jayesh77

I am looking to rent an entry level SUV from Hertz. following is what I am thinking (I am a gold member with basic status)
1) book a intermediate sedan
2) book a standard/ compact SUV (for back up)
3) on the day of pickup walk to Gold Canopy and see if there is a standard /compact SUV or any SUV is available for pickup
4) on the way out quote the intermediate sedan booking to map to this vehicle (during scan out)
5) if I dont find SUV in step # 3, go to the SUV I reserved (in assigned lot I guess).

Few questions I had were -
1) Does Hertz allow double booking with two different car class and keep them both till the last moment ?
2) Does Hertz carry SUV (any kind) in Gold Canopy (this is for Las Vegas Airport)
3) Am I allowed to say which "booking" to map to the vehicle I am driving out (intermediate Sedan in this case) given that fact that I would have picked SUV frm Gold canopy ?

I realize there are a lot of things that should fall in place for above to work out. but wanted to see if this is allowed by Hertz norms ?

signalpirate

this is interesting and i'm trying the same. I have an intermediate booking and a midsize suv for the same dates. My thought is go in and try the intermediate and see what they give me. If nothing good shows up.. then go with the SUV. Last time I had an intermediate booking I ended up with a ford grand c max. 7 seater. basically a minivan wanna be.. in the same category as a ford fusion(Mondeo).. *scratches head* thought it was an upgrade.. but checked later and nope. Not sure how they came up with that one.

AutoSlash

First off, it's not "Gold Canopy" any longer--but rather Ultimate Choice. Second, you can definitely do this. The best way is to make the reservations for a pickup time a couple of hours later than you plan to arrive (don't worry, you can pick up earlier than your reserved time). Then just cancel the reservation you won't need from your phone to avoid getting charged for the wrong one. The reason you want to make the pickup time later is that once the pickup time passes, you can no longer cancel it online.

Note that Hertz recently implemented duplicate reservation checking, and will often email if they detect that you have more than one reservation for the same dates/times/location, but there's an option to keep both reservations in the email, so it's not an issue.

Long story short, this should work fine.

jayesh77

Thanks Autoslash for the tip on having the pick up time couple of hours out. Hope it is not an issue in case I dont find an SUV in UC and then I walk to assigned spot for SUV booking (only to not find it is not there since it is too early).. Can you comment if assigned SUV's are also kept in UC lot or they are in their own assigned/ marked lots ?

I used the term Gold canopy since Hertz also used the same term today in the booking itself (Service Type: Gold Canopy).
Does Hertz also ask for AAA card while scanning out ? I have one with expiry date of Oct 2019 . I can always say I have renewed the membership but carrying the old card. I dont think they have capability to call/scan AAA card to check its validity (in that scan out booth).

BTW you guys (Autoslash) are doing a wonderful job of tracking prices for a booking and sending notifications. I started with booking SUV at $700+ and in a week's time I am down to $560. I dont have to check the prices everyday like crazy across diff rental companies...

m907

You can check here for a thread about the airport you're renting from, which will give you an idea of typical selection and practices at Ultimate Choice locations.

They still say "Gold Canopy" because Hertz is terrible about keeping their online stuff up to date. Some of it still refers to the "#1 Club" even though it's been "Gold" for years.

They probably won't check for an AAA card, but if you're involved in an accident it might cause problems with insurance if you're using a CDP you weren't allowed to use.

AutoSlash

It's all the same lot. It's just different sections/aisles. As far as checking for AAA, they rarely do when you're a Gold member, but they certainly can ask, so best to be prepared.

xman099

As my understanding, if you choose "pay later", even you do not cancel the reservation, you still won't get charged and there is no penalty to do that. It might be a US only policy?

jayesh77

its not about getting charged if not cancelled the appt (thats not what the question was). It was about doing a Intermediate Sedan reservation and then hoping to pick up SUV from Ultimate choice and then assigning it to Intermediate Sedan booking. if the SUV booking still persists till that time even though I picked up a SUV from UC they will map it to SUV booking and not Sedan one.. and hence the discussion on cancelling the SUV reservation. hope it helps.

cerealmarketer

If they’ve started dupe reservation checking it’s becoming enough of an issue they’re paying attention.

Don’t be hogs here and ruin it for all of us with Hertz pushing cancellation fees in more cases.

Alternative is to just make the second booking on the lot - less lost revenue for them by holding that extra car.