Rental Car Experiences?

Sandman6472

Basically the same actually but the Captiva is a bit more tossable due to it's smaller size but both do drive very nicely. I'd get the Captiva though if in the market but the only catch is that Chevy don't offer it for sale in America from what I can tell. We did a search and found it for sale in Canada only though I did see a used one for sale awhile ago at the Hyundai dealer up the street. Not sure why Chevy doesn't sell it in America unless one can get the Equinox as a 5 seater but I'm not really sure. I like the higher driving position for sure but think I'd prefer the Hyundai Tuscon if I had this size vehicle as my d d. Overall, Chevy did real good with this vehicle...and I'm not really a domestic lover...and I'd have o problem owning one of these if I wanted this kind of vehicle!

The Sandman :sick: :shades:

stever

"The Hertz Penske GT, a hot version of the Ford Mustang GT, has been added to the car rental agency's Adrenaline Collection.

The Hertz Penske GT will be available for rent at 15 Hertz airport locations for up to $180 a day."

Hertz Penske GT Debuts, but for Rent Only

Sandman6472

Been very slow these last few days...haven't worked since the 2nd, a new record! Called me in to do lot to lot a little while ago but was already out and doing stuff...was also for another crew. Felt badly but logistically, it would not work. Hopefully they'll be something available in the morning or it's gonna be a very small check!!!

The Sandman :sick: :shades:

fintail

Hertz and their optimistic pricing for prestige rentals. I'd like to see Sixt offer something similar for half the money like they do with other highlines.

Sandman6472

Sixt seems to be doing pretty well down here in South Florida and they do have a great selection of high line German vehicles. I love when we do a job for them and the last few times have had me in an X3, and X5 and an SLK coupe. Hopping to finally get into a GLK one day soon. So far, the C Classes's and GLK's have been sitting in the Hertz outer lot until they get prepped and ready for the ready lines.

The Sandman :sick: :shades:

stickguy

was pricing out rentals for a trip to SC next month. Just need something basic for a couple of days.

they have way too many classes. And I had to laugh when Hertz listed a Corolla as the representative car for the intermediate class! That was 3rd from the bottom (subcompact Accent, Compact Focus, intermediate). On up to standard next (Altima?) and full size (Malibu).

I thought a focus was bigger/nicer than a Corolla, but what do I know?

The silliest part, there was no more than $1-2 difference between the classes. Go from an Accent to an Altima for about $5/day, at most.

fintail

They are competing on price and vehicles, and no doubt getting a lot of European tourists who know the name.

I am assuming their X5 is in the same category as the ML (unlisted on the site) - when I was there last year, I saw a lot of MLs at MCO and some GLKs at FLL, but no BMWs. With BMW and MB in a sales war, I could see a BMW fleet dump to keep things moving. The only thing about rental GLK is that they will be very basic spec.

On the Mustang note, I remember last year at FLL, Sixt had some 5.0 Mustangs that probably could have been rented for no more than $40-50/day. Not as fancy as the Hertz car, but a fraction of the cost, and still fast. Euro tourists LOVE to rent Mustangs and Camaros.

fintail

I think all companies have some weird logic like that. I notice Sixt groups Corolla and Fusion in the same class - while the latter is a lot nicer than the former. Sixt also lists Focus as compact, and Corolla as "standard" - 2 classes above (Economy, Compact, Intermediate, Standard, Full) the Focus.

And there too, an Accent is about $4.50 less/day than a Fullsize. I'd pay it.

Sandman6472

We drove the X3's down to their Miami Beach location and about a month ago, we took 11 Mustang's up to their Orlando off airport site. We also took them Tahoe's a week before that. We seem to be getting more work from Sixt lately which is a good thing as Hertz and Dollar haven't been calling much. And when they do, it's only for 5 or 6 people and since I live the farthest away by maybe 2 miles, I'm not being called in which I'm unhappy about! Hoping things pick up very soon as I miss driving across or up the state! Am trying very hard not to take it all personal, but the more I hear from co-workers...not so sure. Folks have been letting the cat out of the bag lately and they're coming to me to tell me...so obviously they're also confused as to why I'm not being chosen to work! They all have said that he's not pissed off at me either so a bit confused!

The Sandman :confuse: :sick: :shades:

fintail

Are the hottest summer months usually the slowest for Florida tourism? Maybe there isn't enough demand to employ everyone all the time, or maybe the manager/boss is inept or a jerk. Are there any other rental transport companies for you to work with?

