Sixt Gold (status match)
Maui (OGG)
Booked: Premium Mystery Car
Received: BMW X3

This was a pretty good short notice deal for President's Day weekend, especially for Hawaii. Three days (non pre-pay), $280. The car was immaculate and low miles. The only reason I got it was because they were out of standard cars and were offering luxury cars for essentially no premium over the standard rates. For reference, the cheapest Costco Travel offerings were almost $200 more, and that was for economy/mid-size or small SUVs (Toyota RAV4).

You booked on the Sixt site directly?

Also, I have found that at EWR Sixt is charging huge cancellation fees for both prepaid and postpaid rentals - kind of ridiculous when their competitors are not charging for postpaid reservations.

I booked through Sixt directly.

Over the last 2 months:

Sixt Platinum
SEA (SeaTac Airport)
Booked XCAR: (BMW 5 Series)
Received: 2021 740i (twice) and an Audi Q8

This was a few months ago, but:

Sixt Card (no Gold or Platinum)
NYC Battery Park
Booked: LCAR (Volvo S60)
Recieved: Brand-new Volvo XC60 (4k miles if I remember correctly), one that was fully loaded at that!

Hi all,

I am a frequent Sixt customer in Germany. However, I currently have my first US booking with Sixt (MIA - Miami International).

I got a pretty good deal for a Toyota Camry (FCAR) but I am actually planning to upgrade to a higher vehicle class. In Germany, it usually makes most sense to do the upgrade at the counter when picking-up the vehicle? Hence, I was wondering if the same holds true for the US? Otherwise I would just modify my booking right away and go for a higher class.

I know that there are no "one size fits all" answers but I would appreciate any input.

Thanks!

In my limited (a few years ago) experience (as a Platinum member) with Sixt in the USA, they tend to give you a decent upgrade.

Not sure what is the case at present though...

Sixt Gold (status match Mariott)

Car rental mid of feb at AMS Schiphol:
Booked: BMW5 (PDAR)
Got: AUDI A3 (ILAR)
Apparently because there was nothing else with winter tyres (although reserved).

Car rental end of feb at LIS airport:
Booked: MB C-class wagon (FWAR)
Got: MB V-class (XCAR)
Apparently there was nothing else then but this van. Drove fine but was old (3 year+, navigation was not up to date, no apple airplay etc).

Car rental begin nov 2021 at LAS airport:
Booked: Premium Mystery Car
Got: BMW X3
Had to do a choice upgrade (said it was discounted) because the initial offered premium car wasn't really premium and again there was nothing else available.

So basically 3x a downgrade.

That's pretty "sucky". A van for a C-Class, I'd probably have walked if there would have been any chance for something else elsewhere . Also how hard is it to have a A6 / 5 series / E-Class with winter tires at an airport station in Mid -Feb - and Sixt is supposed to be one of the good ones, sigh. Hope they reduced the rate for the A3 and that you have better luck with your future rentals.

As for the van it was the only thing they had. Another customer was standing at another sixt counter before I arrived, was angry there wasn't an car avaible for him (or atleast no automatic) went to another hire company (I believe Avis) and was turned down there as well. Strange thing, when picking up the car in the garage it was full of cars, also in the category I booked. No idea how it works, but it feels strange.

The thing at Schiphol was indeed a shamble. There where major disruptions because of the storm but still I reserved a car week beforehand. And I eventually got a better rate on the A3 (very new car < 1000 km on it) but was offered an higher rate twice (first because of all kinds of insurances i didn't need, second time because of the rate they choose).

All in all not the best Sixt expierence.

Come to think of it, a while back I was 'upgraded' from a BMW1 to an Audi A2. Not much upgrade if you ask me.

I just called into the Sixt USA line and asked them why my Platinum rates weren't appearing on the website and one device's app.

She first stated that I had to re-register to get the Plat status, but then I requested her to check my status and she said I was Plat.

Then regarding upgrades, she stated that there was a note in bold stating "not eligible for upgrades" - Anyone know why this is??

She gave me an even better rate than the website, but at the same time, both Hertz and Budget (through AutoSlash) have better cars much cheaper than their offering...so only with an upgrade would I even consider renting from Sixt!

PS: Anyone have any (recent) experience renting at BER - Berlin Brandenburg?

I enquired about the platinum discounts a few weeks ago, as well, and the reply I got was: "the discount is up to 15%". In other words: if they choose to give you 0% then you get nothing. It worked for well over a year before that.
Re upgrades: if you got platinum through a status match then you only get platinum upgrades for 12 months after the match. In those 12 months you have to qualify for platinum on your own merit to keep the upgrade benefit. So your account may still show platinum but you can lose the upgrades.

How did that work, exactly? If you have multiple avenues for complimentary Platinum, can you rotate through them? It sounds like they don't actually downgrade you, so I can see that not working, but I was curious to see if anyone had tried to 'upgrade' to full-Platinum from Platinum-Lite.

So, i you have hold Platinum, then downgraded to Platinum "Light", you stay there or you would be downgraded lower in 12 months after Platinum "Light"?

Maybe if you book using the new profile then but I don't know if it works. I only just passed my 12 months and will probably have my first rental als Platinum Lite in a few days. I do have Gold on my own merit so maybe they'll take that into account. They've upgraded me every single time I've rented with them, even before I did the match to Platinum.

I have no idea.