Punki

We have been pretty willy nilly about rentals cars in the past but now that I am a serious WebFlyer, I guess I should settle down and pick one and start building some points.

What are the pros and cons of the various companies? I need one nationwide. Wouldn't hurt to include Europe as well.

Thanks in advance for advice.

flyguy

Punki, Would avoid Budget as their program now takes FOREVER to get a decent award. It was the best as four rentals got a free day and 16 rentals got a free week--the system used stickers you pasted on a card and mailed in for certificates. Hope this helps.

[This message has been edited by flyguy (edited 09-10-1999).]

pgupta011

I usually go for the cheapest rental factoring in the miles for the rental. Budget and Thrifty give 500 miles per rental with Alaska. Avis gives 500 miles per rental with BA. Occasionally other companies have double or triple (times 50 miles per day typically) promotions.

Hertz has several options: Hertz #1 points, airline miles or Marriott points. Its very complicated figuring out which is the best value among these choices, but if you want free car rentals you may want to consider #1 points.

[This message has been edited by pgupta011 (edited 09-10-1999).]

BlondeBomber

My decision is determined by cheap and convenient (prefer in terminal locations unless I know the airport and what is involved in shuttling--but I will take the shuttle if I am not pressed for time, e.g. on holidays, and I can get $10 less per day rental).

Most rental companies in Canada give 500 miles on one of my airline plans. In the US, cheap has always been acceptable (have rented from Resort, Payless etc.) except with long lines at Alamo (recently sort of solved with Quicksilver card--heaven help you if there is something wrong with your vehicle and you have to go find a counter agent behind one of those long lines though). The cheaper ones generally have slower checkin/out service but not always.

I have been most happy with Avis and Hertz for their service and generally good quality of cars (exception was Hertz in Albuquerque).

Thrifty has been a pain to get mileage credited in my plan, but this has been offset by $15-20/day cheaper rentals in one city that I travel to regularly.

Budget was slightly behind Avis and Hertz in ease of check in until recently. I just rented from them this week and was pleasantly surprised with the efficiency and attitude of staff.

shadow

I take a totally different position on rental cars. My preferred co. is National, mainly because of Emerald Aisle service. I've never looked at car rental as a major source of points/miles, only for convenience in getting on the road quickly.

I got complimentary Emerald Club when I made PremEx on UA about 10 years ago, and have had it ever since. They claim it costs $50/yr?, but it renews every year at no charge.

Lately though, National's rates have been higher than usual. My last rental in EWR was from them, with a good weekly rate. My trip this Sunday to LAX, I'm using Dollar because they had the best rate and I can use the Web upgrade (booked online).

National has mostly GM cars, and as Emerald you generally get a nice one. When the bus drops you off at the Emerald Aisle, you can take whatever is there. If you don't like the selection, you can go inside and ask for something else. It doesn't always work, but sometimes does.

I've gotten SUV's & Cadillacs in LAS & DFW, but only mid-sized cars in SLC & CLE. Had a brand new Olds Intrigue last week & a Buick LeSabre in PHL. All these at the same rate.

If you're going for points/miles, National is probably not your best choice. I prefer the comfort of a nice car instead.

BTW, National is called Tilden in Canada and Kemwel (I think) in Europe.

[This message has been edited by shadow (edited 09-10-1999).]

Jon Toner

Dollar gives 500 miles on CO, and is usually cheap for the small size (but once you get into midsize, they join the rest of the pack). The biggest inconvenience is that they are usually off airport.

If I am going to a customer site within 30 minutes to the airport, I want a cheap car. That usually means Dollar. If I am driving an hour or more to the site, I want a midsize car which is comfortable to ride. That usually means Avis or National.

I also keep terrain in mind. My hotel in Branson, MO was at the bottom of a 15% grade hill. It was steeper than some roller coasters I've been on. The little 4-cylinder car I was given (they'd lost my midsize reservation) BARELY made it to the top, and I had to turn off the A/C, just to be safe.


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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."

stimpy

I have memberships in Hertz Gold, Avis Preferred Select, and National Emerald. So I have 3 choices at whatever city I land at. Like Shadow, I don't care about the points since there are so few with Car Rentals. If you use Amex Rewards, you get enough points that way.

I usually will try all three companies when making a reservation. This is because they always have a different special going on. Lately, I've been into SUV's. I generally get them for about the same rate as a mid-size due to a promotions. I'm driving a new Chevy Blazer w/CD player now for $209 per week thanks to an Avis promotional rate.

Also I may base my decision on how good the agency is at a given airport. Some are much longer walks than the other, some are overloaded as Hertz used to be a SFO before all the agencies consolidated. You get to learn these things after a while.

myleguy

I think Dollar has reduced the CO mileage it awards per rental. It is now more in line with everyone else (50 miles per day or 2miles per $, I can't remember which).

