Why do hire car companies never have the vehicle you book?
Discussion
Sure, its clear that you may not always get the car you'd expect from the photo, but as the headline photo hints that it could very likely be a 320D (or whatever other car you're lead to believe) then I'd expect say a 70% success rate at least? My hit rate so far has been a poor 30% and I've yet to be pleasantly surprised with the supposed upgrade. In my knowledge of good customer service I'd expect the 'we don't have the car you probably think you've ordered' to be the exception, not the norm!
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 28th May 21:51
Andy20vt said:
Sure, its clear that you may not always get the car you'd expect from the photo, but as the headline photo hints that it could very likely be a 320D (or whatever other car you're lead to believe) then I'd expect say a 70% success rate at least? My hit rate so far has been a poor 30% and I've yet to be pleasantly surprised with the supposed upgrade. In my knowledge of good customer service I'd expect the 'we don't have the car you probably think you've ordered' to be the exception, not the norm!
It's advertising though innit, would look pretty cluttered if they had a photo of literally every car they have.Edited by Andy20vt on Thursday 28th May 21:51
You wouldn't put a picture of the s
ttest car in the range on the webside instead.Why can't they show the full range of similar cars. For instance, I'd rather have a discount and lower band than a people carrier. I've hired loads of cars and rarely get the one I wanted, I complained once and got a free upgrade from enterprise which consisted of an auto Mazda 6 instead of a Mondeo! I couldn't be bothered to complain about the complaint, I only got the auto Mazda because I refused point blank to take the insignia which I knew they had loads of and produced the email which specifically requested " no insignia for an upgrade "
Worst was a brown corsa instead of a cool looking DS3, was actually looking forward to that little car for the week. Never been back to thrifty since even though they are closest to terminal 5 at Heathrow which doesn't feel close anyway by the time you've walked to the desk.
Worst was a brown corsa instead of a cool looking DS3, was actually looking forward to that little car for the week. Never been back to thrifty since even though they are closest to terminal 5 at Heathrow which doesn't feel close anyway by the time you've walked to the desk.
Andy20vt said:
but as the headline photo hints that it could very likely be a 320D (or whatever other car you're lead to believe)
No, it doesn't. It's no more than a representative example of the rough market segment of car, to save you trying to guess what an "intermediate" or "premium" is.They even kindly explain it on the "Car Rental Terms" page...
http://www.thrifty.co.uk/uk-booking-guide.htm
For the benefit of the hard of thinking Thrifty said:
Vehicles images
Vehicle images are examples only. Specific models cannot be guaranteed.
Mind you, whoever would class a BMW 116 as "Sports"... <shakes head, sadly>Vehicle images are examples only. Specific models cannot be guaranteed.
http://www.thrifty.co.uk/vehicle-guide.htm
Edited by TooMany2cvs on Thursday 28th May 22:19
You might have had a lucky escape. My MX5 is in for repair after being hit by a numpty who reversed straight into it .
Mazda Assistance arranged a credit hire car through Enterprise. Despite me insisting I wanted a basic vehicle, they delivered a manual 320D saloon.
Lovely engine and interior, but horrible suspension - lateral body roll on anything but smooth roads and absolutely no feel in the steering.
They eventually swapped it for an Auris with broken aircon, mismatched tyres (3 near illegal premium and 1 new ditch finder) and a broken bonnet release.
Swapped again for a diesel Focus estate
Mazda Assistance arranged a credit hire car through Enterprise. Despite me insisting I wanted a basic vehicle, they delivered a manual 320D saloon.
Lovely engine and interior, but horrible suspension - lateral body roll on anything but smooth roads and absolutely no feel in the steering.
They eventually swapped it for an Auris with broken aircon, mismatched tyres (3 near illegal premium and 1 new ditch finder) and a broken bonnet release.
Swapped again for a diesel Focus estate
They're merely giving an example of the class of car to allow people who may not understand what an intermediate or premium class of car is to help with identifying what they need/need to book.
I don't think they could be much clearer.
