Rental Car Experiences?

stever

My wife is afraid to get a stick since breaking her left leg skiing back in '08 or so. Funny, we test drove a manual xB a few years ago and I was the one who stalled it.

So that's another reason to avoid one.

slorenzen

stever said:

My wife is afraid to get a stick since breaking her left leg skiing back in '08 or so. Funny, we test drove a manual xB a few years ago and I was the one who stalled it.

So that's another reason to avoid one.

Yeah, but, tell the wife it's car-jacker resistant!

Mr_Shiftright

I still think you need a Citroen. FWD for the snow, nice ride, and 30-day delivery on parts, UPS.

stever

They certainly appeal to my funky side. I always liked Multiplas too.

Mr_Shiftright

Hey you could probably rent a Fiat pretty cheap.

stever

Friend back in the home office just leased a Fiat 500e. Guess that's not an option here but would be fun to try out.

tifighter

Starting week three with a rental Focus hatch. Color is Hertz-so-good white. I've been getting about 38mpg no matter how I drive, which seems okay. Power is adequate. After hearing about all the grief it was given for its transmission, I don't find it that unusual. It does idle pretty low when stopped, occasionally making me wonder if its going to die, but never has, so I guess it is me.

Kia is still a few weeks away from being repaired. T-bones - not just for dinner anymore.

stever

Enterprise does a good job here (not much competition since we have no scheduled air service). I've rented from them twice now and the staff is on top of things and very friendly and helpful. Went to the "collision" location where the choice is skinny but it's handier. There was a Journey and a Santa Fe available so I grabbed the Santa Fe.

Okay ride, took it off-roading just now and it handled the rough stuff with aplomb. (Off-roading for me means I drive in the back road home; it's a one lane in the scrub with plenty of washouts.)

Otherwise it's big, SUVy and pretty comfy, and peppy enough in Sport mode.

Will post a pic over in Chronic Car Buyer's Anonymous.

fintail

Friend of mine is in LA, got the cheapest "manager special" or equivalent from Advantage. He received an Accent with no bluetooth, no cruise, warped hubcaps, no backup cam (duh), and he claims the steering is really heavy. He also claims it has 80K miles, not sure about that. He also claims when noting damage on the car before he drove away, he circled the entire car. Lesson learned - don't be a cheapskate

suydam

That happened to me earlier this ye. I got a Toyota Yaris that had poor brakes and I could hardly steer it to the left. I took it back immediately and paid a few bucks more to get a decent car. It was a Jetta and not great but light years above the "Managers Special".

ab348

suydam said:

That happened to me earlier this ye. I got a Toyota Yaris that had poor brakes and I could hardly steer it to the left. I took it back immediately and paid a few bucks more to get a decent car. It was a Jetta and not great but light years above the "Managers Special".

"Oh, you want one that turns to the LEFT? That will be an extra charge, I'm afraid." :@

Michaell

ab348 said:

suydam said:

That happened to me earlier this ye. I got a Toyota Yaris that had poor brakes and I could hardly steer it to the left. I took it back immediately and paid a few bucks more to get a decent car. It was a Jetta and not great but light years above the "Managers Special".

"Oh, you want one that turns to the LEFT? That will be an extra charge, I'm afraid." :@

Are you kidding? Down south, all cars ONLY turn left.

kyfdx

fintail said:

Friend of mine is in LA, got the cheapest "manager special" or equivalent from Advantage. He received an Accent with no bluetooth, no cruise, warped hubcaps, no backup cam (duh), and he claims the steering is really heavy. He also claims it has 80K miles, not sure about that. He also claims when noting damage on the car before he drove away, he circled the entire car. Lesson learned - don't be a cheapskate

Geez... what do you get if you don't know the manager?

fintail

They probably have some Yugos on the back lot, and maybe an old Gran Detroit Farm and Country Turbo convertible.

suydam

ab348 said:

suydam said:

That happened to me earlier this ye. I got a Toyota Yaris that had poor brakes and I could hardly steer it to the left. I took it back immediately and paid a few bucks more to get a decent car. It was a Jetta and not great but light years above the "Managers Special".

"Oh, you want one that turns to the LEFT? That will be an extra charge, I'm afraid." :@

HA! That was pretty much the attitude. "Yeah, brakes ARE kinda iffy on older Yarises".
Since it was night and I'd been traveling all day with a cat, I just gave up and asked what else they had.

sda

My experience with rental cars in the past 5 years has been fairly limited, yet when I have gotten a rental it has been from Enterprise. Every car I've gotten from them has been filthy inside. Some even smelled bad. Is this typical, or just my good fortune?

suydam

Not typical but it does happen. I get another one. Especially if it smells smoky inside.

Mr_Shiftright

My Enterprise experiences have been iffy at times, but I can't say I ever got a dirty one.

andres3

One of my reasons for insisting that I get a truly equivalent (in every way, shape, form, and cost) rental car when someone crashed into one of my fine owned vehicles is that I don't want to die in an accident I would have survived had I been in a better safer vehicle.

