Best hire car upgrade...
Discussion
My best was in Florida booked a chrysler voyager because we needed 7 seats but due to it being smashed on its return journey to the airport I ended up with a 5.3 litre chevy suburban cost me an absolute fortune in fuel but was great fun just slamming my foot down and listening to the v8 roar was actually very comfortable on the ride down to Miami
Sadly nothing for me, in the few times I've had one, I've always ended up with a basic Ka Mk1, which actually isn't the end of the world because driven like, well a hire car, they great fun for a few days.
When I worked for Europecar in Sydney during the Xmas / 2000 Olympic rush punters were almost certain to get some sort of upgrade because we simply couldn't get hold of enough Toyota Echos and Corrolas for all the bookings. So punters were getting standard Commodore V6's (basic but fun).
Punters who booked Camry V6's were getting Calais' (Commodores with more spec) or Ford Fairlanes (horrible big, but speccy boats) because the 60 Camry's the hire co had bought especially for the games all turned up completely dead and every time the boys tried to jump start them, it caused all manner of damage to the electrics.
People who booked Vitaras (I think badged Chevy Cruisers down there) were getting full-on 7/8 seater Landcruisers and a couple of lucky sods who's booked Echo's got 225bhp Audi TT's because they didn't need the back seats, which were pretty much the nicest things we had on fleet.
The icing on the cake was that when some of the more lentil friendly punters kicked off about getting a car that does half the MPG for a multi-thousand kilometre trip they were given fuel cards and asked for half the balance when they returned them.
When I worked for Europecar in Sydney during the Xmas / 2000 Olympic rush punters were almost certain to get some sort of upgrade because we simply couldn't get hold of enough Toyota Echos and Corrolas for all the bookings. So punters were getting standard Commodore V6's (basic but fun).
Punters who booked Camry V6's were getting Calais' (Commodores with more spec) or Ford Fairlanes (horrible big, but speccy boats) because the 60 Camry's the hire co had bought especially for the games all turned up completely dead and every time the boys tried to jump start them, it caused all manner of damage to the electrics.
People who booked Vitaras (I think badged Chevy Cruisers down there) were getting full-on 7/8 seater Landcruisers and a couple of lucky sods who's booked Echo's got 225bhp Audi TT's because they didn't need the back seats, which were pretty much the nicest things we had on fleet.
The icing on the cake was that when some of the more lentil friendly punters kicked off about getting a car that does half the MPG for a multi-thousand kilometre trip they were given fuel cards and asked for half the balance when they returned them.
Highway Star said:
A few years back, hiring from Hertz in the small town where I lived in Iowa, I used to hire from them regularly as our main car had quite a stringent mileage limit as part of the lease deal, so when I needed to drive for work, I'd hire.
Ordered the normal mid-size for a trip down to St Louis, about a five hour drive away and braced myself for the long journey in a sea of cheap plastic. Arrived to find that an unexpected run had gone on on their cars due to a small conference in town plus a few guys were late returning their cars, only one mid size left which two miles down the road started displaying the engine management warning light, so I drove back and asked for a replacement. All they had left was a Voyager or a C6 Corvette. I had one of the best drives of my life.
nice, the Voyager is a great car Ordered the normal mid-size for a trip down to St Louis, about a five hour drive away and braced myself for the long journey in a sea of cheap plastic. Arrived to find that an unexpected run had gone on on their cars due to a small conference in town plus a few guys were late returning their cars, only one mid size left which two miles down the road started displaying the engine management warning light, so I drove back and asked for a replacement. All they had left was a Voyager or a C6 Corvette. I had one of the best drives of my life.
Tuvra said:
Henley Heritage TVR had one of my TVR's, the T350c I think and give me one of these:
Karma restored
Is that a Peroda Nippa or kenari, i can never remember the names of the cars that come from my families native home of Malaysia. Would that TVR dealer have been twinned with a proton/Peroda dealership by any chance?Karma restored
Iang84 said:
My best was in Florida booked a chrysler voyager because we needed 7 seats but due to it being smashed on its return journey to the airport I ended up with a 5.3 litre chevy suburban cost me an absolute fortune in fuel but was great fun just slamming my foot down and listening to the v8 roar was actually very comfortable on the ride down to Miami
I booked Hertz in Florida through Expedia a couple of year when there was a glitch (the charge was the same for any period from 5 to 26 days) and booked a standard SUV for £200 all in for 18 days.Of course when we arrived there was a problem, but the agent worked hard to sort it out. For keeping us waiting she gave us an Escalade! I note your comment about slamming your foot down - I only did it once and nearly crapped myself, it was just brutal off the line. It took several days to be able to start from rest without nearly breaking everyone's neck.
It was pretty good on MPG too - as soon as it wss at steady speed it dropped to V4 mode, so it was better than the more ordinary SUVs we usually get.
big_boz said:
Is that a Peroda Nippa or kenari, i can never remember the names of the cars that come from my families native home of Malaysia. Would that TVR dealer have been twinned with a proton/Peroda dealership by any chance?
It was a Kenari. From memory I don't think they were, just TVR'S & Lotus.excel monkey said:
Don't have so much luck these days. Just got back from a holiday in Spain were I booked a compact car (Astra/Focus) with Firefly (a Hertz subsidiary), and got an Opel Meriva. Not impressed - it's just a tall Corsa.
Had similar recently with Hertz, booked a Golf/ Focus sized car and got a Ford B-Max (tall Fiesta). Was very slow, uneconomical and cramped in size. Not suitable at all for what we needed.Few years ago returned a Malibu to Hertz in Florida as it was missing on longer runs. Hateful thing. Asked if there was any chance of an upgrade and he just said we are very busy sir.
Found in our stall a top of the range Taurus which was surprisingly good.
Enterprise - turned up to collect a Mondeo that had not arrived. Ended up in a C350 merc.
Mind you I suspect I've been downgraded at times too....
Found in our stall a top of the range Taurus which was surprisingly good.
Enterprise - turned up to collect a Mondeo that had not arrived. Ended up in a C350 merc.
Mind you I suspect I've been downgraded at times too....
Mostly fails I'm afraid!
Booked a Focus-sized car to drive from Winnipeg to Toronto (3 day trip)...and got a Toyota Yaris hatch. It was the only car they had left and our cases didn't even fit in the boot but did get some money back in the end. On Honeymoon in Lake Como was looking forward to bombing around in a Fiat 500 or Panda or even an Alfa but all they had was a morning piss yellow Daihatsu Charade (or was it a Cuore)?
Not all bad though, when my Polo diesel got rear-ended in Manchester, the accident management company gave me a new Honda Civic as they didn't have any supermini-sized vehicles, which was nice.
The courtesy vehicles at my local Subaru dealership were also always rather nice, a new Impreza hatch, another Impreza Wagon and a Forester. Imagine my disappointment the last time I went in and found out that they had recently acquired a Fiat franchise, so got a bum basic Fiat 500.
Booked a Focus-sized car to drive from Winnipeg to Toronto (3 day trip)...and got a Toyota Yaris hatch. It was the only car they had left and our cases didn't even fit in the boot but did get some money back in the end. On Honeymoon in Lake Como was looking forward to bombing around in a Fiat 500 or Panda or even an Alfa but all they had was a morning piss yellow Daihatsu Charade (or was it a Cuore)?
Not all bad though, when my Polo diesel got rear-ended in Manchester, the accident management company gave me a new Honda Civic as they didn't have any supermini-sized vehicles, which was nice.
The courtesy vehicles at my local Subaru dealership were also always rather nice, a new Impreza hatch, another Impreza Wagon and a Forester. Imagine my disappointment the last time I went in and found out that they had recently acquired a Fiat franchise, so got a bum basic Fiat 500.
Pablo68 said:
A couple years ago flew to France and Hertz at the airport didnt have the compact sized car we had booked so they gave us an XC90 they had laying around instead for the same price.
Colleague booked a Focus from Heathrow with Hertz and they gave him a Mercedes GL. He tried to refuse it as the first thing he had to do was drive into the middle of London and said he was bothered about crashing it, so they threw in full excess waiver cover.When he got out at the other end of the journey , it had an 18" wide scuff/scrape down the whole nearside. Obviously they were just looking for someone to pin the blame on.
When we went to Vegas a in 2011 we'd booked to upgrade from a Neon to a small Jeep(a mini Cherokee or something) as we had a lot of long drives planned. After getting there and finding they didnt actually have any in stock (the best they could offer was some sort of Nissan compact 4x4 thing) we kicked up a bit of a fuss. Eventually they dug out a Grand Cherokee that smelt of smoke a bit and was a few hundred miles from its 50k disposal limit (and showing it). we took it, but when we pulled over immediately after exiting the hire car compound to check the map, I got out to look at the road signs and noticed a huge screw well embedded in one of the tyres!!
Dad really lost his rag and we flew back up the ramp before he stormed into the office. Quite a lot of shouting went on. still, it did mean we got told "pick anything you want". Despite me wanting him to choose one of the Ford F250s, in the end he pointed to a new shape Ford Explorer (the sleek monocoque one). It was new. brand new - the odometer had 3 miles on it! It was top of the range too: full leather, satellite radio, reversing camera, etc etc.
I dont think the company were best pleased when we brought it back 2 weeks later with nearly 3000 miles!
Dad really lost his rag and we flew back up the ramp before he stormed into the office. Quite a lot of shouting went on. still, it did mean we got told "pick anything you want". Despite me wanting him to choose one of the Ford F250s, in the end he pointed to a new shape Ford Explorer (the sleek monocoque one). It was new. brand new - the odometer had 3 miles on it! It was top of the range too: full leather, satellite radio, reversing camera, etc etc.
I dont think the company were best pleased when we brought it back 2 weeks later with nearly 3000 miles!
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