If I hire a small premium and the hire co state 320D or similar, Anything like a 3 series, A4, C class etc is reasonable. If for any reason they can't satisfy this then I'd expect them to provide the next class up, 5 series, A6, e class etc.
I don't see the issue.
I don't think they could be much clearer.
If I hire a small premium and the hire co state 320D or similar, Anything like a 3 series, A4, C class etc is reasonable. If for any reason they can't satisfy this then I'd expect them to provide the next class up, 5 series, A6, e class etc.
I don't see the issue.
f1nn said:
They're merely giving an example of the class of car to allow people who may not understand what an intermediate or premium class of car is to help with identifying what they need/need to book.
I don't think they could be much clearer.
If I hire a small premium and the hire co state 320D or similar, Anything like a 3 series, A4, C class etc is reasonable. If for any reason they can't satisfy this then I'd expect them to provide the next class up, 5 series, A6, e class etc.
I don't see the issue.
I think the issue is not so much that there isn't a 320d for him but more that a VW Sharan was given instead. It's a completely different type of vehicle and frankly the only real similarity is that both offer 'some transport' but nobody who simply wants 'some transport' books a Premium class rental car.I don't think they could be much clearer.
If I hire a small premium and the hire co state 320D or similar, Anything like a 3 series, A4, C class etc is reasonable. If for any reason they can't satisfy this then I'd expect them to provide the next class up, 5 series, A6, e class etc.
I don't see the issue.
Fox- said:
I think the issue is not so much that there isn't a 320d for him but more that a VW Sharan was given instead. It's a completely different type of vehicle and frankly the only real similarity is that both offer 'some transport' but nobody who simply wants 'some transport' books a Premium class rental car.
No, you're right regarding the different class of vehicle, it should be like for like.I'm guessing the hire co see it as an upgrade, or at the very least comparable due to the cost of hire, rather than any measure of desirability.
Fox- said:
I think the issue is not so much that there isn't a 320d for him but more that a VW Sharan was given instead. It's a completely different type of vehicle and frankly the only real similarity is that both offer 'some transport' but nobody who simply wants 'some transport' books a Premium class rental car.
So they don't have anything in that class. Fine. It happens. Moaning isn't going to make a spare 3-series suddenly appear in the next ten minutes. Apart from giving something from a more expensive class, what else would you like them to do? Shrug and offer the keys to one of the row of i10s?I think this behaviour has been going on for years and years, though sometimes it works out rather well...
Many years ago (and don't laugh) I booked a Ford Scorpio for a weekend to drive down from Nottingham for the annual supercar test day at Goodwood, so wanted something easy to drive so I wouldn't feel knackered at the other end.
So I collected the car from the hire centre in Leicester, but much to my astonishment it wasn't a Ford Granada Auto they had waiting for me.... it was a brand new Ford Escort RS Turbo in white!!!
Now had I requested an RS Turbo I would probably have ended up with a Granada in a sludge brown colour.
The drive down involved mostly M1 then M25 around London then onto A roads near Guildford and Haslemere, so it was a lovely drive down to Goodwood, and these were the days before speed camera parasites existed and real police officers were on patrol. It really was an enjoyable driving experience.
With unlimited mileage I wasn't too bothered about the distances involved so clocked up over 400 miles, the best bit was I noted down the mileage when I returned the car, only to discover that someone probably working for the hire company then clocked up a few more miles after I had returned it - I only know this because they were in shock over the number of miles done and tried billing me for petrol, even though I had topped it up to the brim at the nearby petrol station before returning it.
Many years ago (and don't laugh) I booked a Ford Scorpio for a weekend to drive down from Nottingham for the annual supercar test day at Goodwood, so wanted something easy to drive so I wouldn't feel knackered at the other end.
So I collected the car from the hire centre in Leicester, but much to my astonishment it wasn't a Ford Granada Auto they had waiting for me.... it was a brand new Ford Escort RS Turbo in white!!!
Now had I requested an RS Turbo I would probably have ended up with a Granada in a sludge brown colour.
