flyupfrnt

So i finally received my shiny new Five Star card from Hertz today, but the expiration date is 04/06.......???

What gives, they bumped me up a level but only for 6 months?

Kinda Hoaky if you ask me.


Anyone here have any insight or experience with this?

Maybe its a mistake?


Thanks

Junkie

SEA_Tigger

Hertz status officially starts on January 1st of the year following qualification and ends on the last day of April the year following that.

Hertz will, however, often make that status effective immediately.

So your current card is the same as someone who earned 5-Star status in 2004 would get. You will receive a new card in January or February that will be good through April 2007.

flyupfrnt

SEA Tigger-

Thanks for your insight. That makes sense

Junkie

vatraveler

Don't get too excited. I have been upgraded *once* on about 25 5-Star reservations.

SEA_Tigger

Sounds about as well as I bat as President's Circle. Not going to bother to renew this year. The money I save on rental runs to renew as PC will pay for plenty of Prestige rentals.

flyupfrnt

Well my friend, you have bad luck.

Even as a regular Gold, i have been upgraded 100% of the time. These upgrades are not always automatic, i may need to talk to the Gold desk about it, but i am always UG'd. If i dont like the UG, i pay a few dollars more per day for a REALLY nice UG.

Lately, I've been getting SUV's for weekend rentals at my local HLE for $20 / 2 days including taxes. UG'd from a focus, just because they know i want an SUV.

You've got to get crafty, i know Sea-tigger knows the game.

Junkie

Italian_Kayaker

At my local HLE, I get pretty much the same treatment--book compact, get F / SUV as I wish. That's because they know me well, though, not necessarily because of status.

When traveling, over the last 4 years (around 50 non-local rentals) I have never failed to get the 5* / PC upgrade. Even at IAD. Now, whether a Taurus is in any real sense an upgrade from anything, that's a different issue...

Atuchan

Wow,

I only got upgraded twice in DCA (out of about 10 times).

pdb

I guessYMMV, indeed
Virtually always a 5* upgrade at MIA. Frequently, a multi-level upgrade.

stevekoe

When I first started reading this thread, I thought to myself how lucky I must be getting upgrades as a 5* on most of my rentals. For that matter, when I say "upgrade", I mean automatically done, with the car waiting in my pre-assigned space.

My last couple of rentals, though, have been less pleasant. In PHX, I found a Taurus in my space (for a full size rental). I asked about an upgrade -- or, really, anything other than a Taurus, and they gave me a Camry. The Camry did have NeverLost, but I don't think that they had intended that to be my upgrade.

At EWR this week, I found a Toyota Matrix in my spot (on a mid-size res). It seemed awfully small, more like a compact. I asked if there was something else that they might have. I was offered a bunch of SUV's, but they eventually came up with the Hyundai XG350. Ironically, it was the same exact car that I had returned to LGA a few weeks ago (I guess maybe that is when you know you have been traveling too much - you get the same rental car that you returned elsewhere).

So, I have still been getting upgrades, but it now seems like I need to ask at the counter to make it happen. What is most strange about this is that both of these locations had PLENTY of cars available when I picked up. It seems like the opposite way hotels operate -- when there are fewer rooms, upgrades tighten up, but when the hotel is empty, they will gladly give you the Presidential Suite. For Hertz, when they are almost out of cars, it is easy to get a good upgrade, but when they have a lot full, they want to stick you with something less desirable. Doesn't quite make sense.

Stevekoe

pdb

Stevekeo makes a good point. Frankly, I have no blessed idea about which car is what class--there are so many makes and models, categories and subcategories that I've completely lost track. So, unless the car is not appropriate to my needs (and it generally is), I just take it. If for whatever reasons, I need something else, I just ask. Most of the time the folks at Hertz gold desk are accomodative.

Volvic

PC this year. I noticed 2 very big different attitude between US and EU rental locations.

EU
you book a 3 doors compact and you got upgraded to the same compact but with 5 doors.

US
more or less at the rental desk : "we have the following cars, which one do you prefer ?"

And the real plus of an upgrade is to read on the invoice or contract
reserved B
billed B
rented C

you feel important and than you realise you are just away from home once more

patrickATX

Or you come out of the restaurant/hotel, forgot where you parked, AND for got what kind of vehicle you are in because you have been in so many lately.

It took me 20 minutes of walking around pushing the stupid button to find my car last week. It was a Taurus, but I have no recollection of actually renting the vehicle. Very bizarre. It didn't help that my keytag said " Ford, Bronze" with no model or anything like that and the car was red.

I guess I'm just getting senile.

Back to topic: I have been upgraded 4/4 since becoming 5* and I was 8/10 as a Gold. The bad part is that as a 5*, all my upgrades have been to SUVs and I have had to go to the desk to get a different vehicle.

Peter M

The 5*/PC upgrade is a one class upgrade (if available for 5*) guaranteed for PC, according to the following restrictions;

europe from a maximum of group A,B, C to group D, thus if you reserve group D (intermediate) or higher (premium, luxury) then you don't get the upgrade!

USA from cars that are Compact, intermediate, full-size to a premium, thus if you reserve a premium, luxury, or prestige car then you don't get the upgrade!

Generally the upgrade applies to the smaller rental groups in the Hertz fleet. If you are not happy with the vehicle, go back to the gold counter and ask for an upgrade.

JMK1K

How do you renew President's Circle? I thought the only way to make PC was 40 rentals. Am I missing something?