Reservations but no cars available
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 42
Reservations but no cars available
Sitting outside Hertz West 83rd Street in Manhattan with a line of people on Sunday at noon. Everyone has reservations but there are no cars available.
Counter people keep saying another 45 minutes, but they admit they have no real idea. Other customers say they have been waiting for hours and they have started a wait list.
Does Hertz have any responsibility to provide a car at the time specified on the reservation? Is there any consequence if they don't?
The funny thing is the online system keeps accepting new reservations for pick up even when there are no cars.
FYI- PC status doesn't help- they really don't have any cars to give out.
Counter people keep saying another 45 minutes, but they admit they have no real idea. Other customers say they have been waiting for hours and they have started a wait list.
Does Hertz have any responsibility to provide a car at the time specified on the reservation? Is there any consequence if they don't?
The funny thing is the online system keeps accepting new reservations for pick up even when there are no cars.
FYI- PC status doesn't help- they really don't have any cars to give out.
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Danville, CA, USA;
Programs: UA 1MM, WN CP, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Gold, IC Plat
Posts: 15,650
Numerous media reports suggest this has been a constant theme in Manhattan this year - and not just at Hertz. Seinfeld captured it years ago:
Bottom line is you can't count on a car anymore.
Bottom line is you can't count on a car anymore.
#3
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Colorado
Programs: UA & IHG Plat, SWAlist, Frontier 100k, Marriott Titan, IHG-Hilton-Hyatt-Wynd Gold, Nat EE, Hertz PC
Posts: 445
Welcome to our World! In Honolulu I was lucky last year and only waited 30 minutes, people who were rude to the employees were still sitting there when I left. In Savannah, GA I waited two hours for a car, they had them but didn't have enough people to clean them and too many returns at the same time to manage them well, people finally asked if they could just have dirty cars. In UP Michigan I arrived late at night to find no car, they had two for my family, and the other 9 people from the flight were on their own, no Uber, no Lyft, and a two taxi town. I was able to get my rental two days later though, but only because I showed up at the counter prior to that nights flight arriving. In Orlando, I had an hour wait on one of my trips. In Nashville they had cars but they were delayed, I had to wait about 45 minutes, only because I opted to get an SUV (what I rented) instead of the sedans they kept pulling up with, ended up with a four door Jeep Wrangler Limited. One of the worst experiences was my return to LaGuardia after picking up my rental in Philadelphia, the rental signs for my terminal were all gone due to construction, I had to stop at another rental agency to ask them where my return location was. Good thing I left early that morning!
It sucks that you have no way of knowing if the location you are coming to is going to have cars, or if there is some other delaying issue.
It sucks that you have no way of knowing if the location you are coming to is going to have cars, or if there is some other delaying issue.
#4
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: PA
Programs: AA WN DL Hilton Marriott
Posts: 31
Ran into this situation at Kona last spring and just like TIGA31328 says, we waited about 30 minutes but there were a few people there who were still waiting when we drove off. It may have been their attitude or they were picky about the class of car. Hopefully things have gotten better this year.
#5
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 218
Hardly a new problem, just worse these days. First happened to me over 30 years ago in Orange County, CA. Fortunately, I was able to go to a different rental desk - a competitor.
Over the past three decades, things have become much more hostile to customers/renters, haven't they? It seems all the obligations are from us to the rental companies. At least they didn't report the vehicle they didn't give you as stolen by you!
Over the past three decades, things have become much more hostile to customers/renters, haven't they? It seems all the obligations are from us to the rental companies. At least they didn't report the vehicle they didn't give you as stolen by you!
#7
Join Date: May 2003
Location: San Francisco, CA Frmr AA Plat AW Plat Frmr UA 1K Frmr HGP Plat now just UA 1MM/1P
Posts: 320
This isn't new.
The worst was actually mid 2020 late 2021. I live in SF and don't have a car, so would rent up to 2 times a month for meetings in the far suburbs.
For the period above, not only did rental prices jump from $12-$50ish to $70-$110+, I had to wait 2 hours or more to get one.
The garages were literally empty and the rental car companies were turning around returned vehicles as fast as they could.
Note this wasn't just Hertz - I had this experience with multiple outfits including ones not in the Hertz family.
