Why cant car rental companies be standardized?

Parent Cafe
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<p>The thread on responsive customer service from the Apple stores makes me wish this was replicated in other industries.</p>

<p>While I generally only shop at two, the most three Apple stores over the years, I have generally had good service and haven’t felt like I was being " ripped off", or that I was treated like I was an idiot. Every store has roughly the same goods, and they charge similar prices.</p>

<p>That isnt true in the automotive industry, and my recent experience with a car rental has left me fuming.
Last year, I rented an intermediate size car in Portland over Christmas time.
By the time we picked it up, all they had left was a big crew cabtruck( has an extra seat behind the front seat). So we grabbed that for four days, the charge was $86 inc taxes.
It didnt cause a problem to move up a size although it was harder to get in & out of.</p>

<p>This year at Christmas we rented a car with the same company ( Enterprise), I had reserved a full size car as we had people & things to move around. All they had left was a midsize car ( chevy Malibu) and a Suburban. Well, we took the Malibu but it was a little small. </p>

<p>I expected that they would reduce the daily charge because a 4cylinder car, that is a tight squeeze for three adults to sit in the back, including one woman who was 5’1"&100lbs, and one who is 5’7"& 115lbs- is not the same as what they list as their full size option, a chev impala.</p>

<p>But they didn’t. They insisted that the malibu was a full size car and they charged as such- $50 a day( which is way more than their online list price for full size cars- $194 for a week)</p>

<p>We had it for six days and they charged me $395 when we picked up the car according to my credit card statement( although my receipt hard copy from the rental agency said they charged me $295), they charged me another $32.00 when we brought it back ( according to credit card statement, although the gas tank was fuller than when we picked it up and we didn’t receive a reciept or even know of any additional charges)</p>

<p>So how could I rent one car for four days in Pdx and be charged $86 & rent another car in Seattle at the same company for six days and be charged $432?</p>

<p>I realize that if I bought a car from one Ford dealer, it might be a different price from another Ford dealer, but I assumed that rentals would be different.</p>

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<p>Enterprise might have changed their policy from last year to this year.</p>

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<p>Possibly, but considering I booked it online, the weekly rental price was $163, but the actual price was $250
It also doesnt explain what the additional charge was for or why I was charged for a full size car when that isn’t what I was given.
Thank goodness we have consumer advocates to look into these things like my friend at the television station.:)</p>

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<p>Car rentals vary based on A LOT of things–rates when you made your rental, whether you had some discount code (AAA, federal employee, Entertainment, union, etc.), whether any special promotions were going on at the time, what cars are available at the location, fees & taxes of the place where you’re renting.</p>

<p>Yes, it would be nice if car rentals weren’t so apparently random and unpredictable, but this is where planning and comparing prices can make a LARGE difference. I tend to use Costco.com, since they usually have the lowest rates. I will reserve with them & then try to see if working directly with the car rental company I can get ANY lower rate. I also try to see whether my local AAA will match or beat the best rate I can find. Our S sometimes uses HotWire or PriceLine for car rentals, as he loves bargains. I like to know what car rental company I will end up with, so don’t like buying or bidding blind.</p>

<p>I would contest the difference between the price you were quoted and the one you were charged with your credit card company. Most companies have been VERY happy to help advocate and get us rates where we have written proof.</p>

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<p>Enterprise is known for their online versus location price. I would contest the rate. If I book on line, I always print out everything and never sign for a car unless I get what was stated. The last Enterprise rental that I did was one in Florida last August. The rate on line was about $70 less than the local counter. They tried to have me sign the local price but I refused and they reprinted the contract. I dislike dealing with them, but they do tend to have the lowest rates where I need to rent.</p>

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<p>I have pretty much stopped renting from Enterprise after a particularly bad experience we had in Denver about 10 years ago. H was working with them while I was trying to keep our teens relatively cheerful after we had been traveling 18 hours. They pushed him hard to buy all these extra coverages that more than doubled the cost of our rental before they would bring us our car so we could drive to the hotel. As soon as we got to the hotel & got us all settled, I called Enterprise at the airport where we had rented the car & asked them where their nearest location was because I was returning the car and going to complain loudly to everyone at Enterprise for pressuring H to upsell him insurance & all kinds of things we didn’t want or need. They apologized and asked if I would keep the car if they crossed out everything they had added & gave us the price and terms I had originally gotten on-line. Molified, I reluctantly agreed. I made sure when we returned the car that we only were charged the price I had booked on-line.</p>