I'd certainly find for the plaintiffs in a lawsuit blaming the at-fault driver of the original accident that directly consequentially resulted in deceased driver being in a Spark instead of an S4 at the time of the 2nd collision.

I suppose the jury would want to see some evidence the accident was survivable in an Audi vs. the ecobox. It could be done.

berri

I think Enterprise is less business and more tourist

kyfdx

Enterprise has that big basis in insurance rentals. A lot of local, off-airport outlets. That's where the crap comes from, I think.

fintail

Enterprise is big for insurance here. I've rented from Enterprise a few times - never had a dirty car per se, but I remember several years ago, a Kia Spectra (cheapest rate one day rental while the E55 was being repaired) was pretty trashed inside. I also remember having a Galant that had something like 50K on it, but had very few flaws and seemed like a car with 5K on it. All depends on the luck had by the car prior. Now that I think of it, the Q50 from Hertz I passed on in Atlanta last month was pretty beat for a 12K mile car, too.

ab348

Seems to have been a lot of consolidation in the car rental business recently. There was a Canadian rental company that was fairly big when I first got my license named Tilden. They were bought out by National. I used Tilden/National a good amount because they were convenient to my work and they also had a rental desk at the GM dealer I used for a number of years. They were all acquired by Enterprise a few years ago along with Alamo. Dollar and Thrifty are now both owned by Hertz. I used to occasionally deal with Avis, which now also owns Budget. It is getting to be smaller and smaller.

berri

...and the premier brands seem to be going downward instead of the budget brands going up. I've been disappointed with the last several vehicles I got as Hertz Gold (e.g. Dodge Journey - really? I could have gotten something similar much cheaper at a budget brand).

fintail

On forums for frequent renters, Hertz has a big rep for high mileage base cars. I haven't had a high miles car from them, but everything I've rented from Hertz had has been base. I've had the best luck for nice cars with National and Sixt. I have only rented from Sixt in Europe, where their fleet is astounding - and prices aren't higher than here, but you have an insanely more diverse selection, many of them loaded.

stever

The satellite Enterprise office here is a small office in a Caliber Collision place (franchise body shop). The Santa Fe came with Texas plates (cheaper registration?) and it definitely has Texas tires. Our Taos friends live 4 miles down the gravel off the highway and they had 9 inches of snow yesterday. The substitute plow guy barely managed to get their road plowed to one lane, and the FWD Santa Fe had a couple of dicey moments. Luckily they are in a flat area. Coming home tonight from dinner in their Subaru, we chased a small coyote about 3/4ths of a mile down the snowy lane.

sda

I remember being somewhat excited when I rented a car. Most were low mileage, less than 10k and some were new. The last three that I rented had 15-41k. I was pleasantly surprised by the '15 Kia Soul and not impressed with an Impala Limited, though a lot of the turnoff was that it was in ratty condition with 41k. It ran strong with the 3.6 and still felt tight, but drove like a older car that it was.

tjc78

When I traveled for work, National was my choice. I don't think I ever had a car with more than 10k miles and always clean. Many were strippers, but, occasionally some pretty well equipped cars were on Emerald Aisle.

I had an Enterprise last year as an insurance rental and it kinda clean, vacuumed and windows done but certainly not what I'd call clean. It was also a Jeep Compass.... what a crappy vehicle. A co-worker has two of them and loves them, but there are such better choices

berri

I always liked National, but I don't have any discount program with them unfortunately.

kyfdx

berri said:

I always liked National, but I don't have any discount program with them unfortunately.

Our corporate rate was with National. Even though I rarely traveled on business, I still used the discount. Generally, had good luck with the Emerald Aisle.

berri

Same here, but then I retired. Everything has its consequences

suydam

I've had pretty good luck with Budget. Alamo, no.

ab348

I always think of Alamo as the home of the $29.95/day collision damage waiver. Crooks.

kyfdx

berri said:

Same here, but then I retired. Everything has its consequences

Me too, but I still have the corp ID.

Sandman6472

Working for a Hertz HLE and we are getting much newer vehicles in daily. We're picking up a lot of new 2017 Chevy Cruze's, both LT's and Premium's, and must say that Chevy did a really good job with this new model. A very nice driver now, and something that I wouldn't mind owning as my personal vehicle! Doubt I've ever said that about a new domestic in my life but Chevy did a great job with the new Cruze.
At least in Ft. Lauderdale and Miami, Hertz has and is bringing more newer vehicles into our fleet at a record pace. This week is super busy, hell, they even had us come in on Saturday and today, as we are that busy. Please give Hertz a shot at your business in the future as we are getting in newer models and retiring the older ones with higher mileage.