I also had issues in other cities: rental cars in Orlando and Miami were nuts in 2021 although doing a one way from say, Miami to Orlando would net a rental cost half or less of renting in either city and returning to the same location...
It is clear that the rental car companies went overboard in downsizing their fleets in 2020 and 2021 only to then hit the new car supply issue.
The worst was actually mid 2020 late 2021. I live in SF and don't have a car, so would rent up to 2 times a month for meetings in the far suburbs.
For the period above, not only did rental prices jump from $12-$50ish to $70-$110+, I had to wait 2 hours or more to get one.
The garages were literally empty and the rental car companies were turning around returned vehicles as fast as they could.
Note this wasn't just Hertz - I had this experience with multiple outfits including ones not in the Hertz family.
I also had issues in other cities: rental cars in Orlando and Miami were nuts in 2021 although doing a one way from say, Miami to Orlando would net a rental cost half or less of renting in either city and returning to the same location...
It is clear that the rental car companies went overboard in downsizing their fleets in 2020 and 2021 only to then hit the new car supply issue.
#8
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: PHX
Programs: Delta 2M DM, Southwest A List and CP
Posts: 1,095
Dollar at the Atlanta airport on a Friday night/Saturday morning a few weeks ago (Jan 28/29): a tad of snow, flights cancelled, etc., and I figure that Dollar had rented out a lot of vehicles at a high price, while leaving customers who had booked earlier (but arrived later) in a lurch. We had reservations and waited for a couple of hours in a very slow-moving line, with cars being rented out as they became available. By 2 am they called it a night as no more cars were coming in and the agents went home, with 50 or so customers still in line, including us. I think it is time that car rental companies are held to the same standards as airlines, with financial repercussions to the car rental agency when they overbook like that. Needless to say, I have cancelled my upcoming reservations with Dollar, but unfortunately other car rental companies may not be much better.
#9
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Federal Way, WA
Programs: Mileage Plus 2P, Marriott Silver, many others
Posts: 1,298
Not excusing the rental companies, just playing devil's advocate.
Is it possible some of the problem comes from other renters not returning cars when they're supposed to? Are the rental companies like hotels, limited in what they can do to guests who overstay their welcome? I don't know -- I'm just raising the question. Since their reservations systems worked so well for so long I have to presume they're programmed to take into account expected return times.
If there is nothing preventing it, I'd say the solution is fairly simple. If you're late returning by more than, say, 3 hours (to allow for unexpected contingencies), you get charged three times the base daily rate -- no discounts applied -- for the overtime. Some people don't care how what they do affects others, they just respond to financial consequences.
Is it possible some of the problem comes from other renters not returning cars when they're supposed to? Are the rental companies like hotels, limited in what they can do to guests who overstay their welcome? I don't know -- I'm just raising the question. Since their reservations systems worked so well for so long I have to presume they're programmed to take into account expected return times.
If there is nothing preventing it, I'd say the solution is fairly simple. If you're late returning by more than, say, 3 hours (to allow for unexpected contingencies), you get charged three times the base daily rate -- no discounts applied -- for the overtime. Some people don't care how what they do affects others, they just respond to financial consequences.
#10
Company Representative - AutoSlash and HotelSlash
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: autoslash.com | hotelslash.com
Posts: 5,645
Not excusing the rental companies, just playing devil's advocate.
Is it possible some of the problem comes from other renters not returning cars when they're supposed to? Are the rental companies like hotels, limited in what they can do to guests who overstay their welcome? I don't know -- I'm just raising the question. Since their reservations systems worked so well for so long I have to presume they're programmed to take into account expected return times.
If there is nothing preventing it, I'd say the solution is fairly simple. If you're late returning by more than, say, 3 hours (to allow for unexpected contingencies), you get charged three times the base daily rate -- no discounts applied -- for the overtime. Some people don't care how what they do affects others, they just respond to financial consequences.
Is it possible some of the problem comes from other renters not returning cars when they're supposed to? Are the rental companies like hotels, limited in what they can do to guests who overstay their welcome? I don't know -- I'm just raising the question. Since their reservations systems worked so well for so long I have to presume they're programmed to take into account expected return times.
If there is nothing preventing it, I'd say the solution is fairly simple. If you're late returning by more than, say, 3 hours (to allow for unexpected contingencies), you get charged three times the base daily rate -- no discounts applied -- for the overtime. Some people don't care how what they do affects others, they just respond to financial consequences.