Sandman6472

Yes, South Florida in the summer isn't some place I'd really want to go to as it gets pretty hot but from what I've been seeing, the rates for lodging are exceptional...but guess folks are doing Orlando and north for their summer get ways. Obviously not enough work for all but if I were the boss, start at the top and work my way down. Once I get my quota, use that point as the starting point for the next job and continue this way...then, everyone would get a fair chance to work. Just because someone lives 5 miles away, they shouldn't have preference over that person living 20 if both are good workers and willing to work...it's just about trying to keep the work hours distributed somewhat equally and fairly. True, some folks have this job as their only means of support and some of us have pensions or social security or disability as their main means, but this job was posted as a part time gig and not full time...just use your workers so everyone has a chance to work equally is all I'm saying. Not much job loyalty because if I could get a similar gig with a regular schedule, I'd be out the door in a heartbeat personally! I look daily too because I really want to work every other day, 7 out of every 14 days would be optimal for me and this way my checks would be somewhat nice while I get time to rest up.

The boss seems to be o k, only had one run in with him where I took some speed bumps a bit too quick for him so he read me the riot act...that was in the beginning and since then, all's been good I think but I know he definitely prefers some of the others as he jokes with them all the time and calls them first usually. But that's his right and he doesn't have to try to keep everyone's hours within in sync if he chooses not to. If he is doing this, it would stink but I really have no solid proof except from what the others tell me...and they do call me and tell me when they've worked and I've not...not sure why either! Kinda weird but hey, that's just the way things are. All I want is a level playing field with everyone getting an equal opportunity to work and everyone's hours within a % of everyone else's no matter what the situations at home are...spread the hours around equally.

The Sandman :sick: :shades:

fintail

I have to believe there is more than one company that handles rental car fleet shuttles. In a place like Florida, I know rental cars are huge business and there are many companies. Maybe a web search could find another, put your name in with it too? Double your odds.

I'll be there in less than 2 months now...will be interesting to see if I get my $38/day E-class or get put in something else.

berri

Fin, the Sixt in Orlando has a lot of Dodge minivans - just kidding!

fintail

I've prepaid, so they'll put me in something decent. A GL would kind of be like a big minivan, I'd be happy with it :shades:

Sandman6472

Our outfit drove some of them up there recently!

The Sandman :sick: :shades:

Sandman6472

Drove one to Ft. Myers today...awful vehicle!

The Sandman :sick: :shades:

fintail

I was reading a German site, and read that Sixt has the Toyota GT86 in the fleet. Ah Germany. Better rental fleets, and no lame-o Scion branding.

stickguy

next month when I go to SC, decided to go with hertz. small airport, so few options (hertz, dollar, thrifty, and enterprise I think). Seemed the safest bet to get a decent car.

went with a "standard" (though I could have upgraded to "full size" for the same price) since there will be 3 of us, and at one point have about a 2 hour highway drive. Curious to see what they end up giving me. Better be something decent.

ronsteve

next month when I go to SC, decided to go with hertz. small airport, so few options (hertz, dollar, thrifty, and enterprise I think). Seemed the safest bet to get a decent car.

went with a "standard" (though I could have upgraded to "full size" for the same price) since there will be 3 of us, and at one point have about a 2 hour highway drive. Curious to see what they end up giving me. Better be something decent.

I have rented almost exclusively from Hertz, and after a string of Ford Taurus rentals going as full-size, have opted for standard most of the time...

Last few rentals have been:
Toyota RAV4 (4-cylinder, 4wd) in Albany NY
Mazda6 in Baton Rouge
Subaru Impreza in Corning NY (guess they like their AWD up there)
Ford Fusion (SEL V6) in Lihue, Kaua'i
Chevy Malibu in San Antonio
Nissan Altima in Minneapolis
Dodge Avenger in Buffalo

Car rental is a lot like that proverbial box of chocolates...

fintail

Today I read that National is carrying the Kia Cadenza, should be a "premium" class car.

On the road today I saw a rental Avalon and 2x rental Altima coupes.

Sandman6472

Did a lot of driving today and actually worked about 12 hours. Since the rain stopped briefly, had to drive up a Jeep Wrangler Limited Sport with a broken top and it rally was a nice vehicle...plenty of power with the 6 cylinder and even with all the wind coming through, it stayed planted to the ground and didn't require any more steering corrections than driving on a normal day. Seemed to feel smoother when i cranked all 4 windows just a bit...overall it was a great driver and having the Limited Sport option helped to make it stand out a bit from the plain Wranglers out there. Drove a newish Kia Soul back down and was pretty impressed with this quirky looking ute. Sits a bit higher than my Civic, or maybe it's just the tallish roofline that gives this impression...nice vehicle except the 2.0 engine was a bit thrashy when accelerating at higher speeds, even my 1.8 in my Civic sounds and seems a bit more refined. But as an under $20k vehicle, not a bad choice for someone who doesn't want a mainstream boring econobox. Might consider one if I was a bit younger!

