May 19, 2019, 4:20 pm
Last edit by: FlyinHawaiian
January 2021 Update, courtesy of CalItalian:
Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty are now permanently combined in the Hertz facility until the move in a couple of years to the under construction consolidated car rental facility/garage a mile to the west on the corner of Arbor Vitae and La Cienega.
Returns do not allow agents to check in cars and provide in-person receipts; it has to be emailed. Contracts will not be closed until the vehicle has been sanitized. Be sure to take a photo of your dashboard (fuel gauge/mileage) and any other photos of the vehicle before you leave it in case there are any issues.
Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty are now permanently combined in the Hertz facility until the move in a couple of years to the under construction consolidated car rental facility/garage a mile to the west on the corner of Arbor Vitae and La Cienega.
Returns do not allow agents to check in cars and provide in-person receipts; it has to be emailed. Contracts will not be closed until the vehicle has been sanitized. Be sure to take a photo of your dashboard (fuel gauge/mileage) and any other photos of the vehicle before you leave it in case there are any issues.
Consolidated "Renting at LAX; What Kind of Cars to Expect?" Thread
Jan 11, 2020, 2:44 pm
#571
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: DTW / SJC
Programs: AA EXP, DL DM, Marriott Titanium, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 764
Got an XTS though.
Jan 11, 2020, 11:54 pm
#572
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2005
Location: TLV/LHR
Programs: BA GGL, IHG Diamond Elite Amb, HH Diamond, Avis PC, Hertz PC, Sixt Platinum
Posts: 12,948
Jan 12, 2020, 1:19 pm
#573
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 43
Was there this past Thursday night just after midnight, and probably the fullest I've seen PC.
As well as what you'd usually expect to see, of note was;
Chevy Suburban
Mustang soft top
Dodge RAM V8
Dodge Challenger HEMI
BMW 740i
I took the BMW 740i because it was a 2020 model and had 1700 miles on it.
It smelt of smoke which is why I'd assume it was there in PC.
As well as what you'd usually expect to see, of note was;
Chevy Suburban
Mustang soft top
Dodge RAM V8
Dodge Challenger HEMI
BMW 740i
I took the BMW 740i because it was a 2020 model and had 1700 miles on it.
It smelt of smoke which is why I'd assume it was there in PC.
Jan 13, 2020, 7:44 am
#574
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 6
L4 can be an Equinox as well - I doubt there's much advantage in an Equinox over a Rogue.
With President's Circle you should be able to pick up something equivalent from the lot - but with regular Gold your best hope might be to switch for whatever minivan is left over, if at all.
With President's Circle you should be able to pick up something equivalent from the lot - but with regular Gold your best hope might be to switch for whatever minivan is left over, if at all.
I went to a local dealership and tested boot space. I will move up class to L4! If I booked a L4 specifically as it has sufficient room for my luggage (I have looked at boot space for all cars on the L4 list), and a 7 seater so we can travel with the people we are meeting up with in LA (after we dump luggage at accomodation), what are the odds I would actually get a L4 class? From other posts on here as a basic gold member it seems I could just walk up and grab any card in the Gold lot no matter what I booked / paid for. What happens if there are no L4 cars left? I know it says on the site "If we are unable to provide a vehicle in your requested car group, we will provide a vehicle from the next available car group up at no extra charge.", but what if a minivan does not suit my needs, or it's a larger SUV that uses 50% more fuel than my booked class. Sure I'd be happy with a car that is better in most ways, but it would need to fit the needs I booked an L4 for. I assume it may be a "tough luck" situation, but just want to ensure the month I have the car which will be used significantly suits.
Jan 13, 2020, 8:11 am
#575
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Gloucestershire
Programs: BA Gold (ex-GGL, maybe future Silver), Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,197
I was wrong in my earlier post - Equinox is an L, not an L4, by the way.
However the terms of the contract cover what will happen - you'll get an L4, or something that Hertz considers better. If that doesn't suit you, you can grab anything from the Gold lot but practically speaking, it's unlikely that anything better than an L4 will be available there if they didn't have anything suitable for you in the first place - although things can change after allocation.
If they really can't provide anything suitable then you can either downgrade with a rate adjustment, or cancel. While the vast majority of reservations end up with you being assigned something appropriate, even if it's slightly disappointing in terms of performance, you don't have any effective remedy if the assigned vehicle doesn't meet your size/space needs:
1. Try Gold;
2. Ask for an alternative vehicle to be assigned;
3. Re-rate;
4. Cancel and book from someone else.
But please don't overthink it as you're likely to have your needs covered. Ultimately there is probably no perfect vehicle - the size of a Traverse with the economy of a Trax - so you're always going to be compromising somewhat and therefore just try to be as positive about what you're given as you can be.
