PushingTin

I've been HERTZ PC for years and our company toyed with Avis and then went with National. I was National almost all last year with 24 credits and four free days. I use points for family vacations and we need minivans. I don't know how it all worked out, but with Hertz, I always had enough points for the minivan. Now, going with National, I'm pretty screwed over. Not nearly enough for a week and I'd have to take what they have, versus with Hertz points I can get the car that I want.
My usage profile is week long trips, usually. At least 3-4 days. That seems to favor Hertz points over Nationals system.

Also, if you are not vehicle limited for your free days, that would favor National.
Hertz points dont' seem to expire, or at least I use them fast enough that I don't lose them. Free days in National seem to have a pretty short shelf life.
Hertz website seems to give you more options on using free stuff- and that is hard for me to say since I didn't think it was good until I tried the others.

1-2-free keeps bugging me to sign up, I sign up- and then it keeps bugging me to sign up. I don't seem to see any benefit from it. I have 24 credits and 4 free days.

Avis seems to be the worst. I did most of a year with them 15-20 rentals and for the life of me I can't find any benefits from it.

Rental cars are a low differentiation travel aspect for me. You get off the plane, you get in a car and drive away. I prefer reserving a certain type of car so that when I land in CVG in the middle of a snow storm, I have more options than what color of Camaro I want off the National lot.

dtremit

I have always had excellent customer service from National *in person*, but absolutely execrable customer service via phone or email. That experience long predates the Enterprise buyout, so I can't fairly blame them.

ryandelmundo

Does anyone publish "point values" for Hertz/National/Avis like FrequentMiler has for Hotel and Airlines? Seems easy enough to figure out.

I just got 7 National points for my 30 day rental. Takes 5 credits to get a free day so lets call that 1.4 days. The rental cost about $1000 here in Puerto Rico for the month w the corporate rate, with $750 of that the actual rental price not tax. Considering a daily rate is about $40 (just my gut feeling for an average rental price after discounts, not including tax), then my 1.4 days are worth $56. 56/750=.0746% return. That seems pretty reasonable, especially tacking on the 3-4.5% I'm getting from my 3X rewards cards. That would also imply National credits are worth about $8 each. Of course getting a last minute or one way rental may boost up the value of credit substantially.

Can anyone pull together a similar analysis for Avis or Hertz?

BugsyPal

Have never had a problem with CS either at location or EC on the telephone. As stated in another thread sometimes for the latter you get one of those working from home reps who may be a bit behind the ball or whatever, but that has proven to be the exceptions rather than rule.

Only problem (if you can call it that) is that since National tends to promote from within the good managers often aren't in place long. They either move up or are rotated out to another location.