So I booked an intermediate automatic on hertz.co.uk last night for pickup at 4pm today at Manchester Piccadilly Rail station. This morning at 9am I got a call from the Hertz rep at the station saying he's out of automatics thanks to "all the American tourists over for the weekend" and he can only offer me manuals. I was in a hurry to get to work so and didn't really need a car desperately so just asked him to cancel the booking.

I thought it pretty weird for a station to be refusing an already booked automatic to a PC member. If I had needed that car though, could I have been a PITA and asked them to get a car for me from the MAN airport station instead? Complained to Hertz Customer Service? Are there any caveats to the "guaranteed availability" for PC?

Yes, I would imagine so. I don't know if the UK has different policies but guaranteed availability means guaranteed availability. If a PC books A-F then they will get A-F even if that means having to tell someone else that we are incredibly sorry but there will be a delay in getting them a car.

I don't even think the "guaranteed availability" rule itself is what's in question. If a small station knows a PC is coming to get a particular type, it should definitely make sure that type (or something better) is made available. Yes, they should absolutely be on the phone, driving a suitable car directly from the airport to the train station for you.

If Hertz.com was showing sold out at the station completely and you invoked the PC guarantee to get a car, I'm not sure how much leeway the rules specify as far as specific car or transmission type. When I was PC, I only invoked it once - in the U.S. - and I was pretty clear that I'd accept any car smaller than a van. In Europe, I'd just assume I'd probably be getting a small car with a stick since they are so common in rental fleets.

Manchester Piccadilly railway station isn't a real branch - in fact it is just an offshoot of the main Manchester branch, it only has cars that are prebooked normally (or at least last time I visited about 4 months ago). Having said that, they did get in touch with you and let you know.

It probably isn't much help now, but MAN airport may have had some automatics - not sure if they would have asked at the airport for you, I'd hope so, but guess we can't be certain. Having said that, MAN airport normally has at least some automatics in stock as most of their prestige cars are automatics - so you could have got a much nicer car if you'd been very insitant on an automatic!

However, I'm not certain if gaurenteed availability applies to a certain type of car? I'm not convinced it is - I thought it was just "We'll give you a car"

PS: In the UK automatics are more rare as we mostly prefer manuals for some reason - it does mean you can have more fun revving the engine....

One problem in the UK could be that the reason you've booked an automatic is that you aren't licensed to drive a manual (stick-shift).

Thanks, I know that already. I've had some nice upgrades while booking automatics at the airport and usually rent from there. Piccadilly was just more convenient this time, with the free metroshuttle straight from work.

I guess the question is whether the guaranteed availability applies to automatics, since I'm not licensed to drive a manual. Or at least not used to using both my legs - I've always gotten the manumatics or whatever you call it so can still have fun revving the engine.

I wish there was a manual requirement in California. A lot of people seem to have trouble driving with both feet, eating, doing their hair and nails, and shifting, while talking on the cell phone.