Best Frequent Car Rental Program ?
 

Hi All,

I was wondering what my fellow FT'ers consider the best frequent car rental program ?

I am looking at about 20-30 rentals next year and will probably rent along the lines of the following criteria:

- Full Size or Premium class cars
- Mostly from downtown locations
- I am not reallly interested in the miles, they are so small amounts anyway.
- Primarily I am looking for a program/company that has a decent selection of cars, and offers occasional upgrades to frequent customers.

I had a great experience with National the other day, but I dont think they really have any frequent renter levels.

Thanks in advance for any advice/insight/experiences..

J

Hertz might be what you are looking for. With 20-30 rentals a year, you'd have a psuedo-elite level called Five Star within the #1 Club Gold program, and that seems to earn quite a few upgrades. 40 rentals gets you President's Circle status, which yields a lot of upgrades.

For longer rentals, you could earn #1 Awards points which are actually quite valuable - 600 points = 1 Free Day, no strings attached and very few blackout dates. For short rentals, you could opt for Marriott Rewards points or #1 Awards points, or miles in a few programs.

Finally, Hertz seems to be more consistent at its off-airport locations than other companies. Even in places where they don't have any kind of Gold desk, they do recognize the status and make sure you either get an upgrade or at least get a nice car within class. (A very small location might not have any premium cars to give you.) Importantly: the process of renting from Hertz downtown locations doesn't change. Contrast that to some other companies, where paperwork and odd an inefficient processes might be used at small locations.

I'll second Hertz. The fact that you can reserve and get dropped off next to your car without having to stand in a line or go through any nonsense makes them the rental company for me.

Maybe some other company does this, but I haven't seen it. I chose Enterprise once and was obligated to walk around the car I was renting with a clipboard carrying sales attendant to verify that the car had no damage before I took it. She also tried to sell me useless insurance with all the enthusiasm of someone who had just gotten out of a ra-ra sales course.

Maybe I shouldn't be so harsh, but that was not what I needed at 3AM my time (I was flying west). No, its Hertz for me.

As an Emerald Club member of National Car Rental, the first stop of the courtesy shuttle bus is at the Emerald Aisle where I have my choice of any car in the Emerald Aisle section without having to wait in line. I choose my car, drive to the exit, wait for a moment or so for them to confirm my reservation and driver’s license and go. There is definitely no standing in line or going through any nonsense here.

My personal experience is that I prefer the Emerald Aisle over the Hertz #1Club Gold program, of which I am also a member. However, unlike Hertz, one disadvantage is that many of the Emerald Aisle locations do not have any form of shelter in the event of inclement weather.

Hertz #1 Gold has yet to let me down. The infrequent times that I have needed to exchange the car, usually for a smoke smell or other minor reason, they have not blinked, and sometimes upgraded for the inconvenience. You are first off the shuttle bus, you look for your name on the board outside the office, walk to your sheltered car and drive away. Once in New Orleans in July, the car was running with AC on full blast. Sweet. I tried several of the other companies, but there was too much inconsistency.

I use Hertz too and like the GPS system. However, aren't they expensive? I like the service so I haven't shopped it, but I feel like I'm overpaying.

It is cool being dropped off right at your car. My family was impressed when they came with me on a trip and they had to walk about 5 feet from the bus to our car.

JohnG, if price isn't that important I'm sure you'll be happy with Hertz - join the #1 Gold Club or whatever it's called. It's very convenient.

[This message has been edited by RS (edited Dec 10, 2003).]

Hertz #1Club Gold also has its inconsistencies — at least, when I was renting from Hertz more often.

For the exact same rate at the exact same location (Logan Airport in Boston), I remember one week getting a massive upgrade — a Ford Expedition. The very next week, I received a “downgrade” — a subcompact Japanese car in which someone had definitely smoked. It could not be exchanged because Hertz was just about depleted of their supply of cars. I wrote a letter and received $10.00 in coupons in the mail a few weeks later off my next rental.

In my experience, Hertz has many times been more expensive than the rates of other car rental companies. The $10.00 coupon wound up going to waste as I was able to get better rates with National, Avis and Thrifty (whom I would only recommend if saving money is the top priority, and that can be somewhat inconsistent as well), which was before the Coupon Connection forum on FlyerTalk).

Don’t get me wrong — along with my perception of more expensive rates, that was my only negative experience with Hertz. However, one is almost guaranteed a courtesy shuttle bus with Hertz to be waiting when arriving to rent a car.

I still occasionally rent from Hertz. In fact, one of my most recent rentals with Hertz was in Malta, as documented in my trip report, and I was completed satisfied with them.

I prefer the Emerald Aisle at National Car Rental, but if you decide to go with Hertz as the primary place to rent cars, I do not think you will go wrong.

One additional note: if you own your own business and you do decide to use Hertz as your primary car rental company, join their Business Account Program. Membership is free. You can earn free days of rental car certificates by accumulating points if you rent a car using your company’s CDP# and PIN code, provided to you when you first join. A 90-day bonus is included where one can rapidly accumulate points towards a free car rental.

A couple of things:

(1) There won't be any Emerald Aisle or full #1 Club Gold service at downtown locations - at least none of the ones I've seen. At busy downtown Hertz locations, there is sometimes a Gold desk (e.g., one end of the counter where a Gold member could go and get served quickly if there was a line).

