Yeah a guy I work with has emerald and chooses suburban or Tahoe everywhere he goes.
Rental Car Roulette
- Thread starter d.dutton9512
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Yeah a guy I work with has emerald and chooses suburban or Tahoe everywhere he goes.
CrzRsn
So long, and thanks for all the fish
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Anyone in Emerald Club do you have to have status? I have an Emerald account number, but I've never used it to rent a car.
Rental Car Roulette
You have to have the highest status they provide to choose whatever they offer. Just like Hertz. How I've looked at it, both require you to basically live on the road every week for a year and maintain that to stay at that status level. It's nothing like hotel rewards where you can accumulate points and so long as you're above a certain number, you're in the higher tier.
You have to have the highest status they provide to choose whatever they offer. Just like Hertz. How I've looked at it, both require you to basically live on the road every week for a year and maintain that to stay at that status level. It's nothing like hotel rewards where you can accumulate points and so long as you're above a certain number, you're in the higher tier.
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NecroJoe
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I think "Emerald" with National may have two tiers. For the tier I was in, it was "pick any car in these two rows" and it was everything from Fiestas to Maximas, from Sonics to Passats. It did *not* include Luxury, SUVs, etc.
Labcoatguy
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A "small sedan" by Wyoming standards. I've driven a current-generation Charger before, and the rear 3/4 visibility is still shittacular, but my god the Hemi is a charismatic engine, especially with the way it barks on a full-throttle upshift when I'm playing with the paddles. I so seriously need a V8 with fuck-you displacement in my life.
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Now that's a rental car. Wish we could get those as rental cars here. I'm in the wrong country, clearly.
stevanford1
Well-Known Member
Land in LA on saturday and get to jump straight into a BMW M6 Gran coupe for a drive straight to Vegas. Pics and review coming soon.
stevanford1
Well-Known Member
So I land in LA and go to pick up the rentals and find out that the M6 isn't available. Not what I wanted to hear after a 14 hour flight. End up getting a Maserati Quattroporte. Great looking car, great interior and comfortable for reasonably long distances, sounds great but pretty slow. Also got to drive the Corvette pictured which was a car a friend hired and I have to say, epic car for the money. Ended up chasing a GT350R through Vegas in it.
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
Rental Car Roulette
And here I'm just happy that I'm not getting a Japanese or Korean Ecobox.
I didn't know you could rent a Maserati.
And here I'm just happy that I'm not getting a Japanese or Korean Ecobox.
I didn't know you could rent a Maserati.
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CrzRsn
So long, and thanks for all the fish
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Was planning to rent a BMW 6er convertible in Florida in December or January, but its no longer listed on Sixt's main rental site - only the 4er convertible. Turns out they started a new luxury/sports car portion of the site and moved the 6er there. Really annoying because I can't quote everyweekend to see which would be the cheapest since you have to submit a request with their concierge type service and wait for a response. Funny enough, the Corvette convertible, Jag F-Type Mustang GT are still on the regular site as well as the sports car one.
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CrzRsn
So long, and thanks for all the fish
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- 13 Ford Mustang GT, 17 Ford Fiesta ST
Was just reviewing the taxes and fees on my upcoming rental. Turns out they charge $2.25 if you elect to have your points converted to a partnering frequent traveler program. I had IHG selected, but nooooo thanks.
The fees though are just absurd.
Concession recovery fee... what now?
Convention center surcharge... I'm not going to any conventions or trade shows.
Customer facility charge per day... I'm only using the facility when I show up on Friday and when I drop the car off on Sunday, but not the day in between.
Energy recovery fee... $1.80 worth of energy is quite a lot you're recovering (sarcasm). What energy are they even talking about?
Frequent traveler program... Fuck that shit, already canceled that program and got that fee removed.
Parking tax... Where am I parking thats costing me $0.60? The airport rental car center? Isn't that what the facility fee is for?
Reimbursement charge... Who is being reimbursed and for what? The definition of reimbursement is "the action of repaying a person who has spent or lost money." The only one losing money here is me. Am I being reimbursed? Of course not. Because fuck you thats why.
The fees though are just absurd.
Concession recovery fee... what now?
Convention center surcharge... I'm not going to any conventions or trade shows.
Customer facility charge per day... I'm only using the facility when I show up on Friday and when I drop the car off on Sunday, but not the day in between.
Energy recovery fee... $1.80 worth of energy is quite a lot you're recovering (sarcasm). What energy are they even talking about?
Frequent traveler program... Fuck that shit, already canceled that program and got that fee removed.
Parking tax... Where am I parking thats costing me $0.60? The airport rental car center? Isn't that what the facility fee is for?
