rental cars
 

why is there such a big difference in rental car prices, between the cheapy places and the big names? they're the same type of cars, but the big names are double the cheapy places.

am i a retard, and companies like trifty and dollar are untrustworthy or soemthing?

also, i have a friend that works for enterprise, that swears you should get the insurance, even if your auto insurance covers, cause if you do total the car, your insurance will not fully cover it or somethign stupid. does this just sound retarded as well? anyone have experience in this?

please to explain to me!

Re: rental cars
 

The bigger companies usually have better locations so they're more convenient. I remember one time I flew to Sacramento on a business trip and had to take a shuttle from the airport to downtown to pickup my rental. It's like 10 miles away.

Re: rental cars
 

has anyone had bad experiences with places like thrifty or dollar?

Re: rental cars
 

They're fine. Most rental cars are used for business trips, the the renter doesn't care about cost, they are looking for pure convenience (at airport instead of shuttle to office) or whatever company gets them miles/points on their credit card.

Make sure you are comparing rates accurately - are both including insurance, taxes and annoying little fees? If it's a search from an online travel aggregator they should be the same. Rates on the company sites may not be.

Re: rental cars
 

[ QUOTE ]
why is there such a big difference in rental car prices, between the cheapy places and the big names? they're the same type of cars, but the big names are double the cheapy places.

am i a retard, and companies like trifty and dollar are untrustworthy or soemthing?

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For the most part its the same reason brand name cereal costs more than store brand.

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also, i have a friend that works for enterprise, that swears you should get the insurance, even if your auto insurance covers, cause if you do total the car, your insurance will not fully cover it or somethign stupid. does this just sound retarded as well? anyone have experience in this?

please to explain to me!

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Your friend has been drinking the green koolaid. Most insurance covers the car just fine. As for not covering the car completely its the same as your insurance does not cover your car completely, ie you have to pay the first $500 as a deductible. They do also have something called loss of use that the insurance company does not always cover. If they cant rent the car for a week because it is in the shop then you can be responsible for the lost income that car would have generated. So if they can get 30 bucks a day for it then you have to pay the $210. I am not sure exactly how enforced this is. The company doesn't always pursue these fees and I have heard that they can only collect if they were out of comparable cars and therefore not having that vehicle definitely cost them money.

Re: rental cars
 

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has anyone had bad experiences with places like thrifty or dollar?

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I traveled to Chicago area in July for a training course for work and rented a car from Dollar. I had no problems with the car, but when I arrived at O'Hare I waited about 20 minutes for the shuttle while shuttles from all the other rental companies went by many times, and then the driver didn't see me, in spite of the fact that i waved, jumped up and down etc., and said things about the driver that it was probably best he didn't hear after he drove by, then waited another 20 minutes until he came around again. Checkout went smoothly when I finally got to their office, as did checkin when I left, but it seems they only had one shuttle running, and I think it probably took close to 20 minutes to make the loop, as the office was not real close to the terminla (same area as other companies, though, but I think the bigger companies were running at least two shuttles each.).

Re: rental cars
 

I use Budget for my personal travel and Hertz for business. Both have locations in most major airports and offer good service. Budget usually offers much better rates than Avis or Hertz.

Re: rental cars
 

I usually use Dollar or Budget and have never had a problem with either company. Never noticed any difference in service either between those two and Hertz (who I've used for business travel.

As for insurance, some credit cards will cover the deductible. So your car insurance will cover all but the first $500 (for example), but your American Express will cover the first $500.

Re: rental cars
 

Several bad experiences with Enterprise. On a business trip to Denver the serpentine belt broke on my rental... on the interstate... at 75MPH... no power steering or brakes. I managed to pull over and a Colorado state trooper told me to lock the keys in the car and call a cab for the ride to the airport. I called Enterprise (after all, they're supposed to pick me up) and they said they only pick up at residences or businesses, not roadside. They told me to lock the keys in and they'd be waiting for me at the counter. When I got there (late for my flight, with two colleagues with me) they demanded my car insurance card (my state doesn't require them). They threatened to call police and have me detained. After arguing for more than an hour, and after a call to our corporate attorney, they agreed to comp the rental.

Another time I rented from them they insisted that I had damaged the car. I had only used it to go to work in the morning while my car was in the shop. I noted on the walk-through that there were dents on the left rear quarter (before I actually rented the car). They argued that the dents "looked new" and they wanted to charge me for repair. I lost my [censored], made a scene in the office in front of other customers, and said I was going to call the cops. They said, "go ahead," so I did. When the cop arrived - a sergent - he inspected the rental form that clearly showed preexisting damage to the rear quarter and asked them pointedly if they were trying to defraud me or the insurance company. Then Enterprise gave me a ride to pick up my car.

Enterprise is dead to me now, obv.

Re: rental cars
 

thank you all. great help.

Re: rental cars
 

[ QUOTE ]

Another time I rented from them they insisted that I had damaged the car. I had only used it to go to work in the morning while my car was in the shop. I noted on the walk-through that there were dents on the left rear quarter (before I actually rented the car). They argued that the dents "looked new" and they wanted to charge me for repair. I lost my [censored], made a scene in the office in front of other customers, and said I was going to call the cops. They said, "go ahead," so I did. When the cop arrived - a sergent - he inspected the rental form that clearly showed preexisting damage to the rear quarter and asked them pointedly if they were trying to defraud me or the insurance company. Then Enterprise gave me a ride to pick up my car.


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Companies like that make me sick. Digital cameras are useful for this sort of thing.

It also sadly reminds me that I forgot to take pictures of the damage to my rental house before I moved in this year (though I did leave comments on the rental form for everything)

Re: rental cars
 

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has anyone had bad experiences with places like thrifty or dollar?

