that they're model-reservable at some airports in Canada..

rtch92

BThumme

When I rented from YYZ a couple months ago, they did have an Alfa SUV. I don't recall if it this car had Canadian plates or not, just noticed it as I was driving out the gate. YYZ seems to have a much more diverse lineup (i recall a couple Volvo as well, which I've yet to see at DTW), as well as prius'.

Actually now that I've traveled to a couple other airports with Ultimate choice (ORD,LAX, IAH noticeably), DTW's selection seems to be pretty lackluster.

CMK10

Picked up here last Friday night. Decent of mainly sedans selection in the PC areas:





I grabbed that Infiniti Q60 3.0 coupe which was a really fun ride for the weekend. I would have been happy enough without it though as they had Buicks and 300s too.

nldogbert

Hi,

Was at DTW past Saturday, arriving around 12pm and the PC lot was close to empty. Mainly Camry's (lots of them), one Impala, one Fusion and a Taurus (which I grabbed). It was just a one day rental, and today around 10am (Sunday) the lot was filled. I did not see anything out of the normal stick out. Lots of Camry's, Altima's, 300S.

Cheers!

aztimm

Just thought I'd share some of my experience at DTW...

Arrived to Hertz (by their bus) rather late, probably 12:30am or even later. My name wasn't on the board. Gold desk was closed. The main desk was pure chaos; somewhere around 50 people waiting and 3 agents working the counter. There was a roaming agent who I found. Initially I tried a kiosk, got an agent via video, but they said they couldn't help Gold. Then that roaming agent got me in front of a real person rather quickly. He had a tough time finding me or my reservation (I gave him my Gold# and the Res# several times). Eventually he was able to print something out...but didn't assign a vehicle. I went back to that roaming agent, who radio'd someone asking if there was a Jeep Wrangler. I had seen one in the Premium Section, and they said to take that one. I drove it to the exit, they printed out the contract, and I was done. That whole thing probably took 20 min.

I can't remember the last time I had a vehicle without a single USB plug. Believe me, I scoured the vehicle, along with a friend (the center console, the glove box, and everywhere). There were a few traditional cigarette lighters. Thankfully I had an adapter in my backpack so I used that.
The next day I was able to figure out how to take the top off. At least over the front seats. Kind of a bit clunky. It is 2 pieces, then I put those in the very back (so if you have stuff in your trunk you need to think this through). Putting the pieces back on was a bit of a challenge, but not too horrible.
The vehicle was kind of fun to drive. But it is a bit rough, especially compared with my everyday ride (a BMW X5 )

Return process was pretty straightforward. I ended up flying out around 7pm, returned around 5pm and had plenty of time.

PS: I hadn't driven a Jeep Wrangler in a LONG time. While on some small country roads, I noticed people waving at me. Then I remembered...when you drive a Jeep Wrangler you wave at other Jeep Wranglers
(I missed a few, but once I got the hang of it, it was kind of fun)

I'll post a few pictures of the vehicle.

hockeyinsider

Hertz DTW Airport
August 2018
Booked full-size, saw no name on board so I went to President's Circle aisle and grabbed a Chrysler 300 with 10,000 miles on it, Sirius radio, moonroof, etc. The rest of the cars were Chevrolet Malibu sedans or smaller crossover SUVs.

mnic

Around 11am today every spot in PC was filled. Highlights were a couple of Avalons, a LaCrosse, two SUVs (I think a Journey and an Equinox). There was a red 2017 Mustang GT in the premium upgrade spaces.

gpen1827

Early morning 11/9:

2 high mileage(20k+) Avalons, and about 20 other cars in PC lot. Usual suspects of Malibus, one or two Fusions, a Dodge RAM (Would've gotten if not for Chase insurance not covering anything with a truck bed). Some terrible BCAR and CCAR choices too. (Several base trim Kias!) Got an Avalon that had bad wipers and clunked when braking in reverse. Suspect mis-sized brake pads.

11/9 11PM:

I split reservations up as it was cheaper than renting 4 days straight and I knew I'd be around the area available to close out and open a new car reservation.

Better choices with 2 Chrysler 300s and more of the general slop. Nothing better than a 300 for driving fun. So 300 it was.

missingcolours

Today around 5pm:
- Infiniti Q50
- Couple Ford Escapes and other small SUVs
- Couple Dodge Ram 1500s
- Some Buick sedan
- The usuals

Almost exactly the same selection as I found last time (mid-December Sunday afternoon) with the exception of the trucks, so, points for consistency I suppose.

BThumme

Had a rental last Thursday for the weekend. Unbeknownst to me, the world figure skating championships were going on. Also the North American International Auto show. That made for slim pickings on the PC lot. Tons of malibus, a couple impalas, a couple kia fortes, a ford taurus SEL, and a chrysler 300s. DIdn't really like anything, so waited a bit and they brought out a QX60...to the premium lot Waited a little bit more and they brought an infinit Q50 to the PC lot. I was about to take that but it didn't have apple carplay or a built in nav...waited just a bit longer and they brought out an almost new Cadillac XTS. Fun drive but not so great MPG.

I have another coming up this week. I really like the new fusion 2019s as they have a bunch of features with them (adaptive cruise control, lane departure, blind spots, etc). The lady at DTW told me though they hadn't gotten any in at DTW yet. I picked one up at AZO a couple weeks ago and GRR right before Christmas.

doubter13

Hi everyone hoping to find some answers form some DTW hertz veterans. or herzt experts.
what as my chances for a nice SUV for a 3 week road trip? i am 5 star and i hope to get a nice typical American car (i am not into asian cars and i am from Germany so i am not interested in European cars either as i have plenty exposure to them at home)
should i be able to find something in the gold choice/5 Star section? or should i book something?

typically you need to book at least ICAR to get access to gold choice / 5 star, right? what about SUVs? can i book IFAR to get access to this and hope to get a nice one at the 5star/goldchoice or worst cast get at least a IFAR?

my dream would be to drive an escalade but what i found so far is simply way to expensive for 3 weeks (over 2000$ and i was planing to spent around 1000$ for the 3 weeks)
any tricks how to get one for a decent price?

oh and one more thing.. are the options of the cars in each category similar? in the past i had cars with heated steering wheel, heated seats and car play and park camera, but also cars with no features at all, not even rear park beeping sensors....
does it come down to pure luck or is there a way to influence this?

kxc262

ICAR for Aisle access. Take any ICAR or anything from the aisle based on your status.
3 types of aisle at Hertz - depending on your status, you can access certain aisles. I am guessing you do not have Hertz status - you will only have access to Gold Star which has the worst selection usually.
Do not expect high end cars on the aisle. Those are slim and rare and will only appear on the PC aisle usually.

Honestly, I would expect a Corolla to be on Gold Star.

doubter13

i am 5 STAR.
does IFAR count as ICAR or higher? my guess is yes.