Hey
For memory sake only I am going to blog about this next topic.
Hertz.
Yes the car rental company. I normally rent with Enterprise or Avis. Occasionally Fox. Not normally Hertz.
When we drove to Phoenix and back we decided it wasn’t wise to add 1400 worth of miles in such a short time so we rented a car. The cheapest thing possible for a couple days.
That’s what we got. The cheapest thing. A Chevy Aveo from Hertz. This thing was great. It had everything. Soiled seats, black carpeting (that once was brown), signs of multiple accidents on the body and almost 50k miles on this white ‘sporty 2011 Aveo’ and not to be outdone… some damage inside.
Oh boy. You shouldn’t have, really.
When we first checked in they told us they weren’t giving us that car. After a sudden change of heart they wanted to make sure it was full with gas. They came back and told us it was almost empty and that we should just return it on empty. They explained that they simply didn’t have any other cars so that was what we were getting.
Okay. As long as it runs right?
The front counter clerk took us outside to check everything over. Had us mark every soil and every rock chip we could spot, telling us that if there was ANY additional damage we were 100% liable for it. Then she tried to use scare tactics on us for using the rental insurance with American Express saying she had problems in the past with customers using it. I kept thinking to myself.. Really? I’ve never had any problems with it. It gave us a bad feeling. So despite the hassle we took the keys and left.
Well, it ran. We started off from far north LA county and made our way eastward. The further east we went the seemingly hotter it became. We turned the AC to Max. No change. In fact it was getting even warmer.
I thought it was me until I could feel my shirt sticking to my body. We weren’t even in Palm Springs and we were already in a sweat box.
Along the way I called AmEx to verify all the coverage for a piece of mind. Shorty after that they called me (See the previous post as to why).
We stopped to get gas. Thankfully it made the car and the AC (or lack thereof) not seem quite as bad. Little did we know that was just the beginning. Starting up over some of the hills along I-10 the transmission started Surging and jerking when shifting. Oh boy. Even better.
So we called Hertz. By this time we were closer to Blythe than anything.
First time we talked to them we were disconnected. On our second attempt they routed us to emergency dispatch. The guy on the phone didn’t have a clue where “BLYTHE??” California was. I had to spell the city for him. He insisted I bring the car to the closest location. According to him that was in Lake Havasu City. Considering that was out of our way we asked if they could come get the car (so we wouldn’t have to drive until the car broke down). There was no way they could do that because we were too far away. We either had to take the car to Lake Havasu or go to the Phoenix Airport. I said to him “you can’t help us can you?” After his reply of “nope” I promptly hung up on him.
We arrived at the airport some hours later. We waited for at least fifteen minutes to be seen as the 2 available agents were busy chatting with some of their friends at a counter directly in front of us. An older couple came behind us – speaking up about how incredulous it was that they were making us wait this long so they could relax and chat it up.
We were just tired, hot, sticky and still sweaty from driving. Mostly just ready to be done with that particular car. When they decided we were worth their time we stepped up to the counter. We calmly explained how we returned the car with a half a tank of gas. We wanted to know what they could do for us since we brought it back with more gas than they provided (plus I had them take into consideration all the problems we had).
“Uh, we can give you a coupon for 10% off your next rental, but that’s all we can do.”
Maryia was furious. She immediately let into the guy and asked to speak with his manager. The manager came out a little while later. Apologetic that we had so many issues. They asked if they could upgrade our car. We accepted. Then she said that she would make sure the car’s gas was on full… and insisted that we return the car on empty.
We agreed and starting from that point our experience with Hertz started to improve.
They set us up in a new 2013 Nissan Altima with nine thousand some odd miles on it. This car wasn’t loaded- but compared to the Chevy felt like a million bucks. It even had cruise control (yeah, at that point cruise control was an exciting option). It had a pretty nice stereo system too. We were actually impressed with how much we liked the car. Kudos to Nissan for building a nice car.
We drove all around in that thing. From North Phoenix, down to Chandler and back to the hotel in Tempe. After all that running around it was still sitting at a full tank of gas.
The next day was the interview. Afterward we filled up before starting back. It came to like 15 bucks. We drove to Quartzite and decided we should fill up at the last cheap place before the prices started to rise. Again, we spent about $15.
We drove all the way to the edge of Santa Monica then up to Santa Clarita. We were just down a quarter of a tank. The next day we took the car to some appointments we had. Didn’t move the gauge. I tried to bring the gas down so I sat outside listening to music with the car running for nearly an hour before we had to return it.
We ended up returning the car with over half-a-tank still left. I was amazed. I probably didn’t need to full up one time. Had I only known…
In closing, we spoke to the local Hertz person who asked about our trip. We explained everything. They in turn explained to us that unless we paid for Roadside assistance Hertz wouldn’t come get the car. “Not even if the engine or transmission or something else went out?” They replied “Not unless you paid extra for the roadside assistance.”
Yeowza. That was disappointing to learn of. Something I thought I would pass on, so others might know. Just in case their car breaks and its their fault. You never know what will happen. To try and gain future business they said they would give us a free car wash if we were in the area and wanted to stop by.
Well, that was our experience. We were most impressed with the management in Phoenix, but can’t really say that too much more came out of it that was overwhelmingly positive.
Until next time
just Pray
