<p>Have been having a lot of mixed car rental experiences–some OK, some good and some pretty unpleasant. Just wondering about the rest of you. Have most recently had mixed experiences with Dollar. They tried to charge us an extra day at the counter because we were at the counter before we said we would pick up the car (by about 5 minutes), so we said, by the time we finished completing the paperwork and actually got the car, it would be the time we had estimated. We were rather unhappy and sent a comment after we returned the car. They apologized and gave us $50 in coupons to apply to any future rental. The next rental with them was OK, but the line took an HOUR to get through–absolutely VERY VERY slow.</p>
<p>We used to use Alamo and Hertz a lot, but not much since all the mergers. Also used to use Budget from time to time, but haven’t recently. Just was trying to book with BUDGET. After booking on Costco.com, was trying to add the RapidRez, FastBreak number but they said that would cause the rate for the car rental to be recalculated, just to add the number to the reservation!–WHAT!!!</p>
<p>Was reading reviews of the various rental car companies, especially for SFO and LAX. There were a lot of complaints, especially due to long wait times for picking up the car and overwhelmed staff, plus some trying to upsell and sometimes cars not being available at the promised times. Anyone with personal experiences recently? Thanks for any insights. Was able to book with Costco.com at lower rates than most other places–anyone have better booking sites to recommend?</p>
<p>Fortunately, we haven’t experienced being charged for damage to rental cars after returns, but try to be careful to document damage when we pick the cars up, including photos whenever we can (just protecting ourselves). Only one small local company on a neighbor island tried to charge us once for a flat tire they said we caused but refused to provide any documentation so the credit card company reversed the charges.</p>
<p>Preferred car rental companies? Alamo? Budget? Hertz? Enterprise? We’ve had a lot of high pressure upselling from Enterprise, so are not fond of them, plus their rates aren’t great.</p>
<p>In SJC, we mostly end up with Enterprise via Costso. They are OK, but National is better - they let you loose in the pickup area and do not try to upsell with a “full size” gas guzzler. </p>
<p>Also, SJC tends to be uber expensive during the week, but sometimes picking up in SFO and returning in SJC is much cheaper than doing the return at the pickup location.</p>
<p>Over the Thanksgiving weekend I used Budget at LAX twice. It was easy both times. A shuttle ride to the off-airport lot is required, but the wait wasn’t too long. Sign up for their FastBreak program so that you can bypass the counter. Once you get to the lot, you just choose any car in the category you reserved and drive off - really easy!</p>
<p>Used Hertz at LAX last summer. Car not ready when promised and a long wait in line to find that out – they tried to upsell us to something very fancy for about 3x as much. Car had a small issue, reported it when returning, and we <em>know</em> that car was not serviced before sending it back out. I think my next trip I’ll try someone else.</p>
<p>Yup, forgot Hertz in Palm Springs. Avoid them like the plague! The agent was soooo slow, taking 20 min per customer! And she tried to be chatty and sell insurance really hard. No wonder they were the cheapest.</p>
<p>All of the above if cheapest. Last car rental was out of LAX last May. So many over the years in various places I can’t remember companies. We have had a free upgrade once or twice- and said no to one with low mpg. We have generally found the best prices for one of the major companies and have switched before the rental if we found a better deal. It seems as though the terms are becoming more similar now- extra driver, unlimited miles et al. H once had declined options online but some were added at the counter and he initialed one of them- He’s now more careful. Always remember your own car insurance coverage. Filling the tank or not- so price dependent as well.</p>
<p>I rented a car from Enterprise at LAX last summer with no problems, even though a lengthy flight delay meant that I picked up the car 8 hours later than expected. </p>
<p>However, when I called and told them I would be delayed, they said that they could not guarantee me a car if I was delayed beyond midnight. I beat that deadline by less than an hour.</p>
<p>Yea, we had two pretty bad experiences with Hertz in two summers in a row, so swore off them for several years. Our AAA was able to get us some Hertz cars at competitive rates for a few years, so were pleased when we went back to them and found it mostly much better.</p>
<p>Have not stuck with any particular brand lately and feel like most are fairly similar–upselling, understaffed, long lines and you can’t predict whether a smoker has ever rented your car prior to you, no matter what is advertised.</p>
<p>Hmmm. just got off the phone with a friend. He rented two cars over the holidays. The first was with Dollar in Chicago. He had a written confirmation. When he arrived, there was NO CAR! There were also 7 other folks who arrived and had NO car as well. He next went to another city. Before arriving, he called Hertz to confirm that his reservation WAS still confirmed and that there were cars available for him per his rental. He was told everything was fine. When he arrived. there was only ONE rental car in the lot, which was a higher and more expensive category than the one he had reserved. The agent tried to get him to take it at a higher rate, but he refused. While they were talking the person who had reserved the larger car arrived and wanted his car. It was clear that the agent was saying whatever he felt was convenient and would get him out of his current problem without worrying about what would happen to the customers.</p>
<p>My friend wrote some strongly worded letters, naming the agents he spoke with in both cities. He was VERY unhappy!</p>
<p>Over the years I have come to realize that rental cars are the same across all the companies. So, I actually use Priceline to bid on rental cars. This probably doesn’t work very well during peak rental periods such as holidays or summer in Hawaii, but I always get a really great deal. Am treated the same way as any other customer. The only issue is that you have to prepay and you will lose it all if you suddenly cancel your trip or something.</p>
<p>I think the horribly long lines at the rental counters are just the luck of the draw. I’ve encountered horrible lines at every one of the companies. Fox Rental is one of the cheapest in our local airport area and those lines are long long long with lots of upsell pressure. It is way off-airport and full of international tourists so they must have strong advertising in Europe for tourists coming to San Diego. We use them locally when we need a car for something unusual.</p>
<p>Hate Fox. Gave me a PT Cruiser with soaking wet (freshly carpet cleaned) interior carpets and insisted that it was the only car available, though I’d signed up for a smaller vehicle. Then had tremendous trouble when they tried to bill me extra because the car wasn’t turned in on time after their computers were down at the turn-in location and they didn’t get around to formally checking in all the cars until after midnight. Thank goodness for the Amex rep who got that I couldn’t have been returning the vehicle several hours after landing at my home airport; a concept the Fox customer service rep seemed to completely miss.</p>
<p>I’ve used Costco/Budget several times quite successfully; my fastbreak number is loaded in and I walk up and pick out my car and leave (or do whatever the fastbreak process is at that airport; I don’t think I’ve ever waited in a line more than one deep)</p>
<p>The prices I just booked are less than 50% of the prices I got when I was booking further away from our travel dates. It’s pretty wild, but am happy that even with taxes, am paying about $20 a day more or less for the car. That seems reasonable.</p>
<p>I am being careful to cancel the old, more expensive reservations after I make less expensive ones.</p>
<p>Yesterday, my dad needed a rental car. They wanted to charge him over $100 for just a few hours and miles! He said that’s crazy and took a taxi instead, and caught a ride back to their airport with the other attorney. He saved the client over $70 in expenses.</p>