rhwbullhead

I'm watching a rental I have in LAS in mid March. I've rented from Hertz and Advantage frequently over the years so I know what to expect from each.

For this rental, the price difference was high enough for me to consider choosing Advantage over my PC lot rental from Hertz. Initially, I had 3 days for $152 from Advantage (I'd probably get assigned a diesel Volkswagen with 20-30k miles judging by what I got the two times I rented from them last year). Hertz was $228 but has dropped to $204 (and prepay is $175 which suggests it may drop even more).

This had me wondering what premium one is willing to pay for Hertz PC vs a higher mileage regular car from Advantage. I suppose it depends on what is generally at the PC lot. At some locations, PC has been reported as choose your own Altima/Kia. In that case, I'd be willing to pay less of a premium. In LAS, selection is usually.great as I've reported in the LAS thread.

I easily would pay $30-60 more for a week. This rental at $75 more for 3 days didn't seem worth it. Advantage has since jumped to over $280 as Hertz has slowly declined in price.

I have to drive through the mountains so I likely will be willing to pay more for AWD or 4x4 if weather will be sketchy but not if it's clear.

Just curious on people price points for this type of situation.

For me, at $50 I think I'm close to still taking the Hertz so if it drops even more I'd probably just no show or cancel advantage. I suppose I could just prepay the $175 but I'm in no rush to commit.

Dave Noble

The extra I would pay against another company is generally close to zero; I use Hertz because it is where I can currently get the best rates and is also most conveniant location for me locally - I wouldn't use Advantage since , to best of my knowledge, the company isn't here

lhrsfo

I had a week's rental at SFO last month. Hertz wanted $180 more than Alamo. Alamo gave me a Hyundai Elantra which sipped very little fuel and was otherwise completely uninspiring. I would have chosen something much more interesting from Hertz, but all I was doing was commuting from my hotel to my place of work and listening to podcasts. $180 plus $25 less fuel (less 4 minutes paperwork at SFO) has far more utility to me than a fancier, but still utilitarian car.

neo_781

I would say $0 or under $25 for a week for sure. You're also assuming that the Hertz car is significantly lower milegae which IMHO is no longer a good assumption. I regularly get cars with 10,000 or 20,000+ miles from the PC section these days (and yes I've occasionally gotten 5 or 10 mile cars but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule these days).

rhwbullhead

Thank you for responses so far. I find it useful to hear other perspective and price points on this bc I'm faced with this dilemma every time I fly to LAS and get a car.

I'll make specific comments below:


This is a good point and what a huge difference! I'm also an elite executive on National but I can never use them at LAS because they are always the highest priced here. Price difference is usually $100-150 more.

Ill be in the car for 5 hrs Tues and Thurs. If I were just driving around LAS, I probably shouldn't pay much of a premium but for this trip a better or bigger car will be fully utilized. I'm short but SO is 6'2" so I guess I should factor in that in as well.


Good point in Mileage. I've gotten lucky with a 300 mile Camaro SS and a 2k mile Mustang GT convertible at LAS. Most have been in the 25-30k miles though, but they have been significant upgrades vs the normal "midsize" car and the likely car I'd get at Advantage.

LAS had been great for PC for me as I only go when rooms are cheap so there's no conventions going to eat up all the cars. As I said above, I'm usually almost certain I'll get a better car in PC than the 30k Volkswagen Diesel I'll get at Advantage though. Again, in some stations, this would not be certain. That might not be the case this time as cars are expensive for a reason (though rooms are cheap Sun and Monday when I'm picking up). I've gotten higher mileage vehicles often, but I've gotten Qx-60, Cadillac XTS, Mustang GT convertible x3, Mustang GT coupe once, Convertible Mercedes once.

I realize I've been spoiled by this station. I've followed other threads and seen the bland selections being the norm.

I think I've talked myself into leaning into Hertz for this trip bc of the long drive, tall person, good LAS pc selection, and bc price has dropped. Rebooked today for $199. (This trip is way outside my normal parameters bc we're going to a Wedding. I've done weekly rentals here for $140 and 3 days has usually been $80-90 at most. $152 or $199 for 3 days does feel like a lot but the flights are even more and the rentals for 2 days where we are driving are just as much or more than the 3 day price here). I think it will probably drop more. $50 is still on the edge where I haven't fully committed but I think at $25 I'd definitely take Hertz

I think you all may have convinced me to take the cheaper Advantage car more often when I'm alone and just driving around town for short trips.

Also, I probably should keep both reservations. I usually don't like to double book even though I know many do it. With double booking i can actually go look at Hertz PC and then decide. On the other hand, I know it'll be harder to make myself save the $48 if I see a nice selection in PC. That's probably another reason I've not double booked recently. I knew I wouldn't want to turn down a Mustang GT and go into that Volkswagen Diesel or Kia.

