Joe Beane reserved a Dodge Intrepid from Dollar Rent a Car in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., recently. Or so he thought.
“At the rental counter, the associate aggressively tried to sell me an upgrade to a convertible for an additional $20 a day,” Mr. Beane said. “When I refused, she said the company had no full-size cars available and that I would have to wait for a car to be returned.”
Mr. Beane, a consultant from Pembroke, N.H., stood his ground and the employee quickly relented, handing him the keys to a Chrysler Sebring convertible at no extra charge.
Many car rental companies, desperate to enhance their sputtering revenue, are pushing customers to upgrade to more expensive models. And by several accounts, the latest tactic at some franchises is to claim that the requested vehicle is not available. I should know. Twice in recent months – once at Los Angeles International Airport, the other at Kennedy International Airport – I have been the object of their zeal.
The first time, in Los Angeles, I agreed to a short wait for a midsize car. Apparently I called the agent’s bluff, because he handed me the keys to a Ford Mustang convertible less than a minute later.
My Kennedy rental did not go as smoothly. The agent told me she was offering me the last car and that I could take it or leave it. I took it. But after I pulled out of the parking lot, I called the company on my cellphone to complain. The company reduced my bill to the original rate without an argument.
Car rental companies say that such tactics are against their policy. Emily Gill, a Dollar spokeswoman, said her company did not tolerate a hard sell. If a reserved car is not available, she said, the next size car is offered at the same rate.
“It’s simple, really,” said Kevin Miles, the president of the American Car and Truck Rental Association, a trade group. “You should not have to pay for something that is not your fault.”
But in a business that lags the rest of the recovering travel industry and is plagued by no-show rates as high as 30 percent, sometimes you are asked to, anyway. No car rental company is immune to the temptation to tack on an extra fee, not even giants like Hertz, which has invested in sophisticated technology to track its fleet and can often guarantee delivery of the make and model requested.
When Sudjai Itsara, a physician from Modesto, Calif., tried to rent a midsize car from Hertz in San Diego recently, an agent at the counter informed him that the San Diego site was out of vehicles in that class. Hertz offered him a larger Toyota Camry, but said it would have to charge him an extra $5 a day because the car came with NeverLost, its global-positioning guidance system.
“I said I didn’t want NeverLost,” Dr. Itsara said. Finally, they reached a compromise: he showed his AAA card for a “discount” and got the car at the originally quoted rate.
So what is the solution? Knowing the upgrade policy of your rental company and letting your agent know that you are aware of it is the most effective strategy for heading off a move to squeeze a few extra dollars out of you. A little patience helps, too; sometimes, the location you are renting from may actually be out of cars in your class. But the wait should not be longer than a few minutes. Joining a frequent-renter program will often prevent any kind of misunderstanding, because your car will be waiting for you.
Any idea of forcing car rental companies to stop trying to sell these upgrades is probably unrealistic. But asking them to simplify their classifications might be a good start. (Avis, for instance, lists 13 separate car classes on its Web site, ranging from a subcompact to a minivan.) The fewer car categories, the fewer promises they will have to make. And the fewer disappointed customers they will have.
Joe Beane reserved a Dodge Intrepid from Dollar Rent a Car in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., recently. Or so he thought.
“At the rental counter, the associate aggressively tried to sell me an upgrade to a convertible for an additional $20 a day,” Mr. Beane said. “When I refused, she said the company had no full-size cars available and that I would have to wait for a car to be returned.”
Mr. Beane, a consultant from Pembroke, N.H., stood his ground and the employee quickly relented, handing him the keys to a Chrysler Sebring convertible at no extra charge.
Many car rental companies, desperate to enhance their sputtering revenue, are pushing customers to upgrade to more expensive models. And by several accounts, the latest tactic at some franchises is to claim that the requested vehicle is not available. I should know. Twice in recent months – once at Los Angeles International Airport, the other at Kennedy International Airport – I have been the object of their zeal.
The first time, in Los Angeles, I agreed to a short wait for a midsize car. Apparently I called the agent’s bluff, because he handed me the keys to a Ford Mustang convertible less than a minute later.
My Kennedy rental did not go as smoothly. The agent told me she was offering me the last car and that I could take it or leave it. I took it. But after I pulled out of the parking lot, I called the company on my cellphone to complain. The company reduced my bill to the original rate without an argument.
Car rental companies say that such tactics are against their policy. Emily Gill, a Dollar spokeswoman, said her company did not tolerate a hard sell. If a reserved car is not available, she said, the next size car is offered at the same rate.
“It’s simple, really,” said Kevin Miles, the president of the American Car and Truck Rental Association, a trade group. “You should not have to pay for something that is not your fault.”
But in a business that lags the rest of the recovering travel industry and is plagued by no-show rates as high as 30 percent, sometimes you are asked to, anyway. No car rental company is immune to the temptation to tack on an extra fee, not even giants like Hertz, which has invested in sophisticated technology to track its fleet and can often guarantee delivery of the make and model requested.
When Sudjai Itsara, a physician from Modesto, Calif., tried to rent a midsize car from Hertz in San Diego recently, an agent at the counter informed him that the San Diego site was out of vehicles in that class. Hertz offered him a larger Toyota Camry, but said it would have to charge him an extra $5 a day because the car came with NeverLost, its global-positioning guidance system.
“I said I didn’t want NeverLost,” Dr. Itsara said. Finally, they reached a compromise: he showed his AAA card for a “discount” and got the car at the originally quoted rate.
So what is the solution? Knowing the upgrade policy of your rental company and letting your agent know that you are aware of it is the most effective strategy for heading off a move to squeeze a few extra dollars out of you. A little patience helps, too; sometimes, the location you are renting from may actually be out of cars in your class. But the wait should not be longer than a few minutes. Joining a frequent-renter program will often prevent any kind of misunderstanding, because your car will be waiting for you.
Any idea of forcing car rental companies to stop trying to sell these upgrades is probably unrealistic. But asking them to simplify their classifications might be a good start. (Avis, for instance, lists 13 separate car classes on its Web site, ranging from a subcompact to a minivan.) The fewer car categories, the fewer promises they will have to make. And the fewer disappointed customers they will have.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
My biggest complaint is when “no cars are available, we’re waiting for them to be returned” I have waited over 30 minutes in Philly and JFK and other cities because of this. I’m usually arriving later in the day from the west coast, wanting to get on my way, only to have to wait. My reservations usually are made at least 2 weeks in advance. The companies should make accomodations for this when they have confirmed reservations in the system. Most even know what flight you are on.
I’ve been subjected to the “no cars in that size available scam” in particular with Dollar at Phoenix and Denver. I believe Dollar has a lot of franchisees that use this scam to boost their profits and the agents and managers get commissions based on the forced upgrades. Dollar also misrepresents the passenger/baggage capacityof their vehicles such that we were forced to upgrade at Denver to accomodate our luggage in a minivan.
I’ve had good experiences at Dollar’s SFO franchise. Whenever they’re sold out of my usual category (economy or sub-compact), the past two times I’ve been offered free upgrades immediately – last month they offered me a Chrysler PT Cruiser, and the time before that, a mid-size Stratus. I hated to pay for the extra gas they consumed, but then again, the ride was much smoother.