SuperG1955

I’m an Executive with National and a Hertz #1 Gold. Mrs SG has no status with any car rental company. We’re both AMEX Plat and can use that to join Avis or Hertz.

1. Mrs SG’s vehicle in NJ came off lease at the end of September and she has not leased or purchased a new one.
2. We split our time from Oct through May between the EWR and MSY areas on a 50/50 basis.
3. We want to have a car which we can share in MSY and she needs one in NJ.
4. We have rented from National in MSY and have been fairly satisfied with their cars and facility. Neither of us are 'into cars' so EI and ES don't mean much to us and frankly, it's easier to find parking for a mid-size in the French Quarter.
5. Mrs SG’s car lease, insurance, maintenance and airport parking at EWR totaled about 850-900 a month. We can eliminate all of that expense by renting at EWR when we’re there which seems to make financial sense.
6. We use the AMEX Premium Insurance plan for $24.95 per rental to cover all insurance.
7. With the exception of the Thanksgiving period at EWR, I’ve been able to book reservations at about $38 per day (all in) at EWR which is a cost saving. We decided that we can share my car during the Thanksgiving time frame.
8. We’ll have 87 rental days from 10/1 to 12/31 and over 300 rental days in 2009.
9. We're strictly on our own dime for all of this.

My questions are:

1. Does any part of the logic seem flawed.?
2. Mrs SG can achieve Executive Elite this year and we can both get it next year as well. Is there any real benefit to us of EE over Executive?
3. Is there a better rental service (Avis, Hertz, other) for us to use?
4. Alamo is cheaper that National and available at MSY but not EWR. Should we use Alamo in MSY and National at EWR? We can both still make EE next year an she’ll make E this year.
5. What haven’t I considered?
6. What ideas and suggestions do you have?

peteropny

Ok - a couple thoughts came to mind.

I take it that you still "own" one car - presumably located in NJ? If so you probably don't really need the $24.95 insurance since you are usually covered by your primary car insurance (check your policy / agent). Also, most credit cards provide "secondary" insurance (after the primary - your regular car insurance pays) - some even provide "primary".

Status benefits cannot be shared (eg if you have status - your wife cannot pick up a car and use your status). However, National allows people who live together (determined by the address on the driver's license) to drive the car without any additional rental fee - so the only problem you'll face is who picks up the rental.

EE benefits that are over Executive are that you earn a free day with one less rental credit than Executive - other benefit of car delivery to a FBO (private aircraft) presumably doesn't apply.

I guess that my suggestion is that you both go for Executive level - perhaps with you renting in MSY and her in EWR.

Tuneman1984

Another EE benefit that's useful is being able to book up to a fullsize car with only 24 hours notice, even if the location is sold out. It's come in handy a couple of times for me.

SuperG1955

Thanks for your thoughts peteropny,

Using the AMEX insurance came about as the result of having a parked rental hit and runned in MSY (surprisingly not an uncommon occurrence). AMEX covered the deductable to $500 but we carry a very high deductable, which has always worked for us in the past, and ended up with a substantial payment. The extra AMEX is about a break even if we have no claims and a benefit if we do have one. I will relook at the premium differences of lowering the deductable vs the AMEX costs though.

I was aware of the free 2nd driver that applied to us since we already use it in MSY.

The FBO would be a benefit since both TEB and NEW are convenient. We just got a mailing today about using our AMEX for a deposit on a Bombardier fractional ownership but we could fly paid F and spend a lot less. If we had those bucks we'd just have a car and driver in each location.

I'm also starting to figure out that the free days don't do much for us either. Our rentals average 6-7-days which is 1 point per rental and looking at the rest of the year, we'd actually get 3 days. That's factoring in her status and rental credit for each rental. We save more by using Alamo in MSY - same car, same express check out. I'll think I"ll look into their program as well. Too bad they don't rent at EWR.

Too bad that there are so few easy decisions in this world.

SuperG1955

Good point, thank you. In our case, we already have our travel plans through May 2009 pretty well set. Our flights are booked into Jan 2009 and there's little chance we'll have an unexpected last minute need.

SuperG1955

It looks like the analysis, combined with a read of the various FT forums has convinced me that this business is truly the bottom of the barrel in travel services. Since we each get 'Status' with Avis, Hertz, and National through our AMEX Platinum Cards and good discount codes for all of them plus Alamo through Veterans Advantage. We can 'avoid the lines' and select from suitable cars at any of them.

Therefore PRICE is king and we'll just shop the 4 for the lowest cost for each rental.