It's important to keep in mind that when you make a reservation, they don't "put aside a vehicle for you". That's not how it works, and it goes back to the classic Seinfeld car rental skit. The rental companies have a basic idea of how many vehicles of each class they need on-hand to service that particular day's pickups, but things can go awry--especially these days when inventory is so tight due to the shortage of new vehicles brought on by Covid-induced supply chain issues.
#11
Join Date: May 2003
Location: San Francisco, CA Frmr AA Plat AW Plat Frmr UA 1K Frmr HGP Plat now just UA 1MM/1P
Posts: 320
PHXflier Are you not a Dollar frequent renter?
Just curious.
I have had long waits with Dollar as a frequent renter, but only as a local renter.
@dliesse
As Autoslash notes - car rental companies have traditionally not limited reservations to cars available. That wasn't an issue when the car rental companies always had more capacity than business - but became a problem with inventory slashing during early COVID.
I rent from Hertz frequently enough that I know all the people in the 3 locations I rent from; they will actually tell me when the next rental is because they know I tend to be very flexible in returning. From this, I have learned that not only do the car rental companies overbook, but they will also book for specific vehicles with 1 to 2 hour turnaround windows. For example, I rented a Sprinter van to move a bunch of boxes from storage to my place. It was a 10 am to 3 pm rental. The Hertz guys told me that they had a customer for that van at 4 pm and asked me to return early - which was no problem because I was literally just doing a single trip from storage. But if I were delayed, or needed longer - that customer would have been in trouble especially since that Hertz locations close at 5pm.
Just curious.
I have had long waits with Dollar as a frequent renter, but only as a local renter.
@dliesse
As Autoslash notes - car rental companies have traditionally not limited reservations to cars available. That wasn't an issue when the car rental companies always had more capacity than business - but became a problem with inventory slashing during early COVID.
I rent from Hertz frequently enough that I know all the people in the 3 locations I rent from; they will actually tell me when the next rental is because they know I tend to be very flexible in returning. From this, I have learned that not only do the car rental companies overbook, but they will also book for specific vehicles with 1 to 2 hour turnaround windows. For example, I rented a Sprinter van to move a bunch of boxes from storage to my place. It was a 10 am to 3 pm rental. The Hertz guys told me that they had a customer for that van at 4 pm and asked me to return early - which was no problem because I was literally just doing a single trip from storage. But if I were delayed, or needed longer - that customer would have been in trouble especially since that Hertz locations close at 5pm.
Last edited by FlyinHawaiian; Mar 4, 2022 at 4:21 pm Reason: consecutive posts merged
#12
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: New York suburbs
Posts: 4,206
Not just supply chain issues, but whole car categories shrinking. A lot of economy cars were recently discontinued, and the Spark will come August join them. So that essentially forces rental companies to upgrade economy car bookings into larger categories, which pushes those reservations higher, etc. until max capacity is reached.
#14
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: NYC
Programs: AA 2MM, Bonvoy LTT, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 14,620
Sitting outside Hertz West 83rd Street in Manhattan with a line of people on Sunday at noon. Everyone has reservations but there are no cars available.
Counter people keep saying another 45 minutes, but they admit they have no real idea. Other customers say they have been waiting for hours and they have started a wait list.
Does Hertz have any responsibility to provide a car at the time specified on the reservation? Is there any consequence if they don't?
The funny thing is the online system keeps accepting new reservations for pick up even when there are no cars.
FYI- PC status doesn't help- they really don't have any cars to give out.
Counter people keep saying another 45 minutes, but they admit they have no real idea. Other customers say they have been waiting for hours and they have started a wait list.
Does Hertz have any responsibility to provide a car at the time specified on the reservation? Is there any consequence if they don't?
The funny thing is the online system keeps accepting new reservations for pick up even when there are no cars.
FYI- PC status doesn't help- they really don't have any cars to give out.
https://portal.311.nyc.gov/article/?kanumber=KA-02193
#15
Company Representative - AutoSlash and HotelSlash
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: autoslash.com | hotelslash.com
Posts: 5,645
Against NYC law not to have car available. Not sure what the penalty is.
https://portal.311.nyc.gov/article/?kanumber=KA-02193
https://portal.311.nyc.gov/article/?kanumber=KA-02193