halifaxtraveler

Hi,

I’m wondering if someone here can give me some advice, both me and my wife are going to be visiting Banff area in a few weeks for a ski trip for 10 days, we going to have fair few bags with us. In total we will have 2 suitcases, 2 ski boot bags and a hard case with 2 pairs of skis and a few backpacks as our hand luggage.

We booked and prepaid for a Chevrolet Cruze with winter tyres from Budget a few months ago as this was the only size vehicle available with winter tyres and I was available to get a great deal on it, before booking I even called the location to ask if they had anything bigger as I was worried the vehicle could be too small with all our gear. I was told the only vehicles they carry with winter tyres was the Chevrolet Cruze or Hyundai Elantra, all other vehicles would have all season M+S tyres what we did not want.

Fast forward today, I was looking at my booking online and the vehicle now shows as being a VW Golf with winter tyres, so I called Budget to ask what going on, only to be told they now only carry the VW Golf with winter tyres at YYC and I’m out of luck if I need anything bigger with winter tyres, I was told my only option would be to change to a vehicle without winter tyres but there would be a extra cost for doing that as prices have gone up since making our booking back in December.

My question is how can they get away with this? Given I prepaid for a bigger car with winter tyres.

I’m also now worried we not going to get all our gear inside a VW Golf as it a compact car, vs midsize car that was booked.

Can anyone tell me what are my options and if there anything I can do.

Thanks

AutoSlash

Unfortunately, your options are extremely limited except to complain more or switch vehicles or companies. The Cruze and the Golf fall into the same vehicle class and are roughly equivalent in terms of passenger and cargo volume. Specific makes/models are never guaranteed. Additionally, the rental companies make only a limited number of vehicles available with snow tires, so you're kind of stuck with what is available. I know this is upsetting to you, but it is just the way it is.

While I understand your desire to have snow tires, most folks get along just fine with all-season tires, except in the heaviest of snow conditions. One of the AutoSlash staff grew up in Alaska and has driven all over the state in plenty of adverse weather, and he says that he never has a problem with all season tires on his vehicles. Just a data point to consider.

halifaxtraveler

Since when has the Golf been classed as a intermediate car? because last time I looked a Golf is classed as a compact car and a Cruze is a intermediate car.

There no point in me moving companies as it would end up costing me more then double now to go with someone else, what I don’t think is fine on me, and budget would change me fee to cancel my booking as it been prepaid for already.

AutoSlash

Since the rental car companies said so. Numerous other companies classify it that way as well. I'm not saying I necessarily agree, but that's just the way it is.

kalderlake

I would hesitate to switch to a vehicle with all-season tires.

Assuming the winter tires are good quality, and relatively new, they will far out-perform all seasons.

And if the driver is inexperienced in driving in winter conditions, the winter tires provide a much greater margin for error than the all-seasons.

Can't help with the other issues--would a roof-rack with extra storage be possible?

AutoSlash

Also keep in mind that Budget in Calgary is not an Avis-Budget corporate location. They are an independently-owned Budget licensee as per their local website. As such, complaining to Budget corporate probably won't help, but you could try to email them at [email protected]. Then again, if they only put snow tires on Golfs, they're probably not going to make an exception for you, so there may not be much point.

halifaxtraveler

Thanks for the advice, I would of accepted it had I’ll not of called them in the first place, but it the fact I’ll called them before we booked anything and I was promise I would get a Cruze or Elantra as they was the only cars they carried with winter tyres, only for them to lie to me and go back on there word.

If I had know this would of happened we would of booked a SUV with 4wd and saved almost $100, but we thought for the extra cost it was worth it just for the winter tyres just to be safe given we are going to be driving in the Rockies, and normally March they can see a far bit of snowfall in the Rockies.

Also to make things worse the location I’m picking up from in a few weeks has sold out of all SVU’s and only have Full size cars or below without the winter tyres and I would be looking at a extra $100 plus on top of what I have already paid.

I can’t believe car rental companies can get away with doing this, I think it totally wrong. If you prepay for a car they should be make to offer you the car size or bigger you paid for, they should not be allowed to downsize you in anyway.

jackal

Per https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/avis...ars-class.html, the Golf is a CCAR and the Cruze is an ICAR. No idea if that's still up-to-date or if this particular franchise honors that.