On my Miami runs I got a Town & Country and then a Sienna which were both extremely nice for that segment and if we still had younger kids, I could see owning one. We did these runs for Sixt and they gave us a GLK 350 as the chase vehicle and it was pretty comfortable in the back seat since I didn't get to drive it. After having tried both an X3 and an X5, I really wanted to drive the GLK to see how much alike...or different these vehicles really are but since we do jobs for Sixt on a somewhat regular basis, I'm sure I'll get my chance. The last few jobs I've worked on for them have seen me in a VW Eos and an SLK 250 so I know eventually, I'll be able to snag a GLK or X for an extended ride to Orlando or Tampa. I find that with the short Lauderdale to Miami runs, I just get comfortable with the vehicle and then it's time to get out and go back to base. The extended trips really show me how livable these vehicles really are and so far I really like the VW stuff of late. And the Jetta SE is a pretty affordable ride now in the compact class though a bit spartan in the interior...been a Japanese import driver for the better part of 37 or so years now so that's my basis for comparison.

Lastly, just drove behind a new Elantra GT in red and it was a real stunning vehicle, absolutely beautiful! A really nice shade of red but can see it being a police magnate out there on the roadway. But right now, the Elantra is my favorite vehicle choice for my next ride followed closely by the Buick Verano, also a real looker in it's red color...it looks like a larger vehicle than it really is actually and even though it's the same as the Cruze, it just seems like a bigger vehicle. Bet my Civic is even a smaller ride but something about it is calling me. I drove one for a few miles awhile back and liked it so much better than the Cruze and the seats were super comfy. Went to the dealer and sat in the mid level one and those seats felt even better. Overall, a really nice job by GM!

The Sandman :sick: :shades:

stickguy

I parked next to a new elantra GT yesterday. Darkish blue. Very sharp looking.

fintail

Several days a week I jog by a lot that has an "Avis/Budget Coming Soon!" sign on it,been there for months. Cars are finally starting to trickle in. The lineup this morning was, in this order (seems to be by class): Rio, Fiesta, 200, Altima, Impala, Taurus. The Taurus looked well equipped with leather, the rest were typical fleet queens. They had a few moving trucks too.

fintail

Manwhile in the best place in the world to rent cars, this enters the fleet next month

fintail

Jogged by the Avis lot today - an Altima coupe, a Tahoe, and an SRX had appeared among the others.

fintail

Went by the Avis place again - same cars as before, but also a Camry with TX plates was there, and a few more moving trucks.

igozoomzoom

"Jogged by the Avis lot today - an Altima coupe, a Tahoe, and an SRX had appeared among the others."

I get a feeling that a lot of Altima Coupes will be landing on rental lots soon...

fintail

I thought they were out of production - but have seen 3 rental examples in the past week.

At the Avis lot today - Venza, Wrangler, Liberty, Dart, Avenger.

fintail

Avis this morning - Suburban, Yukon, Journey, Venza, Avenger, Wrangler - no small cars

Mr_Shiftright

Rented a Mazda3---not bad, not bad.

fintail

Skyactiv?

Mr_Shiftright

nope, base 2.0 I think.

fintail

The 2014 should be even better.

Full house at Avis/Budget this morning:

Sonic
Elantra
Focus
Camry
2x Venza
2x Santa Fe
Xterra
Journey
Caravan
Wrangler
Durango
C300

suydam

On a two- week vacation recently wound up with a Hyundai Sonata. It was a very pleasant car to drive and got pretty decent fuel economy. Three six-footers in the back seat on a few occasions; a little cramped but not bad. Good turning radius. I'd never driven one before. Of course it was not one with bells and whistles but a lower trim.

jpp75

I got a 2014 Impala LT in Detroit yesterday. Put about 300 miles on it over the course of the day. It was quiet and smooth, but I didn't care for visibility out of the back or sides. The trunk is so high it's hard to see vehicles that are close behind you and the blind spots seemed unusually bad. I also didn't care for the ride, exceptionally soft and wallowy, I thought it would be a bit more firm. The interior was nice except for the speedometer, it looked like something out of a toy car.