RichG

I agree with stimpy and shadow. My only goals are to get a comfortable car and to get out of there quickly. Hertz #1 Gold and National Emerald Aisle are about equal in this regard. One exception out of a few that come to mind: National at LAX often doesn't have cars ready.


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I'm only in it for the mileage

shadow

I'll ad a PS, now that I've read the other posts. I'm also a Hertz #1 Gold, but find their prices to be generally higher than National, in the cities I travel to. The service with them is great though.

Another factor that I forgot to mention is the trend towards shared busses & rental facilities. In DFW & CLE especially, the rental cos. are in one main location and use one bus for all. I've had 3-4 busses pass me by in DFW because they were full. Even though they are off-site, I switched to Alamo, Thrifty or Dollar in DFW since they have their own bus. CLE has 6 rental cos. on the same facility, about 3 miles from airport. It seems to take forever to get a car this way.

One of the counter people at DFW told me they get more complaints about the shared facility than anything else.



[This message has been edited by shadow (edited 09-11-1999).]

QuietLion

If I want Neverlost, then I rent from Hertz, because they're the only one who has it. If not, I use http://www.biztravel.com to automatically pick the cheapest rental based on my discounts and memberships in the various companies. (Warning: always click "more choices" to get the complete list.)

I won't use Dollar because of several bad customer-service experiences.

doc

Willy nilly is right as it applies to me. I belong to all the majors "ease of use clubs." Hertz #1 Gold, Avis Preferred Select and National Emerald Isle constitute my big three, but I also will go Budget or Thrifty. As metioned above by pgupta, I too tend to call and take the cheapest, using relative convience as the tiebreaker. The programs change too frequently and points, etc are too much of a hassle to really have much impact. Hertz used to always seem to be out of my reserved/gauranteed category and offer a free upgrade but that is not so often the case for me these days!

Catman

At my company, Hertz is the preferred car rental firm. Although I can't understand why my company wants to pay extra for sometimes similar service from other car rentals.

I avoid Avis. I had problems with them finding my reservation in Florida a few years back and their "I don't care"attitude makes me say "they REALLY need to try harder.

I'm also with National's Emerald Club which I got a few years ago. I try to use this one as early and often as possible. I'm generally satisifed with their service.

Although I hate driving and if I can use the Public Transportation system.

ALW

Car rental companies have ridiculous pricing policies. I had booked a Hertz car at YYZ for two weekend days (Sat AM-Sun PM) but then flew out Fri PM. I called Hertz #1 Gold from YOW and they wanted another $40 for the 2 days! Of course I didn't have any choice at that point so I took it.

Avis had an AC Websaver that weekend, so I called them when I got to YYZ and they gave me a car for a lower price than the new daily rate from Hertz. Once I got in the car I cancelled the Hertz (I could tell from the crowd hanging around, that they rented it as soon as it was freed up; or maybe they were going to make me wait!) They seem to treat their cars like airline seats, the closer to the time they more they charge (as if the car will go empty, and as if you have no choice).

Anyway, the point is it works the other way. I've already booked all my LAX 1-week reservations with Hertz through December (I like the Taurus, and the CAA/AAA rate can be really low -- that's another thing, too many promotional prices, most of them leading to 10% off rack rate; I've given up and stick with AAA rates). I called last month to tell them I was now flying in on CP, and four hours later than planned. They checked the rate and it was almost U$100 cheaper for the week than I'd booked! The moral is, re-check the rate at least once to see if it's gone down since you booked (they won't lower it unless you ask).

andrew

jamiel

I have pretty varied tastes generally leaning toward the cheap, but also rely on good past experiences. I'm a member of Hertz 1gold and Nat'l Emerald. Here goes for my choices

ORD--either Hertz or National. Weekends Natl usually cheaper and perfectly acceptable. During the winter, Nat'l is a mess because they strew the cars around the lot b/c of the mounds of snow, Then I go with Hertz.
MKE--had reasonable luck with Avis and a cheap rate
BNA and TYS--Alamo--the name brands at these airports tend to be licensees.
Florida: Generally prefer National (watch out for Hertz at MCO--off airport)
MCI--crapshoot. Budget used to be a licensee that had Hondas, but haven't seen any there for a long time. 10 years ago they even had manual-transmission Honda Accords!!
STL--crapshoot now that they've moved off-airport
CMH--Thrifty, of all things--off airport but in the direction I'm usually going, and have had good service and good rates
CLE-haven't been there since they moved to the common areas--probably now a crapshoot although I used to use National there
ATL-crapshoot
PHX-avoid National (far off airport, although with a desk inside the terminal).

jl