However the terms of the contract cover what will happen - you'll get an L4, or something that Hertz considers better. If that doesn't suit you, you can grab anything from the Gold lot but practically speaking, it's unlikely that anything better than an L4 will be available there if they didn't have anything suitable for you in the first place - although things can change after allocation.
If they really can't provide anything suitable then you can either downgrade with a rate adjustment, or cancel. While the vast majority of reservations end up with you being assigned something appropriate, even if it's slightly disappointing in terms of performance, you don't have any effective remedy if the assigned vehicle doesn't meet your size/space needs:
1. Try Gold;
2. Ask for an alternative vehicle to be assigned;
3. Re-rate;
4. Cancel and book from someone else.
But please don't overthink it as you're likely to have your needs covered. Ultimately there is probably no perfect vehicle - the size of a Traverse with the economy of a Trax - so you're always going to be compromising somewhat and therefore just try to be as positive about what you're given as you can be.
Jan 13, 2020, 8:46 am
#576
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 6
Good advice. All prior rentals (this will be my largest) I have had ended up with me stressing out over things (will I get an appropriate car? is that tiny scratch that I swear I didn't do be an issue). I'll just book a big car and care less about it being perfect (so long as it hold our stuff) and being form outside US the insurances are all included with nil excess so that takes worry out of it.
Jan 17, 2020, 8:51 am
#578
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 103
Holy cow PC was a good selection last night! (Thursday 16th about 8pm) It was pretty full and I was walking up expecting to take my usual Fusion Hybrid Titanium but then I saw some standouts:
Interestingly there wasn't a single car in the Full size section and they seemed to be using a lot of that space for returns.
- Volvo XC90 T6 AWD (which I took, yay!)
- Lincoln Continental
- Cadillac ATS and CTS
- Mercedes A Class
- Infiniti QX50
- A bunch of new-ish Mustang convertibles including a couple of GT's
- Chevrolet Blazer
- A HUGE Dodge Ram (it seemed fancy but I'm not a truck guy so I couldn't tell you any more about it)
Interestingly there wasn't a single car in the Full size section and they seemed to be using a lot of that space for returns.
Jan 20, 2020, 3:50 pm
#579
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 47
I rented a U4 (Mustang GT or Camaro SS) for pickup on January 4
We got a grey (boring, cars like that deserve bright colors) Mustang GT registered in late November 2019 and had 2936 miles on it. so really satisfied with the rental.
(We drove 2042 miles in total over the 13 day rental period)
We got a grey (boring, cars like that deserve bright colors) Mustang GT registered in late November 2019 and had 2936 miles on it. so really satisfied with the rental.
(We drove 2042 miles in total over the 13 day rental period)
Jan 23, 2020, 1:58 am
#580
Join Date: Jan 2012
Programs: Hilton Honors, Hertz Presidents Circle, National Executive Elite
Posts: 274
Was at LAX again night of 1/22
There were alot of minivans and large SUV.
Minivans were pick your color Grand Caravan/Pacifica/Voyager
By a lot I mean over 80% of PC/5 star and half of gold are Yukon/Tahoe/Suburban, and even fullsize section was filled with tahoes/yukons/minivans.
Surprisingly every sienna and expedition were at the reserved area.
PC had a few mustang GTs and base camaro, also 1 QX 50 and QX80
Highlights:
Gold and 5 star each had a few QX50 but all were very high mileage.
Other than that nothing really stood out other than multiple convertibles at 5 star and gold.
There were alot of minivans and large SUV.
Minivans were pick your color Grand Caravan/Pacifica/Voyager
By a lot I mean over 80% of PC/5 star and half of gold are Yukon/Tahoe/Suburban, and even fullsize section was filled with tahoes/yukons/minivans.
Surprisingly every sienna and expedition were at the reserved area.
PC had a few mustang GTs and base camaro, also 1 QX 50 and QX80
Highlights:
Gold and 5 star each had a few QX50 but all were very high mileage.
Other than that nothing really stood out other than multiple convertibles at 5 star and gold.
Jan 24, 2020, 10:57 am
#581
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 103
There was still a lot of Tahoe/Suburban's there last night (01/23 at 8pm-ish) but there was 4, yes 4! which had the yellow stickers saying 'no keys' on them.
Other than that, nothing too exciting in PC or 5* There was a bunch of Subaru Legacy (Legacies?) on Colorado plates in 5* and also a new Ford Expedition Limited MAX with about 1k miles. PC was mainly Kia Sorrento's but I did spot a Cadillac XTS, and a Mercedes SLC. I guess the Fusions have done their time on fleet.
