It is. I am in the high 20's right now, and I don't intend to "rental run" to earn 40 and renew my PC status.

While, sufficient, it is not necessary to have 40 rentals. The number of rental days is taken into consideration, as well, although no one really knows the formula--if there is one--that Hertz uses when granting PC. If my memory serves me correctly, I was always short of 40 rentals, but well above 200 rental days and was granted PC for several years.

There are a couple of threads on this issue, I believe.

local HLEs usually give upgrades in my experience since they to some extent get to control their inventory and try to only have nicer cars availible. at the airports, my experience has been mixed (it's been better recently) - sometimes I get a nice upgrade (compact to Navigator), but usually I have to ask for it by going to the gold desk. If it's a shorter rental, I have a better chance to getting the upgrade.

strange thing is I never get the upgrade when I want it. Like if I'm going on vacation for a week nothing, I get stuck with the car I ordered. If i'm in rainy Portland at a conference where I'll only be driving from hotel to hotel, they give me a convertable instead of the compact I rented to save the company a few bucks.

You can also spend $7000+ in a calendar year.

In Europe and other places PC is granted for 30+ rentals/year or a spend above $7,000/year. In the U.S. 40 rentals/200 days or a spend above $7,000 is required. - It is slightly easier for non-U.S. addresses to gain elite status. Personally, I don't agree that PC is worth a rental-run, unless you are very close and it's not such a hassle. I find little difference in having G/5*/PC, upgrades depend mostly on luck and the staff recognizing you. Offering to pay a few dollars for an upgrade, seems to help most.

I agree with you on the value of PC, but it was/is nice to get a 25% ZE1 bonus. If that were to increase to 100% bonus for PC, I would be more motivated.

Well, PCs can combine multiple "free rental day" certificates, which sometimes comes in handy. They also receive guaranteed reservations with 2-hour advance notice; I have never tested this, but others have reported the benefit is indeed honored.

I don't do pure "rental runs", but I will confess to renting a car from my Hertz HLE to go to the airport when a cab would cost roughly the same...

I cannot tell you how many times I have no idea what vehicle I am driving or for that matter what number my hotel room is?
There was a time (during my drinking years) I had to turn on th TV to find out what city I am in.

This can really happen. over the weekend i was in my apartment/home base. when i got up, still half asleep, i went straight to the door to pick up my fast checkout receipt.

Thank God there was none.

Oh, this is interesting. Doing this has never occurred to me. I'm going to check this out.

**********

OK, I checked this out.

Sure enough, it's actually cheaper for me to rent a car from my Hertz HLE and drive to the airport than it is to take a taxi. It's $24 vs. $60. I'd have the car for up to 24 hours.... It's just a matter of the added hassle right as I'm getting ready to go on the road again...

I have often rented cars on my homeward bound flight when I was just staying home for the weekend and then dropped the car off on my way out again. With weekend rates this is usaully cheaper than 2 cab rides and I don't have to drive my beater over the weekend.

Lots of good stuff here...

Stevekoe - how did you recognize it was the same exact car? But that is pretty funny that you got the same exact car. I wonder what kind of odds you have on that happening.

pdb, sea-tigger - I'm pretty sure I'm well over the 7k necessary for PC (currently at over 9500 #1 points without bonuses) but my status on the Hertz site still shows up as 5*. How do they process this and when does this happen? I was advised last year to call back in Q3 with my rental patterns to ask them about being bumped up to PC but when I did the customer service rep was clueless and said that doesn't happen.

jimc_usa - I solve the hotel room problem by asking them to give me the same room. I don't even remember when the last time was when I didn't stay in that room. Anything to make it feel like home

ferrari_fan - that's hysterical. I hope that doesn't start happening to me!

Definitely call again, asking about PC status. It's possible that PC status will not kick in until 2006. Whatever the case, be persistent.

Per official Hertz policy, PC/5-Star status becomes official the year following your qualification year (so in your case, 2006 and it will be good through April 2007).

However, a call or letter to Gold Customer Service will get you the status immediately if you reside in the US.

That's indeed the case, I called today and told them that I was told I could qualify to PC based on revenue or days rented and the rep at Customer Relations I spoke to, quickly called the Gold Customer Service and let me know I indeed qualify for PC based on revenue. Hopefully, it will kick in tomorrow or later in the day. ^