On the other hand, the novelty of trying new cars has worn off since I did it a bunch of times last quarter.

I way overanalyze this but I guess it's the way I am. Again thanks for the comments as it does help me decide

A318neo

$5 a day up to $10 a week.

noah

I consider it similar to an upgrade charge. $5 a day more or $30-$40 a week is worth paying more for Hertz or National where I have status. Otherwise, I'll take the cheapest car without much of a second thought, usually avoiding Advantage, Payless or Thrifty if I can.

aCavalierInCoach

$0. Rarely have I found anything inspiring in the PC lot.

rhwbullhead

Yeah I avoid the likes of fox and Economy. I'd lump Advantage in that category except that at LAS I've used them and know I won't get scammed. I also know that the line won't be gigantic when my flight arrives around midnight.

In LAS Advantage is at the consolidated rental center but some companies like Fox require a.second shuttle. No way I'd want to waste more.time waiting for another shuttle.

SO's parents are renting from Fox In SLC so I'll find out how their experience is that trip.

Cymro

There are a few factors for me:

1. Quality of car - before PC gave you "choose your own car" I mostly used to rent premium/luxury in the US. Now I can rent midsize for typically $50 a week less.

2. Quality of service - no point in saving $10 on a car, just to have to take an extra shuttle and wait in line for an hour and then do the same on the return. Similarly, no point in getting nickel and dimed on the return with extra insurances, rejecting the ones I have, etc. I'd pay $0 for this element from Hertz over Avis, Enterprise, etc., but I'd pay $50 a rental before taking a punt on an unkown provider.

3. Ease of retaining status - with my current rental patterns, PC is attainable but not a sure thing. No point in saving $30 only to spend $30 on a rental I otherwise wouldn't have wanted/needed to make up the 20 rentals per year.

So: if an Avis premium is even $1 less than a Hertz C, and I have enough rentals that year - Avis is probably getting my business. On the other hand, a no-name Corolla for $125 less when I'm short on rentals is likely to see me sticking with Hertz.

rbAA

It depends on what the other company/location is. I hate waiting in lines, to pick-up or especially to return, at some of the off-brand counters or a "local" office as they may not have cars available (even at a San Diego Hertz HLE I had this problem,) so I'm a little more flexible. However, I find that if the off-brands are appreciable lower, Hertz usually drops enough to be worth waiting it out, and not prepay, until the last minute. Case in point was at SFO last month, a three day rental at Hertz SFO started at about $270 and eventually I got it at $80, which was about what the off airport companies wanted. About the only time I've used other companies (usualy Sixt) is at MCO where the difference can be substantial, and I can still get a decent vehicle-usually a MBz or Caddy for about what Hertz wants for a Compact. (So, technically, as PC not "entitled" to the UPG'd models in the PC area.

rhwbullhead

RbAA:

Good points. I've had a similar situation 4 times last quarter and I think three times the Hertz price dropped and only one time did it not follow the trend of the other companies. It actually went up but I had secured a price at the lowest price point.

This reservation has continued to drop. Hertz economy has dropped to $158 (vs $152 Advantage) but I won't book it bc there's a $50 cancellation fee only for that class (not a prepay). Intermediate (PC lot) dropped to $185 ($160 prepay) so I bet it'll drop more.

Currently I have a Intermediate Elite SUV (Group H4) for $195. I haven't changed to $185 bc I think prices will drop more and I guess I'd rather pay $10 more for the guarantee of this class. I'm not sure what I'd take in PC over this. Ordinarily I'd take the Mustang GT or SS I've seen in LAS lot but not for this particular trip.

pgh234

I will typically never spend a premium on anything. However, when flying to Florida (MCO, TPA, FLL...looking at you) for a quick trip, I will gladly spend up to $50 more to not have to wait in one of those "other" rental car company lines for 1-1.5 hours on a weekend. I have done that way too many times, late at night, with the family in tow.

tdott

I agree, first and only time renting at fox in FLL was a weekday 11pm, took over an hour to get my car. Never will consider fox again no matter how much is saved.

rhwbullhead

This makes me feel better about my current decisions. Fox has dropped from $120 to $100 and is cheapest. Main companies have up to 160 or higher. So far I'm sticking to Advantage at $152 (that's now asking $367) my Evoque class at $194 from Hertz (compact is currently cheapest at $216).

Edit:
Fox dropped even more to an all time low of $84. I still won't take extra shuttle to use them but this is now a massive difference. If I stay with my Hertz Rental I'll be paying over $110 more for 3 days and $68 over Advantage.