Reimbursement charge... Who is being reimbursed and for what? The definition of reimbursement is "the action of repaying a person who has spent or lost money." The only one losing money here is me. Am I being reimbursed? Of course not. Because fuck you thats why.
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They'd be fine if the charges weren't broken out like that. The fact that they're blatantly putting pointless descriptions is absurd. Who are they trying to fool?
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Just booked a car for July 27-30 out of Chattanooga, went with the Hertz Manager's Special because it was cheapest. What sort of hell have I brought on myself? :lol:
rickhamilton620
has a fetish for terrible cars
Im gonna guess a Jetta S. Because Chattanooga. Be glad it no longer has the 2.Slow 115 hp doorstop.
Or a 2 year old Toyota Corolla without cruise control and a rusty license plate...
Labcoatguy
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Hope you don't get a Mirage. I rode in one with a coworker who rented it and wow it is horrid.
CrzRsn
So long, and thanks for all the fish
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- 13 Ford Mustang GT, 17 Ford Fiesta ST
I think I lost rental car roulette unequivocally. Both in rental experience and car selection.
My flight landed in Boston last Friday about 30 minutes early. Went straight to the rental car center and got there about 8 minutes after getting off the plane, pretty good if you're familiar with Logan Airport. The place was a zoo. Total pandemonium. Every agency counter had lines that looked like they would've taken at least 2 hours to get through. At this point I felt really happy about signing up for Budget's Fastbreak program since it lets me go to straight to the garage, find my name on a screen that tells me which car to go to, and peace out of there without dealing with any paperwork or lines. Anyways, I get to the Fastbreak area and my name is not there. I scratch my head, and wonder why. I've picked up cars early before from various airports, and I'm sure they don't put out keys exactly the second the reservation starts. Anyways find some guy who's name tag told me he was a supervisor and asked him where my car was. He told me I'd need to stand in line and didn't care at all that I had a Fastbreak membership. Luckily there was a 2nd hidden Budget counter in the garage area, but even there the line was 45 minutes long. I get in line, really pissed, and hear others complaining that their cars are also missing. Decided to call the corporate 800 number and see what they could do while I waited and the agent on the line first told me that I had to have Fastbreak on my account to use the service. About 10 minutes of explaining to him that I DID have Fastbreak later, he confirmed that and told me to go to the Fastbreak screens. That went nowhere. Finally got to the counter 45-50 minutes later and asked what the hell happened. The guy just ignored my question. Asked what could be done about the inconvenience? An upgrade? A discount? Something? And his reply was "I could give you a car." NO FUCKING SHIT YOU'RE GIVING ME A CAR, THAT'S WHAT I'M HERE FOR. Meanwhile, the screen behind his head is salting the wound by advertising the Fastbreak program as "skip the line, skip the wait choose your vehicle and go, sign up for Fastbreak today!" The guy hands me a contract and doesn't tell me anything else. I ask him what car I got and he says "Nissan Versa." Once again, I paid for a compact and am getting an economy car, but whatever, I've already run into fucked up rental car sizing and the guy has already been incredibly rude to me so I didn't want to waste time arguing and I've lost all the time advantage I had and then some. I go out into the parking lot and the car in my spot isn't a Versa. Its a Versa Note. Oh hell no. I'm I'm not putting up with this dumpster on wheels. I paid for a "Ford Focus or similar" and got something Fiesta sized. At least with a Versa sedan you can argue one way or the other, but the Note is tiny. I put my 2 pieces of carry-on in the back and this is what it looked like.
The suitcase on the left isn't even your standard carry-on roller bag - its a compact version designed to fit under the seat in front of you. Its TINY. And yet, between it and my backpack, essentially the whole truck is taken. Can't imagine how 2 full-size suitcases would've fit, which according to Budget's fleet guide, you can carry in a compact (compared to 1 full-size in an Economy car).
Not wanting to go back and waste another 45 minutes arguing with the useless agent inside, I decide to take the car and call the 800 number back to voice my dissatisfaction with everything that happened. They kept telling me that a Versa was a compact. I kept telling them that I had a Versa Note and that its not a "Ford Focus or similar." Didn't matter. They didn't care. They offered me a $20 coupon off my next rental because of my Fastbreak issues and the rude agent, but I told them that a coupon is worthless because I will never rent from Budget again. In the end I did get that $20 bumped off my rental. Though the guy said it will be processes 2-3 days after returning the car. We'll see if it actually is. Still, fuck that noise, not worth the headache. Also as it was mentioned in this thread, I need to rent standard sized (whatever that is in industry terms) or bigger since the rental industry seems to have their own definitions of what is what size. It would be like renting out a house and calling a walk-in closet a bedroom.
For reference, this a size comparison.
While there are some metrics where the Note is almost competitive with the Focus, its still a significantly smaller car.