I've lost my PC status for this year (sadface!) So I may finally bite the bullet and check out some of the other LAX Car Rental agencies as I've only used Hertz for the last few years and I wanna see if the grass is any greener.
Other than that, nothing too exciting in PC or 5* There was a bunch of Subaru Legacy (Legacies?) on Colorado plates in 5* and also a new Ford Expedition Limited MAX with about 1k miles. PC was mainly Kia Sorrento's but I did spot a Cadillac XTS, and a Mercedes SLC. I guess the Fusions have done their time on fleet.
I've lost my PC status for this year (sadface!) So I may finally bite the bullet and check out some of the other LAX Car Rental agencies as I've only used Hertz for the last few years and I wanna see if the grass is any greener.
Jan 24, 2020, 1:10 pm
#582
Join Date: Jan 2012
Programs: Hilton Honors, Hertz Presidents Circle, National Executive Elite
Posts: 274
There was still a lot of Tahoe/Suburban's there last night (01/23 at 8pm-ish) but there was 4, yes 4! which had the yellow stickers saying 'no keys' on them.
Other than that, nothing too exciting in PC or 5* There was a bunch of Subaru Legacy (Legacies?) on Colorado plates in 5* and also a new Ford Expedition Limited MAX with about 1k miles. PC was mainly Kia Sorrento's but I did spot a Cadillac XTS, and a Mercedes SLC. I guess the Fusions have done their time on fleet.
I've lost my PC status for this year (sadface!) So I may finally bite the bullet and check out some of the other LAX Car Rental agencies as I've only used Hertz for the last few years and I wanna see if the grass is any greener.
Other than that, nothing too exciting in PC or 5* There was a bunch of Subaru Legacy (Legacies?) on Colorado plates in 5* and also a new Ford Expedition Limited MAX with about 1k miles. PC was mainly Kia Sorrento's but I did spot a Cadillac XTS, and a Mercedes SLC. I guess the Fusions have done their time on fleet.
I've lost my PC status for this year (sadface!) So I may finally bite the bullet and check out some of the other LAX Car Rental agencies as I've only used Hertz for the last few years and I wanna see if the grass is any greener.
Jan 25, 2020, 2:15 pm
#583
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 1
Sep 2019 @ LAX
Booked a Large SUV (T) at LAX picking up late on a Friday evening - no larger SUVs available for hours.
Was offered a Lincoln Nautilus - being British I had no idea what this was. Agent suggested I have a look around the lot - saw several 2019 Range Rover Sports and asked for one which they accommodated as didn’t need 7 seats.
Great spec V6 models - only drawback was lack of carplay but this feature is only found on 2020- RR sport.
Was offered a Lincoln Nautilus - being British I had no idea what this was. Agent suggested I have a look around the lot - saw several 2019 Range Rover Sports and asked for one which they accommodated as didn’t need 7 seats.
Great spec V6 models - only drawback was lack of carplay but this feature is only found on 2020- RR sport.
Last edited by FlyinHawaiian; Jan 25, 2020 at 2:39 pm Reason: Moved into dedicated thread for this location
Jan 26, 2020, 2:01 pm
#584
Join Date: Feb 2019
Programs: National EE, Avis PP
Posts: 104
Anyone rent/upgrade to dream cars in this location as of late?
Been looking to grab a 911 or Boxster for a weekend but can't decide if it'd be easier/cheaper to ask for the upgrade. Granted also gonna be worried about availability.
Been looking to grab a 911 or Boxster for a weekend but can't decide if it'd be easier/cheaper to ask for the upgrade. Granted also gonna be worried about availability.
Jan 27, 2020, 6:10 pm
#585
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: toronto
Posts: 914
Who was at the LAX Hertz location today(Jan 27th) around 11:00am? It was a a pleasant supply of nice cars for about 10-15 minutes. I guess there was a few new car jockeys dropping off cars, and they didn't know what cars go to the PC section versus the premium upgrades and dream.
For a few lucky ones, there were bunch of Range Rovers, BMW 5 series, Jaguar's, MB SLK's in the PC section. Guess one of the supervisor/manager finally noticed and 'trained' the jockeys where to drop the cars off. At least they honored those that drove off with them in the PC section. I was a little too late, and was only able to observe the good fortunes, and I left in one of the Mustang 5.0's.
For a few lucky ones, there were bunch of Range Rovers, BMW 5 series, Jaguar's, MB SLK's in the PC section. Guess one of the supervisor/manager finally noticed and 'trained' the jockeys where to drop the cars off. At least they honored those that drove off with them in the PC section. I was a little too late, and was only able to observe the good fortunes, and I left in one of the Mustang 5.0's.