Regardless, all this does is illustrate why rental companies are so hesitant to guarantee anything specific. As of several months ago, sure, maybe they thought they were getting a shipment of Cruzes in. Rental car fleets change all the time--perhaps the GDP vendor they were going to lease the cars from changed things, or the order mix they thought they were going to get from Chevy changed and they didn't get the Cruzes they thought but the fleet manager found a good deal on Volkswagens instead. Budget's mistake was even offering you the option to book a specific car class with winter tires in the first place.

When I managed things in Anchorage, we outfitted a small number of our compact cars and a small number of our fullsize cars with studded tires. They were absolutely first-come-first-serve only for a strict $20 per day upgrade fee. We never prebooked reservations for studded tires, because we simply didn't know how many we'd have on hand at any time (and there's no "out" like there is with regular reservations, where you could always just give them a free upgrade to a bigger car or even an SUV), and before the winter season started, we often didn't even know if we'd have any studded cars in the fleet that year at all.

Anyway, your solutions in this case are:

-Keep your existing reservation and prepare to make a demand at the rental counter that you need a partial refund for accepting a smaller car than reserved and prepaid
-Keep your existing reservation and prepare to make a demand at the rental counter that they provide you with your originally-booked car size with a partial refund for the fact it no longer has winter tires
-Keep your existing reservation and prepare to make a demand at the rental counter that they provide you with a significant upgrade at no extra charge to something roomy and safe enough to offset the fact you're not getting winter tires (like an SUV)
-Change or cancel your existing reservation now and accept that whatever changes you make are final and you won't be able to request a refund or discount later
-Attempt to work the issue out in advance with the rental office over the phone now (by calling the location directly, not Budget's central line, and speaking with a manager).

What isn't going to happen: they're not going to put a pair of winter tires on a Cruze just for you. So be prepared to either accept a downgraded vehicle with winter tires, an equivalent-size vehicle without winter tires, or an upgraded vehicle without winter tires. I would say that it would be fair to receive a refund for the first two of those three options. If the location isn't willing to refund part of your rental if they give you a downgraded car or a vehicle without winter tires, you can attempt a complaint to Budget's corporate offices after the rental contract is closed and if you state your case clearly, there's a good chance they'll give you something for your complaint (as it would be a valid and fair complaint).

AutoSlash

Good advice from @jackal. If you're going to press them at the rental counter to make things right, then printing out the web page that shows Avis' fleet list that jackal linked to above would be a smart idea.

halifaxtraveler

Thanks for the advice jackal, I’m not asking for them to put a pair of winter tyres a Cruze just for me as I understand that not going to happen, what I’m asking for is a car that is the same size of a Cruze or bigger/similar with winter tyres as that what we paid for in the first place.

I have already talked with a manager at budget YYC and was point right told there nothing they can do for me, and he can’t offer me a partial refund as I already got a great price on the rental for the 10 days and they would be losing money if they refunded me anything else. I was told my only option would be to cancel my booking but there would be a $50 processing fee for doing that. It makes no sense for me to do that at this point as my opinions are limited at due to the time frame left before arriving in Calgary in a few weeks and I would end of paying more for a car without the winter tyres.

halifaxtraveler

halifaxtraveler

From time of booking

Finkface

What would be an acceptable outcome other than the statement bolded above? If the only cars they have are Golfs, then what would you have them do? They can’t magically give you a car that they don’t have so what is your next best favorable outcome? Determine that before you call in because if they don’t have the type of car that you want, they don’t have it. What would be acceptable to you, taking into account that, if you want winter tires, they just don’t have anything other than a Golf?

halifaxtraveler

I think an acceptable outcome in an idea world would be for them to find me a car rental in the form of a intermediate or bigger with winter tyres with someone else and they should have to foot the bill as that what I paid for in the first place, it should not be my problem to pay more for an error that is not my fault in the first place. I did everything right before booking and paying for my rental.

I was told Avis at YYC has Intermediate, Full size and SUV cars with winter tyres available but I would have to cancel my booking with Budget with a $50 fee and then rebook with Avis as they have there own counter at YYC and pay any difference in price, what is not something I’m prepared to do given the price to more then double with Avis.

I find this whole thing a joke and just another way of them to find another way of making more money off us.

Finkface

Ok, but assuming that isn’t going to happen (and it is very likely it won’t), what is your next best option? They don’t have the car you want so what is your plan B? Demanding something they can’t or won’t do isn’t going to get this resolved. Figure out what is acceptable to you that they can (or will) do. Holding firm on demanding they provide a car that they don’t have isn’t going to get this resolved. By all means ask them to rent you something from another agency but you should expect that probably isn’t going to happen so be ready with another solution in mind.