The Sandman

berri

Sandman - tell them I fail to see the logic of the now often rather large discrepancy between pay now w/no refund and regular corporate rate because I can get the pay now rate or better at Costco from someone else and still get a refund if I cancel. The difference has become unattractive.

fintail

I have a bunch of Hertz points so I am sure I will patronize them, but I'd love to see some better equipped models in their fleet. Too much base material.

stever

I'm not too impressed with the base Santa Fe, but the mpg has been up around 28 combined. Hopefully I'll get to return it tomorrow.

(The Santa Fe's ride seems a bit unrefined and kind of disconnected from the road. It's perfectly adequate - I think this is a case where you'd want to spring for the higher trim to get a better ride. Don't like the radio controls either, both the steering wheel controls and the touchscreen. The climate stuff is fine).

fintail

Funny, as suspension/ride complaints have dogged Hyundai for a long time.

It's amusing to drive an older car without steering wheel controls - how did we survive?

Michaell

fintail said:

Funny, as suspension/ride complaints have dogged Hyundai for a long time.

Comparing my former Elantra GT to my current Jetta, I would agree.

berri

I always found HyunKia steering rather vague as part of that. But might just be me. I was sober too

jpp75

berri said:

...and the premier brands seem to be going downward instead of the budget brands going up. I've been disappointed with the last several vehicles I got as Hertz Gold (e.g. Dodge Journey - really? I could have gotten something similar much cheaper at a budget brand).

My friend who is Hertz Gold got a Dodge Journey the last three times he rented from them, he's now trying other rental companies.

berri

It just seems to me at least that after Hertz acquired Dollar, they started using Dollar cars in their main Hertz fleet. Not thrilled !

fintail

Isn't Hertz Gold just a free membership that enables quicker processing? I think it was special once, but isn't anymore. I think President's Circle or something more elite is the special one, but with the current fleet, might not be awe-inspiring.

andres3

Some V6 Camry's might make a good rental; instead all you get is the 4-bangers.

Sandman6472

Right now, at least in South Florida, rentals are hard to get and those getting them are paying top dollar. Went down to Perrine today to pick up 4 vehicles, all small/mid-sizers. With our unusually warm weather of late, folks are coming down and needing vehicles. Our office has had lines almost all day and those folks who stayed Monday, worked until 6. But every vehicle we get, they are spoken for and folks are waiting at the offices as we drive them in. Then they have to be cleaned up a bit. Feel sorry for those that didn't make reservations because they could be outta luck! This week and next week are going to be tough and once January 9th comes, we'll be up to our necks in vehicles and giving them to all the local offices.
Was at the Ft. Lauderdale drop off points today and all those new vehicles are all out on the roads now, place was like a ghost town with just a few body damaged vehicles there. At the maintenance yard, only one that was fixed and rentable with a bunch getting serviced. But like I said earlier, there are so many folks renting right now so pickings are awfully slim. Sure hope folks don't have a lot of accidents during this time because ain't much out there to rent.

The Sandman

tjc78

andres3 said:

Some V6 Camry's might make a good rental; instead all you get is the 4-bangers.

A V6 Camry is probably the ultimate sleeper. Very quick, unassuming car especially in LE or XLE trim. Heck I surprised many a "sports" car with my 06 Avalon with the 3.5. What a quick boat that was.

fintail

I am not the ultimate expert, but I have been paying attention for some time, and have not once seen a V6 Camry rental. In fact, Camry rentals seem to be something of the past decade or so, they were much less common in the past. The standard 4 in a Camry is what my mom would call "peppy" - it is reasonably quick to a certain point, maybe 40 or so.

Oddballs do make it into the fleets though. I remember back around 07-08, Chevy had a glut of Impala SS, and put them into fleets. Some nice FWD V8 torque steer probably surprised the typical Impala renter.

berri

I owned a V6 Camry some years ago. Traded in a Grand Marquis and the Camry blew its socks off despite the Mercury's V8. I've owned the Honda V6 too. Both are extremely smooth and can get you a ticket before you realize it. The Fomoco V8 was also an OHC engine, but not nearly as smooth performing to me at least.

...and yeah Fin, Hertz Gold is basically they have your drivers license and you can go to the sign and just hop into the assigned space rented vehicle, skipping the counter. No difference in points earned. Nice though if you are time pressed. I believe Avis Wizard is similar if it is still around. Haven't rented from them in quite awhile though. When I was renting National, Emerald Aisle let you pick the car from what was in your class, but you still had to go to the counter, although the status got you a shorter line Emerald aisle. But has also been awhile since I've used them, so don't know if that is still the case.

tjc78

National depended on the location. Many places I went there was no counter needed. Go to the aisle, pick what you want and head to the exit where they scan the car and off you go.

A Camry or Avalon with the V6 is probably 3 seconds faster to 60 than a Grand Marquis. Fords 4.6 while pretty much bullet proof isn't that powerful. Most Grand Marquis also had granny gear 2.73s in the rear so that didn't help either.