The drive down involved mostly M1 then M25 around London then onto A roads near Guildford and Haslemere, so it was a lovely drive down to Goodwood, and these were the days before speed camera parasites existed and real police officers were on patrol. It really was an enjoyable driving experience.
With unlimited mileage I wasn't too bothered about the distances involved so clocked up over 400 miles, the best bit was I noted down the mileage when I returned the car, only to discover that someone probably working for the hire company then clocked up a few more miles after I had returned it - I only know this because they were in shock over the number of miles done and tried billing me for petrol, even though I had topped it up to the brim at the nearby petrol station before returning it.
TooMany2cvs said:
So they don't have anything in that class. Fine. It happens. Moaning isn't going to make a spare 3-series suddenly appear in the next ten minutes. Apart from giving something from a more expensive class, what else would you like them to do? Shrug and offer the keys to one of the row of i10s?
How about not overbook the class in the first place? The Sharan isn't generally more expensive anyway, and when it is, it'll be a supply/demand thing rather than because it's a more premium service offering than the class he booked.Don't take reservations for things you cannot fulfil unless you are prepared to compensate the customer and tossing the keys to an MPV doesn't count.
I'm fairly sure a 7.5T lorry is more expensive to rent than an E Class Merc, doesn't mean I'm going to be happy to accept one instead of my E Class reservation at an airport!
As alluded to previously, hire car roulette is a fantastic little game. People who use hire cars on business are best suited for the game - last time I played, I booked a car through Avis and said it was just me, travelling up and down the motorway daily for a week or two, something small, diesel and with cruise control would be great. They got 2/3, as I ended up with a Peugeot 5008 unceremoniously dumped on my drive at some point on Sunday.
The worst I ever got was in the US - after a red-eye flight I arrived at Avis at 7am on a Saturday, after a bit of confusion with my driving licence (they couldn't work out how I was born on the 4th of month 13) I was given a Ford key and told to look in row C. A big line of Mustangs greeted me and I prematurely celebrated - until I hit the boot release key, only to see a pea green Focus saloon at the arse end of the line pop its boot. I wasn't impressed.
The best car I got in hire car roulette was when I was travelling to a customer site whose commute involved a lot of twisty roads. I booked a "Peugeot 307 or similar" and was delivered a brand new top-spec Alfa Romeo Giulietta with 280 miles on the clock. That was a lovely drive.
The worst I ever got was in the US - after a red-eye flight I arrived at Avis at 7am on a Saturday, after a bit of confusion with my driving licence (they couldn't work out how I was born on the 4th of month 13) I was given a Ford key and told to look in row C. A big line of Mustangs greeted me and I prematurely celebrated - until I hit the boot release key, only to see a pea green Focus saloon at the arse end of the line pop its boot. I wasn't impressed.
The best car I got in hire car roulette was when I was travelling to a customer site whose commute involved a lot of twisty roads. I booked a "Peugeot 307 or similar" and was delivered a brand new top-spec Alfa Romeo Giulietta with 280 miles on the clock. That was a lovely drive.
TooMany2cvs said:
Fox- said:
How about not overbook the class in the first place?
Maybe they didn't. Maybe the person who had the 3-series before you hasn't returned it - or returned it too badly damaged to rent out immediately.f1nn said:
They're merely giving an example of the class of car to allow people who may not understand what an intermediate or premium class of car is to help with identifying what they need/need to book.
I don't think they could be much clearer.
If I hire a small premium and the hire co state 320D or similar, Anything like a 3 series, A4, C class etc is reasonable. If for any reason they can't satisfy this then I'd expect them to provide the next class up, 5 series, A6, e class etc.
I don't see the issue.
Swap the A4 to an IS and I'd agree, either of those would be similar to a 320. I don't think they could be much clearer.
If I hire a small premium and the hire co state 320D or similar, Anything like a 3 series, A4, C class etc is reasonable. If for any reason they can't satisfy this then I'd expect them to provide the next class up, 5 series, A6, e class etc.
I don't see the issue.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff