The worst rental car I've ever had

[jimbrewer]

It's not like the olden days where the manufacturers owned the rental companies and used them as an excuse to put unsold new cars in the rental fleet for few weeks and then blow them out at big discounts as used cars. Nowadays its not unusual to see cars with 40k miles in the fleet.

A lot of the agencies are owned by franchisees instead of the company. You will be treated worse at those places.

I've had pretty good luck at Enterprise, but even there, each time I seem to get treated a little worse.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: cashmoney
Hertz was a decent rental company 20 years ago. Now they have seriously degraded. I always use National Car rental - you get to walk the lot and chose the car you want form the category you reserved. Always a better experience. And make sure you check with your insurance agent to understand exactly what rental car coverage you have and make sure you obtain and use a credit card for car rentals that provides overlapping rental car coverage.



Hertz is still great.

And the "choose your own car" thing has been at Hertz for a while. It is called Gold Choice. I do it very often.

 

[rshaw125]

I rented a mini van from Enterprise at the Vegas airport. I got to pick from a row of 10-12. All had 30,000 miles plus on them. Started with a Grand Caravan. Brakes grinding completely shot. They brought me a Toyota Sienna. The Toyota was okay.
I do like the idea of choosing my vehicle out of a row.

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: itguy08
Wow. That sounds painful. I remember when Hertz was the cream of the crop. You'd get a new-ish (under 30k) Ford and be done with it. Then it was new-ish cars and now it seems like you'd be lucky to get a car at all.



I should have went with Avis.
Last two Avis rentals were both current model year vehicles with < than 25K on them. One was an Altima the other was a Sonata. Both cars were pristine and I even Pricelined both those rentals.
Did not Priceline this one. Paid more for this one than I did for both the Avis rentals. Even though I do not rent enough to partake of any of the loyalty programs, I still think that this car should have been retired.
Those two Avis rentals were the first time that I had ever rented from anyone other than Hertz. Hertz got me once. They won't get me twice.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: jimbrewer
It's not like the olden days where the manufacturers owned the rental companies and used them as an excuse to put unsold new cars in the rental fleet for few weeks and then blow them out at big discounts as used cars. Nowadays its not unusual to see cars with 40k miles in the fleet.

A lot of the agencies are owned by franchisees instead of the company. You will be treated worse at those places.

I've had pretty good luck at Enterprise, but even there, each time I seem to get treated a little worse.


I had a rental (Chrysler 200) with 30,000 miles recently...not bad. It was only a year old!

 

[Lolvoguy]

the best experience I ever had was at \enterprise at LAX. WOW Is all I gotta say.

Initially I had a full size car reserved, but my GF noticed that we were informed that we would have a smaller than normal parking spot at the place we were staying. As a result, we tried to get something smaller, but they wanted to charge us more.

\reluctantly I accepted a Chrysler...I'm not sure, some kind of mediocre sedan. Upon loading our belongings into it, my GF noticed the grease on the drivers head rest (Soul Glo anyone?) as well as a few other dirty spots.

I quickly waved an official looking person over after the attendant left, and he and I went searching for a replacement. First I found a neat little Beetle I would have liked, but it had damage, so we finally came upon a new Mustang with v6 and for the SAME price I was initially going to pay! I was so impressed with the service and attention to the customer (me), I wrote them a glowing review on google (I wasn't the only one who felt this way about them either).

And yes, I also make reservations at several companies to ensure I get a decent car I actually WANT to drive. Next trip is for 10 days thru the Canadian ROckies. I sure am hoping for one of those snazzy new Impala's I've been hearing so many great things about

wish me luck!

 

[JTK]

It's been a few years since I've rented a car, but it seems like the business model has changed given the costs today. Tighter inventory and even more utilization of the fleet.

Unless I was renting a vehicle specifically for the vehicle, I'd rather have something previously beat so I don't get the blame.

 

[CBR.worm]

I have good luck with National, but some locations are notoriously bad no matter what chain.

I am executive elite with National and Gold with Hertz, so in either case I walk out and pick my car.

 

[Hootbro]

I think all the rental car companies at the Vegas airport are run like a mafia operation. All of them are rude and never want to honor the online reservation quote. They lie out their a$$ and tell you this or that extra coverage is required and high brow pressure you into taking a extra coverage you do not want. Takes the happiness of being in Vegas down a notch having to battle with these twits at the airport.

 

[CharBaby]

My wife is great at documenting our rental car and hotel experiencs. If we're not happy, we complain and write reviews on their customer website. We also call and complain to the customer service reps. Usually this results in getting our money/points back.

This doesn't happen often and we're not constant complainers just to get something free. We often comment on the good customer service and good experiences too!

When spending your hard earned money of products/services and you're not happy...COMPLAIN!

 

[hattaresguy]

In Fl I have always had good luck with Enterprise. Typically I get a pretty much new Buick Regal if I can or a Fusion.

 

[mrsilv04]

Originally Posted By: edwardh1
enterprise likes to find things wrong with your car when you return it.
google :failing enterprise


I rented a car from Enterprise, and the windshield got hit with a rock in a construction zone. It put a star/chip in the lower left hand corner of the windshield (not in an area of the driver's view).

I let them know about the damage when I returned it, and filled out all of the paperwork that they requested.

Before I was done with the paperwork, I noticed that they had cleaned the car, and sent it out with someone else. They hadn't taken it out of service, so that the windshield could be repaired.

I waited and waited for someone with Enterprise to contact me. Finally, three months later, I get a bill for a new windshield, for nearly $700. They had sent a copy of the repair order from the company that had replaced the windshield.

Enterprise had left the car in service until the windshield finally cracked (some 3,000 miles later) as both details were noted on the repair order, and were trying to get me to pay for the entire cost of a new windshield.

I turned it over to my insurance agent, and explained to them that it appeared that they'd left the car in service until the windshield finally cracked.

He refused to submit a claim for it, and called Enterprise himself and told them to pound sand.

And that was the last time that I rented from Enterprise.

 

[javacontour]

I need to post my Enterprise experience from a month ago.

Ended up with a Maxima for $176, tax included for the week. Put 2200 miles on it going from STL to DEN and back.


Not as clean as I would have liked, but it was a nice car, especially for the rate offered. I use them for my personal rental needs if the P5 is in the shop, so I thought I'd use them for a work trip. Instead of flying, oilBabe and I drove out there and played tourist when I wasn't in training.

Originally Posted By: mjk
The few times I've had rentals, I've always used Enterprise. Nothing but good experiences w/ them.

 

[jburkhard2010]

Should have gone with Avis

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: jburkhard2010
Should have gone with Avis


Anywhere but Hertz. Any other choice could have only been an improvement.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

A coworker of mine rented a subcompact / city car from Enterprise to take his road test (He just moved to the US).

They gave him an impala. Whoops.

 

[crw]

I wonder if the experience is different if you are coming in on a corporate account? My experience with Avis has been good. They say, I can just go straight to the lot and take any car. Somehow I don't think I should take the 2014 Corvette they had sitting there...

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: mjk
The few times I've had rentals, I've always used Enterprise. Nothing but good experiences w/ them.


YMMV
The last car we had from Enterprise was a twin cam Saturn about ten years back.
The left front wheel had a dent in the flange and the tire had a sidewall bubble.
This car was on the dime of a fool's insurance, since he had rear-ended our minivan and I insisted that his insurer pay for a rental, even though we could have done just fine without one.
I didn't like their attitude, so I figured I make them pay for it.
Anyway, the local Enterprise branch claimed to have nothing else available and I figured that if the Saturn suffered a blowout, I'd give them a call and make it their problem.
The Saturn never did have a problem and I ended up very impressed with the little thing.
Horrid seats and driving position, but with a willing engine coupled to a very well programmed automatic.
I put about a thousand miles on the little guy while our van was undergoing repair and averaged ~34 mpg.
Renting is an opportunity to experience something you might never have otherwise driven.
In the case of the OP, he now knows for sure that he'd never want a Mitsubishi Galant.

 

[Noobie]

The only time i've rented a car was with Alamo.
It was kinda expensive (I think) but we had a great experience.
Service was good, fast and we got to choose from a huge lot of cars.

We ended up with 2 Grand Caravan's, one with around 20k miles and the other 35k miles. Both were post-facelift.
Both were clean inside and outside they were almost perfect. (Just a small scratch at the bottom of the front fender on one car)

 

[strat81]

I rented a Hyundai Accent last week from Enterprise at Logan Airport. It had just over 200 miles on it.

It was in perfect condition and all of the employees I dealt with, at 10:45pm on a Sunday night, were very pleasant and even well-dressed.

The car itself wasn't bad. It didn't have cruise control and the rear window is angled in such a way that rearward visibility is lousy. Otherwise, it drove like a typical foreign economy car. The build quality of my prior vehicle, a 2004 Buick, which cost almost $40k back then, was substantially worse. The Accent wasn't fast, but it never left me wanting for power in city and suburb traffic.

The car was nice enough that:
a) I'll rent with Enterprise again
b) I'd consider a Hyundai as a personal vehicle

I cannot say the same about two Chrysler products I rented through Thrifty.