Avis mystery car rental-ugghh

[y_p_w]

Thanks, @JeffKeryk and @y_p_w, for the advice. When I made the reservation Hertz sent me to a page they have that is devoted to Tesla functions and features. The reservation is specifically for a Tesla Model 3 standard range.

They covered the key card, both unlocking and "starting" the car. I also saw where Hertz Teslas will display a QR on the screen when you first start the car. Scanning the QR code will allow the renter to set up their phone as the key.

Thanks for the advice on voice controls. It had not occurred to me that they can be helpful, to avoid fiddling with the screen while driving. I'll do some homework on it.

Good advice on finding somewhere to park and learn the navigation. The trip from BNA to my sons home is about 140 miles, with no superchargers in his city. There is a Supercharger station at 106 miles that I'm planning on stopping at to charge. It will be interesting to see if the navigation will recommend to charge there. From what I understand, the Supercharger will bill Hertz, and Hertz will pass the charging costs on to me.

Yeah - the QR code was available on the loaner I mentioned and I suppose rental cars can do that. However, I checked the registered "keys" and there were a lot of orphaned keys to the point where I was kind of worried that maybe someone else could get access to the car. However, they should have the ability to just delete any. I couldn't delete any of those on that loaner, but I mentioned them when the car was returned.

The other issue with the phone key was occasionally it would just self-delete from the Tesla app. Not sure why. Sometimes it was after a few hours or after 12 hours. But it was 2018 Model 3 so it could be different. However, having a phone key also means all the normal features that Tesla drivers have, including remote access to the trunk, the horn, and vehicle location. And walking away from the car and having it automatically lock. But knowing where the car is can be helpful, as well as honking the horn if you might not remember exactly where you parked in a bit lot or garage.

We had a Model S P100D loaner for less than a day and for that they provided a key fob/remote rather than a card key. Didn't try to set it up with the Tesla app. That might be more familiar for some people. It should also automatically lock just by walking away. Don't recall if the key card will automatically lock, but I remember tapping the card on the door sill to lock.