I averaged right at 30 mpg in almost all highway driving at 70 - 75 mph. An improvement over the outgoing model for sure, but nothing to be excited about either.

berri

Thanks for the report. I think bad blind spots are becoming common on many vehicles these days. Style over function. But I do like the looks of the new Impala and hope GM gets a home run with it.

fintail

Avis/Budget lot - Legacy sedan, 2x Escape, Impala (13), 200, Camry

Saw a rental 14 Impala LTZ on the road.

seank2

Just spent 2 weeks in an Enterprise (!) ATS. This was the "Luxury" trim, and the 2.0T. Put almost 1000 miles on it over the 2 weeks, including a 775 mile trip through rural Georgia to the north Atlanta suburbs and back. I picked it up late on a Monday afternoon, after the Enterprise clerk called and asked me to come later because the car I was to be given wasn't back yet. So I obliged and pull in at the same time as "my car" was coming back. The "full size" I'd been promised was a 2012 Malibu that was the stereotypical Enterprise car, that is run hard and worn out. The shiny black ATS was parked right out front, so I convinced the nice lady to give me that instead.

The ATS is one of the better GM sedans I've driven lately, especially with the Turbo. The XM subscription was expired, but I made good use of the Bluetooth streaming audio and phone, which synced with my iPhone immediately. No sunroof, which I thought was odd, but otherwise real leather, rear sensors and camera, but no nav. All the reviews are right, CUE is an abomination and they need to start over with it. The ATS is a small car, however, tiny trunk and tight backseat. Even my 9 year old complained about the room in back. Otherwise, though, I was very impressed with the car.

fintail

Interesting, I have heard of non-turbo ATS in fleets - the turbo is less common. The V6 would be the winner. I guess it didn't have nav either, if it was a non-sunroof model. Also an easy way to guess about a rental CTS - no sunroof.

I've heard that Enterprise sometimes gets more miled up or worn cars from National and Alamo.

seank2

Fin, you're right, no sunroof and no nav.

The ATS only had 11,000 miles on it, and was in very good shape, not just for a rental, but very good shape overall.

The small town I live in tends to have mostly small, "replacement" rentals: Focus, Corollas, Sparks etc., but since Sea Island is also here, we get the high end stuff too, though a turbo ATS is an outlier for anywhere. When I took it back the parking lot was stuffed absolutely full, probably 8-10 Focus, 200/Avengers, and probably 3 or 4 Chrysler 300s, including a 300C AWD. In South Georgia. Regardless, a fantastic rental.

bo4177

Would love to rent one myself.
On the topic of mileage, I'm skeptical that the rental agencies tamper with the mileage to show less miles on most of their fleet.
I mean I'm not sure as to why a 11K miles car doesnt drive like one, it could be because of multiple drivers or odometer tampering ?
Please comment.

stever

Lots of curb jumping and no alignments? Bent wheels that are ignored? OEM tires that wear poorly?

Lots of risk for a fleet operator to roll back odometers, although I suppose it happens.

suydam

At LAX recently, Budget was certainly making no secret about their cars' mileage. Each car we looked at had at least 20,000k and the Sonata we ended up with (best of the bunch, believe me) had 40,000. I don't mind as long as the interior isn't beat up and the car drives well.

fintail

Some people/heathens/animals beat the heck out of rentals - and they are often not detailed well. I think one rental mile = five normal miles.

fintail

300C is an interesting one, I've read a number of them in the fleet even have nav. I like to have integrated nav (no anxiety about phone battery life or wires running everywhere to invite thieves) . I have a premium rental at LAX in a few months, I'd be pleased with a loaded 300.

At the local Budget/Avis yesterday, small selection - Explorer, Escape, Camry, Avenger, and something small that I forget.

stever

I like your comment back in 2011 better - "Rental car miles are like dog years."

Mr_Shiftright

I rented a '13 Dodge Avenger for 3 days.

Well, rather ordinary car, and seemed somewhat old-fashioned, but it was a pleasant drive and had more guts than the base engine Mazda3 I rented last week.

Basically, one big MEH but it gets the job done without offense.

michaellno

Basically, one big MEH but it gets the job done without offense.

Isn't that the point?

Mr_Shiftright

Indeed---you can't ask more of a car than it was intended to deliver.

isellhondas

Nobody would be dumb enough to risk prison by turning back an odometer even if it were possible with today's electronic units.

For me, a rental is a rental. If it takes me from Point A and back without trouble and is clean, I really don't care what it is.

I have never beat or abused a rental car nor have I ever seen this done by others. I once bought an Olds Cutlass from Avis and it was a great car!