<p>I am NOT a fan of Enterprise but know some others who swear by them (I just have not had good experiences with them). I do like most other rental car companies and have not had such problems.</p>

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<p>Seinfeld . . .</p>

<p>[Seinfeld</a> - The Car Reservation - YouTube](<a href=“Seinfeld - The Car Reservation - YouTube”>Seinfeld - The Car Reservation - YouTube)</p>

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<p>^^^^^^^I always loved that scene.</p>

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<p>Agree that if theyhave to give you a bigger car than you reserved they do ot change the rate, so at the very least they should honor your confirmed rate for whatever car theygave you, or reduce it if the current rate for the car you rented is less.</p>

<p>When we went to see S#1 in SF at Thanksgiving, we returned the car a few hours early, and they were going to try to change our rate to a much higher one because we didnt qualify for the weekly rate by showing up a few hours early (this was Hertz). Fortunately my DH is platinum or whatever and also in the gold plus rewards program, so the manager took care of it, but really? Bring the car back an hour or so early and get the rate changed? </p>

<p>You’d think Hertz treated him well because of the frequency of rentals. That would not be correct. He’s had hassles with them, crummy cars, poor service, you name it.</p>

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<p>We stopped going to Enterprise when we discovered that we weren’t allowed to travel out of state with the car. That can make sense, but not when you are at Lake Tahoe on the border. Sometimes rules get in the way of common sense.</p>

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<p>:confused:</p>

<p>You think if someone rents a car in Chicago and wants to drive to Gary, Indiana (30 miles away) Enterprise would say “no?” </p>

<p>That makes no sense and is totally untrue:</p>

<p><a href=“https://enterprise.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4613/kw/restrictions[/url]”>https://enterprise.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4613/kw/restrictions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I have driven Enterprise cars out of state with their knowledge dozens of times.
If an Enterprise rep told you that you couldn’t, they were incorrect.</p>

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<p>We use National’s Emerald Aisle and you reserve a compact size car and can pick any car they have on their lot. Love that feature. I can pick a car for what mood I am in or what my needs are. Sometimes we take a luxury sedan, othertimes it’s a minivan. I try to get the Toyota Camry as much as I can as I love that car. I rarely pay more than about $120 for a week rental-usually under $100 for a week.</p>

<p>Returning a car with a tank that was “fuller” then when you picked it up isn’t how it’s done. The tank has to be FULL. Just be glad you didn’t have to spring for a FULL tank of gas.</p>

<p>There are a lot of taxes, airport fees, etc. tacked on to rental cars too.</p>

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<p>The short answer to EK4’s question is: car rental pricing policies are like the pricing policies of airlines. They take into account fluctuating demand. Thus, a truck or van is worth more in Boston on September 1 (when everyone is moving) than it is in mid-December and the price is consequently higher.</p>

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<p>I have only ever had good outcomes renting from Enterprise but I must say I am not loyal to any of them…before renting I try all the individual sites as well as Hotwire and compare prices…there are so many variables…including those that charge for second driver and those that don’t. Can’t believe they wanted to charge you extra for bringing the car in early nor can they charge you more than the rate confirmed online…unless you changed the number of days or dates or type of car you asked for.</p>

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I am guessing that by returning the car an hour or so before we were originally planning to, it somehow missed the cutoff for the required length of time to qualify for the weekly rental, and tried to charge us a daily rate. It got worked out, but required a manual override.</p>

<p>The website flyertalk has a number of links to great rental rates. I will often go there first to see what deals are out there. The rates can vary widely.</p>

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<p>Yes, rental car company size classes may be different from what you may be assuming they are.</p>

<p>With $4 per gallon gasoline, some renters wouldn’t want that crew cab pickup instead of the economy car that they reserved.</p>