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i had a bad experience with dollar, and when i finally gave up and went to hertz the experience was so good that i swore i'd never use a crappy car rental place again.

i was going down to AC with a friend of mine and there was a dollar place 1 block from my house. i got there on time and there were several people sitting around doing nothing, and obviously all of the cars were there. their computes had broken down and they were unable to release the cars even though i had the online printout right there with all the details of the reservation, etc.

so they said go to their other location on the other side of town. obviously they gave me the wrong address. when i finally found it there was a line of ~10 people. 30 minutes later 2 people had been processed. they were also out of standard cars, so instead of upgrading people to their nicer cars that they still had, they gave people minivans. another 20 minutes later i called hertz, walked 5 blocks and was out the door less than 10 minutes later had a car that cost me barely $5/day more than the other place.

the nicer places, especially hertz, have a reputation for better service, and in general i expect that there is a noticeable difference in service. it's possible you don't think it's worth the extra money, but i do believe there is a real difference. and while it may not always have an effect on your trip, the small percent of the time that they do screw up it usually causes such huge headaches that i'd gladly pay the extra premium as insurance against those somewhat rare pain in the ass situations.

Re: rental cars
 

my friend is an enterprize manager and says the insurance is a [censored] scam

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Thrifty's cars are usually a little beat up and a couple years older than the top companies but who cares, it usually spends most of the time parked in a casino parking lot anyway. No insurance obviously, your own insurance plus platinum credit card benefits are excessive.

Re: rental cars
 

I rented from Dollar. I got a flat tire. When I called them to report it they said they wouldn't send someone out to fix the tire because I didn't buy the damage insurance. They told me they would refer me to someone who could fix it on my dime. I wasn't stranded on the road since the tire went flat in the condo parking lot where I was vacationing, so I called AAA and they came out and changed the tire. I left the tire in the trunk and returned the car with the little spare on it. I told the guy at the return place the real tire was in the trunk and left.

Then Dollar called me and told me I owed them $375 for the tire because the damage was in the inside sidewall and the tire couldn't be fixed and I didn't buy the damage insurance. I told them the AAA guy said it looked like a tire defect and that the sidewall had split. I didn't run over anything. I told Dollar there was no way in hell they were getting $375 from me for a tire. I finally offered to pay the $160 the stupid insurance would have cost me just to get them to stop calling me. They wouldn't accept that. They sent me pictures of the tire. I told them to send me the tire to prove it wasn't defective They wouldn't so I told them to pound sand.

I got calls from collection agencies for 6 months. I told them all I didn't owe Dollar anything and I had no intentions of paying them anything. They stopped calling.

I won't use Dollar again.

Re: rental cars
 

I just recently got a job with Avis. As much as they push us to sell the insurance, it is obviously a big money-maker for the rent-a-car companies, no question about it.

I wouldn't go so far as to call it a scam though, bc regular auto insurance policies often vary greatly on the amount of coverage they give, and to what types of rental cars they give it to. For example, if you have regular State Farm, Allstate, etc. auto insurance for your hyundai elantra, and then you rent a bigger/more expensive vehicle, such as a ford mustang or something, it might not cover you.

Just little things like that. Like I said originally, the rent-a-car companies obviously make big money off these small insurance add-ons, but it is definitely not a scam.

Re: rental cars
 

I worked at Hertz for awhile. I don't think I would call it a scam either. Basically its just expensive insurance. If something goes wrong it is great. If nothing happens then you wasted money. Same as any other car, health, life insurance.

Re: rental cars
 

I think I've rented cars about 20 times this year (work) in a lot of cities across the country and have had the best luck with nationalamo and budget. I got Hertz once and didn't even get a remote for the locks. I never had a problem with locations either.

Re: rental cars
 

I have rented from Enterprise in Canada and the US several times and have had nothing but amazing customer service. Plus, they have some nice features like unlimited kilometres for in province rentals, and when I rented in Minneapolis it was half the price of the big name agencies and I got unlimited miles in MN, IA, ND and SD - which I needed.

Re: rental cars
 

I saw this thread and read it as "mental cars." I thought it was going to be about cars that you could drive by thought alone.

I was so stoked.

Now I am bummed.

FU oddjob.

Re: rental cars
 

Only read the first couple replies, so in effect, Grunching.

I used to work for Budget several years ago and I have rented cars literally HUNDREDS of times.

Most cars come with at least the most basic insurance to make them legal on the road. These are often high deductible/low liability coverage. Otherwise the jockey's wouldn't be able to move the cars from location to location. Varies by jurisdiction. If the counter guy gives you a problem (they get bonuses for selling coverage since it's basically free money for the company) tell him it's covered by your credit card.

Many (gold+) credit cards cover insurance with zero or very low deductible and better liability coverage. Check with your credit card! If you rent frequently it's almost certainly worth getting a card that will cover you. These cards generally do not cover SUV's or luxury cars. Some don't cover second drivers. Check with your credit card!!

Budget is owned by the same company as Avis and in most places they share the same fleet.

However, there are differences between "top tier" companies and the secondary (cheap) companies. Enterprise/Dollar/Thrifty cars often have a lot more miles. They often do not have as many options (electronic door looks, electronic windows, cruise control).

Of the "cheap" companies, Enterprise usually have their counter right at the airport with the more expensive companies (Hertz, Avis). Thrifty and Dollar are usually off site and often need a shuttle. If you're pressed for time this can be a problem.

Re: rental cars
 

do you know if visa debit cards cover rental cars?

Re: rental cars
 

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do you know if visa debit cards cover rental cars?

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Usually yes but beware they will hold quite a bit.

Also Avis and budget are sister/brother companies.

The more you know!