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Bad grades for car cos

November 15, 2006

It may be asking too much for anyone in the mainstream news media to pay attention to a car rental company story, or even to spend a small amount of energy on critical analysis.

Still, yesterday’s J.D. Power study on car rental customer satisfaction broadsided me like an 18-wheeler smacking a subcompact. According to the poll, Enterprise Rent-A-Car got the highest customer-satisfaction scores among major car rental companies.

Enterprise? Nothing personal, but from my point of view as an ombudsman, it is also the most complained-about car rental company. This may be because it is the largest car rental company in North America.

But is bigger also better? And what kind of questions does that raise about J.D. Powers’ methodology?

And then there is this: the actual scores, which are buried at the bottom the press release from yesterday’s announcement.

Here they are (on a scale of 1,000).

Enterprise — 789
Hertz — 780
National — 775
Industry average — 767
Avis — 766
Alamo — 762
Budget — 754
Thrifty — 752
Dollar — 746

For simplicity’s sake, let’s knock one of these zeros off the scores and turn it into a percentage. Follow along, please.

A+ — 100 to 97.5 percent
A — 97.4 to 92.5 percent
A- 92.4 to 90.0 percent
B+ — 89.9 to 87.5 percent
B- 87.4 to 82.5 percent
B- — 82.4 to 80.0 percent
C+ — 79.9 to 77.5 percent
C — 77.4 to 72.5 percent
C- — 72.4 to 70.0 percent
D+ — 69.9 to 67.5 percent
D — 67.4 to 60.0 percent
F — Less than 60 percent

In other words, customers gave the car rental industry a “C” on customer service.

A few hours after J.D. Power released these scores, Enterprise issued a press release that played up the fact that it won but again made hardly a mention of its actual grade.

But as a customer advocate, I think we should make something of Enterprise’s grade — a C+. And we should be concerned about the industry-average, which is a pathetic C.

The car rental industry may be congratulating itself for these scores. But I see lots of room for improvement.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

2 comments

  • Sonia Vining

    I find it interesting that this study was released the weekend after I had the worst service from a car rental that I’ve ever encountered.

    I’m often loyal to the point of stupidity, and this was definitely one of those times. Ever since I was given Emerald Club status without having to pay a fee, I’ve rented with National. In every city where I’ve rented with them — Las Vegas and Chicago, both O’Hare and Midway, just to name a few of the largest — I’ve never had a problem. (Okay, there was that stone chip in the windshield that I neglected to document at time of rental, but that’s my fault.) So when I needed to rent a car in Omaha, I naturally turned to National. My jaw hit the floor when I saw the rates: $66/day for a compact car, Wednesday through Sunday! And that was before the ugliness that every airport and city tacks — or should I say “tax” — on after the subtotal. I looked at the other “bigs” — Hertz, Alamo, Avis and Enterprise — and all the prices seemed about the same…except for Enterprise. They offered a too-good-to-be-true rate of $13/day. Thinking of those “fat fingered fare” stories, I swallowed hard and reserved with National. After all, I’d always been impressed with the customer service for Emerald Club members, and I’d learned long ago that service is the most important quality in the travel industry.

    My flight arrived in Omaha at 9:30 p.m. CST, only a few minutes late. After collecting my luggage, I was told, rather rudely, at the counter when I checked on my reservation that the Emerald Aisle was still open and I needed to check with them. I guess the clerk was irritated that I’d interrupted his reading. Okay, no problem. I walked out and started checking cars in the National slots…no compacts left. Now I know most people would consider getting a bigger car (in my case, it turned out to be an SUV) an upgrade, but for running back and forth between the hotel and the conference center, I didn’t want the excessive gas guzzling. I realized that they couldn’t materialize a car that wasn’t available, so I decided on a Jeep Liberty. I tried the handle. Locked. Surprised, I tried the Kia Sedona next to it. Also locked. In every other Emerald Aisle that I’ve rented from, the cars were unlocked. Not in Omaha. It was after 10:00 p.m., cold, and I just wanted to get a car and head for my hotel. I approached the rental booth at the far end of the garage, starting to get annoyed.
    “Hi…the cars are all locked,” I said to the girl.
    “Yes?” Subtext: yeah, so?
    “Every other Emerald Aisle I’ve rented from has the cars unlocked so you can choose the one you want,” I said.
    “We don’t do it that way.”
    …which really kind of negates the convenience of the Emerald Aisle concept of “choose your car and go”, if you’re forced to visit the rental booth first.
    “Yeah, I can see that.”
    “Do you have a reservation?”
    I bit my tongue — be nice, be nice, it’s cold and she’s got a lousy job — and fished out my license, credit card, proof of insurance and my Emerald Club card.
    “I have a Kia Sorento, a Saturn VUE, or a (some other SUV that I don’t remember and didn’t want).”
    I’d seen the scratches, dents and black marks all over the white Saturn VUE, so I chose the Sorento. I signed the contract and was given the keys. No offer of a local map was made, nor was I asked if I needed directions. Glad I picked a local map up from the counter of the unhelpful clerk inside.