Pictures of the shitbox in question
Then when I returned the car, that $2.25 fee for getting hotel reward points WAS STILL ON MY BILL, despite not being on the updated confirmation I got after removing the hotel rewards account number off the reservation. Went to argue that off (out of principle at this point) and should've asked about the other fees (like the convention center fee) but didn't.
The Nissan Versa Note and Budget Rent a Car both have a place reserved for them in the deepest pits of hell.
My flight landed in Boston last Friday about 30 minutes early. Went straight to the rental car center and got there about 8 minutes after getting off the plane, pretty good if you're familiar with Logan Airport. The place was a zoo. Total pandemonium. Every agency counter had lines that looked like they would've taken at least 2 hours to get through. At this point I felt really happy about signing up for Budget's Fastbreak program since it lets me go to straight to the garage, find my name on a screen that tells me which car to go to, and peace out of there without dealing with any paperwork or lines. Anyways, I get to the Fastbreak area and my name is not there. I scratch my head, and wonder why. I've picked up cars early before from various airports, and I'm sure they don't put out keys exactly the second the reservation starts. Anyways find some guy who's name tag told me he was a supervisor and asked him where my car was. He told me I'd need to stand in line and didn't care at all that I had a Fastbreak membership. Luckily there was a 2nd hidden Budget counter in the garage area, but even there the line was 45 minutes long. I get in line, really pissed, and hear others complaining that their cars are also missing. Decided to call the corporate 800 number and see what they could do while I waited and the agent on the line first told me that I had to have Fastbreak on my account to use the service. About 10 minutes of explaining to him that I DID have Fastbreak later, he confirmed that and told me to go to the Fastbreak screens. That went nowhere. Finally got to the counter 45-50 minutes later and asked what the hell happened. The guy just ignored my question. Asked what could be done about the inconvenience? An upgrade? A discount? Something? And his reply was "I could give you a car." NO FUCKING SHIT YOU'RE GIVING ME A CAR, THAT'S WHAT I'M HERE FOR. Meanwhile, the screen behind his head is salting the wound by advertising the Fastbreak program as "skip the line, skip the wait choose your vehicle and go, sign up for Fastbreak today!" The guy hands me a contract and doesn't tell me anything else. I ask him what car I got and he says "Nissan Versa." Once again, I paid for a compact and am getting an economy car, but whatever, I've already run into fucked up rental car sizing and the guy has already been incredibly rude to me so I didn't want to waste time arguing and I've lost all the time advantage I had and then some. I go out into the parking lot and the car in my spot isn't a Versa. Its a Versa Note. Oh hell no. I'm I'm not putting up with this dumpster on wheels. I paid for a "Ford Focus or similar" and got something Fiesta sized. At least with a Versa sedan you can argue one way or the other, but the Note is tiny. I put my 2 pieces of carry-on in the back and this is what it looked like.
The suitcase on the left isn't even your standard carry-on roller bag - its a compact version designed to fit under the seat in front of you. Its TINY. And yet, between it and my backpack, essentially the whole truck is taken. Can't imagine how 2 full-size suitcases would've fit, which according to Budget's fleet guide, you can carry in a compact (compared to 1 full-size in an Economy car).
Not wanting to go back and waste another 45 minutes arguing with the useless agent inside, I decide to take the car and call the 800 number back to voice my dissatisfaction with everything that happened. They kept telling me that a Versa was a compact. I kept telling them that I had a Versa Note and that its not a "Ford Focus or similar." Didn't matter. They didn't care. They offered me a $20 coupon off my next rental because of my Fastbreak issues and the rude agent, but I told them that a coupon is worthless because I will never rent from Budget again. In the end I did get that $20 bumped off my rental. Though the guy said it will be processes 2-3 days after returning the car. We'll see if it actually is. Still, fuck that noise, not worth the headache. Also as it was mentioned in this thread, I need to rent standard sized (whatever that is in industry terms) or bigger since the rental industry seems to have their own definitions of what is what size. It would be like renting out a house and calling a walk-in closet a bedroom.
For reference, this a size comparison.
While there are some metrics where the Note is almost competitive with the Focus, its still a significantly smaller car.
Pictures of the shitbox in question
Then when I returned the car, that $2.25 fee for getting hotel reward points WAS STILL ON MY BILL, despite not being on the updated confirmation I got after removing the hotel rewards account number off the reservation. Went to argue that off (out of principle at this point) and should've asked about the other fees (like the convention center fee) but didn't.
The Nissan Versa Note and Budget Rent a Car both have a place reserved for them in the deepest pits of hell.
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Nissans below the Altima in car terms stinks. Same with kia and hyundais of the same size. Why use budget over National or hertz?