At most locations there isn't even that, but it isn't necessary because there usually isn't a line and like I mentioned above, Hertz does recognize the status and uses a common computer system at all locations and follows the same rental process everywhere. (At least IME - I've rented off-airport from Hertz dozens of times.)

(2) Rental rates for downtown locations bear little correlation to our usual experiences at airport locations. The good thing with Hertz is that most coupons and discount codes work at off-airport locations. But...the dirt cheap weekend rates usually aren't as low. In most cities, I've found that by playing with promo/coupon codes I could get Hertz rates to come out similar to those at Avis, Budget, etc. Once in a while, a Payless or Enterprise would come up significantly cheaper - then I decide whether it's worth it roll the dice with "Not Exactly" to save some money.

(3) The unfortunate situation that Canarsie describes - a location out of cars in your car class - unfortunately happens more at a downtown location than it does at airports because they might only have a few cars on the lot to begin with. This works in my favor (free upgrade) about ten times as much as it works against me, but I have had to take an occasional downgrade. Hertz has been very apologetic when this has happened and usually changes my rate to something very favorable. (If you are renting a specialty car or truck, you might want to talk to the locations directly to see how sure they are that you will get exactly what you booked.)

For several years, I registered ZE1 in the points field for my Hertz rentals, and accumulated many Hertz #1 Club Gold points.

Then in 2000 Hertz closed the city location around the corner from my house. I have rented from Hertz from time to time at airports since then (but did not always remember to ask that ZE1 be written into the loyalty program field).

Last week, I tried to get a total of my points on the Hertz web site. I found a zero balance.

I e-mailed Hertz, and received a canned response that Hertz points expire if new ZE1 activity is not logged every year or two. Lo and behold, if you forget to enter ZE1 in the loyalty field, your points may vanish.

I continue to feel that points expiration on any loyalty program works against the program. Once points are "expired" by the company, the consumer feels a kind of anti-loyalty.

I certainly will think twice before renting from Hertz again.

I agree about expiration dates on miles/points. The worst part is that with some programs, you have no idea what their rules are unless you read some very fine print.

At least with most big airlines, expiration dates for your miles are easily found on the main screen with your mileage balance. With some hotel and car programs, it's buried in the fine print. I lost some Alamo points like this about 4 years ago and now I consider an Alamo rental only after considering several other companies. I've heard stories about HHonors points vanishing, but we were able to redeem about 50,000 points out of my wife's two-year-dormant account a couple of months ago.

Fortunately I do enough Hertz business that I won't lose my ZE1 points. But I will be careful to redeem them in a timely manner when/if I stop renting cars altogether.

I would never recommend nor consider renting from Alamo. I have not rented from them in at least 10 years.

As far as lost HiltonHHonors points, one may want to refer to this thread for more information, as the information here may help one in getting Hertz or other car rental program points back as well.

I have memberships in all the car programs but the best for upgrades and service has been Hertz. I am at 5* and have gotten an upgrade about 90% time at airports with the last being a double class upgrade. Sometimes the car is running to warm it up. Hertz does seem to have higher rates but I pay them when not too divergent.

At Avis I have never gotten an upgrade even though it is one of the perks. Budget is OK and you can collect rental points and their fastbreak works pretty well but I get more upgrades at Hertz and a little more service it seems. I do like the National Emerald Isle service but again Hertz seems better.

Wow, thanks for all the info guys !!

Looks like Hertz is definitely the No.1 choice on FT. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

The only thing I am still slightly confused about is whether the upgrade chances are better at downtown locations or at the airport ?

I always thought upgardes at the airport would be quite rare (as a no status/5* renter) due to all the road warrior PC members snagging the automatic upgrades ? However, Hertz obviously has more cars to work with at an airport location, so that may be an advantage.

Also, would it be safe to assume that most premium/luxury cars are rented during the week, so one has a better chance at moving up a class on a weekend rental ? Just guessing here.. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

Thanks
J

In most cases, the upgrades are easier to snag on weekends at both downtown and airport locations. Anytime I do any kind of long weekend roadtrip, I rent from my local Hertz. We love Camrys for a long roadie, and have turned down several SUV or Merc/Linc offerings to get a Camry.

The only caveat is that a localized spike in demand (e.g., a large event at a hotel very near the Hertz location) could drain the location of cars quickly, even though the airport and the rest of the city has availability. That's pretty rare IME though...

I probably rent as much as, or a bit more than, you and generally from Hertz. I'd say my upgrade success with them is about 90-95% at airport locations and 10% at downtown locations, but most of those are in NYC on weekends, where an entirely different market is in place. Although it can be very frustrating, I think Never Lost is really useful when you don't know the city. I use Avis periodically for the BA mileage bonuses or when it prices significantly cheaper, and, like one of the posters above, have not had good experience with upgrades with them, even though I am supposed to get them. At least in the NYC metro area, Hertz with the AAA discount usually prices less than Avis with any discount I have with them. I think National's Emerald program is great, and they are usually cheaper than Hertz, but they're not everywhere, and I've found it more worthwhile to consolidate my renting with Hertz, get the points and the free rental cert after 15 rentals.