dd992emo

Rented in PNS this morning about 0600, going to TLH, where I'll turn it in tomorrow and fly further on my trip. I was running late and when I got to the car (Impala, natch) the floor mats were stained, back seat looks like something illegal may have occurred, etc. Since I was already an hour late I didn't want to go back to the desk and deal with them. Jackie is good and easy to look at, but can be a little direct...

Anybody think locations try to unload their less-than-desirable veicles on one-way rentals?

ashaboe

They always do when i pick-up in HPN and return in NYC ...

MM/PM widget

Ditto for when I pick up in CHS and drop off in SAV as well as the OP when I pick up in PNS and drop off in VPS. I always get the feeling I have been given the rateist car in the inventory.

Brendan

Did U know that CHS, SAV, HHH, & MYR all are part of the same Avis metro group, so that local rates apply between these airports, incl. weekend rates ? I once rented from Avis SAV--MYR & got a brand new car with 50 miles on it & a temporary tag!

Otherwise, it depends on what out-of-town cars they have. I once reserved a Full-Size from National MKE--MSP & got upgraded to a Cadillac for free!

JohnnyP

I've done several one-way rentals over the last year and have had no problem choosing a great car from the Aisle. YMMV.

ssullivan

Shouldn't be an issue at locations with Emerald and Executive Aisles where you can pick any car you want. And when I've been renting in a situation where a specific car was assigned to me, if I didn't like it, I've simply gone back to the booth or rental desk and politely asked for something else. Of course if nothing else is available, or if the rental desk is a long hike back inside the terminal, it may be a big pain to do this.

dd992emo

Agreed. I rent at a lot of podunk airports, so I rarely see an Aisle. TPA, or "Paa Zuri" (Swahili for Beautiful Impala), is the exception If I would get my butt to the airport sooner it wouldn't be an issue, as I would have time to check out the vehicle.

ezmonee

all rental companies work the same, pretty much, on one way rentals. At avis, this is what we do. This should help a bit on figuring out whats going on.

Each location has its "owned cars." when a one way rental goes out of zone, it needs to go back. Straight forward enough.

rather than sticking it on a truck or train, they try to rent it back to its base location as fast as possible. whenever a company rents its car back in the "general" direction of its home zone, the revenue from that rental is more. If you rent a "foriegn" car (foriegn meaning not from your home zone) to return to your location, your revenue spllit with the location that owns that car is much smaller. A good idea of how it works is Los Angeles and Las vegas. If I rent a car from Denver to LAX one way, LAX needs to rent the car back towards Denver, in theory. If they rent the car one way to las vegas, LAX gets 70% of the rental revenue off that rental and Denver gets 30% of the rental revenue. If LAX rented it to return to LAX, or to SFO instead, LAX only gets 10-30% of the rental revenue, and the rest goes to Denver.

So they are always trying like hell to give you cars that need to go back in that general direction when your renting one way. It really is operationally better for them. But as a customer, you always have the right to request a different car if the car you are in is too beat up. But it doesnt always work. Sometimes there are one way sales because there are too many one way cars in one location. they must get em out FAST. Ive known companies, not avis, to say "if you want a different car, you will get a different rate."

And honestly, knowing how that works, they can be justified in saying that if they wree smart enough to put some small print clause in the Sale Posting.

cmccool

I find that the one-way rental vehicles are no crappier than traditional return to location rental vehicles. A little less than half the time I seem to get extreme upgrades. The last one was Avis, but they offered an Expedition at the midsize reserved rate. My previous National one-way rental vehicle was an Aztec (strange vehicle). As others have said, one-way rentals from Aisle will not differ from standard rentals.

Mrp Alert

On my last 1 way HSV-BHM, I got a brand new G6 with < 1000 miles. After that trip, I had Avis update my preferred profile to request G6s whenever possible.

das

An easy "out" if you get a crappy car is a "check engine" or "oil change" light, just innocently ask for it to be fixed, and they'll just give you another car.

dgoedken

if you're an emerald aisle member you can choose though? I've done multiple 1-ways and always had the choice. I used the 1-2-free days and took the best there...and when I used my free days from having 7 rentals you can choose the car you want (yes, even super suv size)

Auto Enthusiast

I'm not sure why you bumped such an old thread. But anyway, some things have changed since then. For one thing, most locations use a corporate fleet, that randomly circulates around the country. So the plates don't matter. You could take a car with NC plates one-way from NY to Maine, for instance.

Hertz and Avis/Budget admit to giving away the worst car they have for one-ways. Not because a car "needs" to go back "home," but because they don't want the high mileage year-old heap of rubbish, and would prefer another location start taking their complaints about it for a change. So when you visit Hertz or Avis lots, look hard at the out of state cars and you'll soon find high mileage, worn interior, dirty wipers, bald tires, etc.

National is different, in that you frequently are offered a choice of cars. At Aisle locations, you can choose to take away the nicest car. So if you see a FL car in EWR, for instance, it might look just as neat and clean as the cars with NJ plates, except for possibly higher mileage.

dwbf11

Yup, that's correct. I'm actually doing the Hertz Local Edition a favor this week and taking their highest mileage, nastiest vehicle back to the airport for them

Joshua

I had a small airport station thank me for bringing them a nice, new car from a larger airport in a neighboring city.

The way National prices one-ways (per day charge, not per mile) makes them an economical "shuttle service".