    It was supposed to be a non-smoking car; it reeked of smoke. It was dirty, inside and out, including a bug still on the windshield from the previous rental. A part of the frame in the rear interior was broken off and laying on the floor inside the hatch. I was too tired and annoyed to bother going back and trying one of the other cars; they all looked to be in about the same condition as the Sorento, anyway. I took a photo of the damage to the interior, and drove away.

    When I returned the car — on Saturday at 4 p.m., to avoid being socked for another entire day, since they didn’t open until 7:00 a.m. and my flight left at 7:12 — I was in for another shock. Every other National location I’ve rented from, even Fort Myers, FL, has an employee with a hand-held device that checks your car in and prints your receipt waiting for you in the return lane. Not Omaha. I had to return to the car, write down the mileage, then stand in line at the same little booth. It was already cold, since the sun had dropped below the horizon; the customers were all shivering. Not the same girl who had rented to me on Wednesday night; she had a space heater blasting to keep her nice and toasty. Not surprisingly, she didn’t ask if everything was okay…no, she just asked if I wanted to keep the rental on my Visa. Total bill: $229 for three days, plus $25.00 in gas for less than 100 miles. Remember, please, that $229 rate was for a compact car, not the midsize SUV I ended up with. The receipt even had “We hope you enjoyed your upgrade” printed right on it. Nope, I didn’t.

    Somehow, I’ll bet no one ever sees the “No” box on the back of my mileage form that I marked below the question, “Was everything satisfactory about your rental?”

    I think I’ll be calling National’s customer service line.

  • Jean

    I’ve rented from National more than fifty times in the past few years, and while I can’t say that every rental has been perfect, I can say that I’ve had very few problems. Twice I was charged a higher rate than I had reserved. Both times when I complained the rate was immediately adjusted. The first time I didn’t notice it until after I had left the car rental facility, so I sent an e-mail when I got home. The next day I received an apology, an adjustment to the correct rate, and an explanation that the person who handled my return entered the wrong code (I certainly appreciated the adjustment, but I also appreciated knowing what happened). The second time I had found a Cadillac CTS on the Emerald Executive aisle so chose it to drive. However, when I returned it I was charged $1,112 for the week instead of the $160 I was expecting. Fortunately, I noticed the overcharge immediately and went to the customer service booth. The man in the booth couldn’t have been nicer (and there was plenty of room for me to go inside). He explained that I had chosen one of their premium cars. When I replied that I understood that, but that it had been on the Emerald Executive aisle, he immediately apologized and called his manager to get permission to adjust the charge. The manager apparently told him right away to make the adjustment because he quickly did so. Even better, when I reviewed my charge account online a few days later, only the correct amount appeared – they had managed to cancel the huge charge before it even appeared on my account.

    Another time I returned a car with a fairly significant scrape on the rear bumper (courtesy of an unknown driver in a parking lot who didn’t bother to leave a note). I filled out an accident report when I returned the car, but they never charged me for the damage. Based on my experiences, I’d give them at least an A- if not an A for overall customer satisfaction.

    I’ve never rented in Omaha, but I’d be surprised if National doesn’t respond positively to Sonia’s complaint and try to make things right for her. I certainly hope they do.

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