daffydevil

Last night at LAX, I got off the bus, checked the board for my stall assignment and went to the stall only to find the stall was empty. I went to the office to find out what happened and they were a little confused. After a while, they gave me keys to another car. I asked what happened to the first car and was told that somebody took it.

Has this ever happened to anybody else?

timetotravel

Yep - just once at JFK. Went to the stall where my car was supposed to be and it was empty. I went to the office and the assistant station manager took me around in a golf cart using the clicker that locks the door to try to locate my car by sound. We drove through the entire lot (the JFK lot is pretty big) and cound not find it. We then went back to the office and he gave me another car. Amazingly enough, the second car was not in its place either. This time, he did not even bother to drive around looking for it. Instead, he gave me a brand new Explorer (instead of the full size I had reserved) which happened to be parked in one of the closest stalls, and apologized for the series of problems. I have never had any car location problems since, in well over 100 rentals.

oklAAhoma

Nope, have never had that happen. In 10 years of renting from Hertz there has always been a car in the stall. However, I experienced a first two weeks ago at RNO. The car assigned to me wouldn't start; it might as well have been missing for all the good it did me.

bikenski

Rented in SJC a few weeks ago and the car was in the stall, with the trunk open like always. I loaded my bags in the trunk, closed the lid, then got in the car to drive off. Only problem was that there were no keys in the ignition and no rental agreement on the mirror! Thankfully there was a trunk release button that worked without keys, but I had a brief panic attack when I first realized what had happened. A trip to the Gold counter produced the contract and keys within a few minutes.

Turned out that was only the first of several problems with that particular rental.

- Fuel level was down below 3/4 tank - not Full like the paperwork stated. Notified exit booth and contract was noted.

- Mileage was 9xxx but the paperwork said 4xxx. Notified exit booth and contract was noted.

- Upon return to SFO I was charged for several hundred (but not thousand, oddly enough) excess miles, which more than doubled the rental charge, and didn't realize it until I was on the tram. Rushed back to Hertz to have them correct it, and nearly missed my flight.

I've had minor issues in the past with coupons not being applied, etc. but this particular experience taught me to double-check EVERYTHING upon arrival and return.

jimc_usa

I got into the car in the stall number on the board, when I got to the exit gate and handed the paper work wasn't my name, had to go back. Look at paper work every time now!

ijgordon

Reminds me of the time my parents were in NYC visiting me about a year ago. They were getting ready to leave the city after a show, and had the parking garage attendant pull the (Avis) car around. The attendant turned the ignition off. When my father tried to start the car, the steering wheel was locked and the ignition key wouldn't turn. We tried everything, but couldn't get the car to start or even get the key out of the ignition. After calling Avis, we were told it would take them 45 minutes to send someone over. This was on the West Side of Manhattan, not like we were in the boonies! Finally, after about an hour some people showed up, they tried pushing the car with another vehicle to unlock the wheels, didn't work. Eventually they took my family (sans moi) across town to the Avis lot where they got another vehicle. It apparently took another hour to get that done.
What a nightmare. I'll never use Avis, not only because of this crappy car (something American for sure...) but because of the horrible disaster recovery service.

yashan

This happened to me in SAN last summer. The only difference was that the contract was hanging from the rearview mirror. I went to the counter and told them the keys were missing. They accused me of misplacing them! Apparently being a PC member didn't really mean much to them. They treated me like a first-time renter with the mental capacity of a third grader. I was told to wait until they helped everyone else and then they would try to locate the keys. According to them, I would be liable if the keys weren't ever found because the contract had already been printed for that specific car. None of this made sense to me so I made some calls while waiting. The phone rang at the counter where I was waiting and the Hertz rep was told to get me another car immediately and to sort out the missing keys after I was gone. They wasted almost an hour of my time for something that was clearly their problem.

timetotravel

This is exactly why I rent 100% from Hertz in New York, and never from Avis. It regularly takes them an hour to produce a car when you show up to pick it up, even if you come exactly at your scheduled time. Many, many times I have showed up, only to be told that they have no cars for me. In New York City they will bring you to another lot or bring a car from another lot to you, but this always takes at least an hour to find someone with free time to drive the car to you. In Jersey City, when they run out, they do not do anything except apologize that everyone with reservations happened to show up. The always overbook and they never compensate anyone when they do not have a car for you. In my humble opinoin, Hertz is 1000 times better, at least in the New York area!

SealBeach

I had horrible Avis service once (and swore never to go back) at LGA -- I and a bunch of other crazed passengers waited close to 15 minutes for a bus to arrive to take us to the terminal. The Avis counter took $25 off my rental, but that didn't help me get any closer to my departing flight (I made it by 5 minutes)

dschon

This past April it happened to me in LAX three times, and this after she gave me an upgrade, the car was not in the stall 3 times after she kept on sending me out, she was so embarrased when I finally got a parking attendent to find me a Lincoln LS that was actually there.

Tmstewar2

why they leave the keys in the cars or near them....

sparker

That's interesting. I've been Presidents club for at least the last four years, in at least 50 cars per year, and I've NEVER had this happen to me....

Although a few weeks ago at SJC, they let me out of the lot with somebody elses car. They had parked them in the wrong spot, and when I returned it two weeks later, it took them awhile to figure out how I got the car off the lot.

And to think, I could have had a brand new Altima for virtually nothing!!!

Steve

hnechets

.....


This reminds me...

Once at the Hertz lot in LAX, my car was on the board as stall xx. It was at the FAR end of the Gold area. There, folks, was a Dodge Viper!!! With the keys in it....

No rental paperwork hanging ffrom the mirror, unfortunately...

Well, I did the right thing and went to the Gold counter to make sure everything was kosher. Turns out, it was an employee parking his car there for just a minute.

??????????????????? HAD to be someone with lots of $$ just making gas money for his/her boat or something. Who knows, though? Very strange experience.

I just can't help wondering if I coulda made it outta the lot.