Avis mystery car rental-ugghh

I'm sympathetic to OP in this scenario. Earlier this year I arrived at the Hertz pickup at DCA (I'm President's Circle, as if that matters with them, worst rental car agency out there) and the area of cars I could pick up contained 2-3 Bolts, an Altima with trim hanging down from the rocker panel and a beat up Odyssey. Since I was driving to Baltimore and had a colleague to pick up that ruled out the Bolts which I would have loved to try. Odyssey was filthy and stunk like weed, but it ran on petrol and didn't have parts falling off.

A few months later I had a more relaxed business trip to SFO and was pleasantly greeted by two brand new Polestars at Hertz! The only time I have ever received a decent car from them. Anyway, charging was simple and the car was very enjoyable to drive. Being in the bay area charging wasn't a concern and I was able to simply plug it in overnight which was great.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/polestar-2-rental-review.368558/
 
dishdude said:
A few months later I had a more relaxed business trip to SFO and was pleasantly greeted by two brand new Polestars at Hertz! The only time I have ever received a decent car from them. Anyway, charging was simple and the car was very enjoyable to drive. Being in the bay area charging wasn't a concern and I was able to simply plug it in overnight which was great.
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If you can find a place with free (i.e. subsidized) charging, that's a real bonus. Especially in an area with high electricity prices like the Bay Area.
 
The Critic said:
With the amount that the OP travels, I'm surprised that he doesn't have a personal use corporate code that provides a more stable rate/vehicle option.
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I do have a great corporate account and am the highest rated renter Avis awards to it frequent renter. I typically get a personal email from the Avis airport manager in advance welcoming to their location.


All that sounds great, but in reality it means very little. Or even less. Rental car employees, especially at larger airports are more often than not a unhappy group. The deal with problems non stop, for very little pay. Their jobs might be one of the worse in the US. So when they dole out cars, status of the renter may not play a measurable role in which vehicle I am provided.


My travel budget is annual, and starts 1 October and ends 30 September. I have a full month of travel and don't want to request additional funds at year end. So trying to save money i went with the mystery rental. I think I have only done that once or twice prior in the past decade. And I prepaid, something I almost never do.

This issue is very addressable, not something that I can't deal with. But it is also a great lesson learned on having a ev, both as a rental or as a owner.
 
GON said:
I do have a great corporate account and am the highest rated renter Avis awards to it frequent renter. I typically get a personal email from the Avis airport manager in advance welcoming to their location.
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My "personal use" corporate discount has rates by class of vehicle. At least that is how Enterprise sets it up. No goofy clearance sales.

I think my rate for anything full size (and below) is under $40/day.
 
GON said:
I do have a great corporate account and am the highest rated renter Avis awards to it frequent renter. I typically get a personal email from the Avis airport manager in advance welcoming to their location.


All that sounds great, but in reality it means very little. Or even less. Rental car employees, especially at larger airports are more often than not a unhappy group. The deal with problems non stop, for very little pay. Their jobs might be one of the worse in the US. So when they dole out cars, status of the renter may not play a measurable role in which vehicle I am provided.


My travel budget is annual, and starts 1 October and ends 30 September. I have a full month of travel and don't want to request additional funds at year end. So trying to save money i went with the mystery rental. I think I have only done that once or twice prior in the past decade. And I prepaid, something I almost never do.

This issue is very addressable, not something that I can't deal with. But it is also a great lesson learned on having a ev, both as a rental or as a owner.
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I think this is a classic case of risk vs saving. If you think your need requires a certain type of vehicles (typically size) then you probably should just get it every time. If there is one chance that you will get a vehicle you cannot accept, then you really shouldn't get mystery car.

I was under the impression that if you are going to drive a lot, you will likely need something fuel efficient to save money, and therefore an "upgrade" from a small car would actually cost you. If you don't need to drive far, and a big car's extra fuel economy is not going to be a problem, then "usually" EV wouldn't be a problem either.
 
GON said:
Although I suspect Avis has a special plan for ev, how does one return a ev back to the rental lot fully charged? I am use to paying for very pricey gas just outside of any major airport prior to returning a rental car fully filled up as required.
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It’s not bad at all. I’ve rented EVs tons of times.

I just note the battery SOC when I get it. I then charge a bit past it at a local charger.

The Tesla at least has a little slider that sets the max SOC to charge to. I’ve always found it set at lower than 100% when I get the car.

So I adjust the slider to charge a bit higher to then compensate. Simple assuming there is an available charger nearby.

Stressful for you returning a rental as it’s already a time crunch to get to the airport and all. Now you need to account for availability of an open charger spot, and the time to do so.
 
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Reactions: GON
GON said:
Working in San Antonio for a few days. Avis "mystery car" rental was the cheapest option.

Just received notification from Avis the mystery car is a TSLA model 3. Not happy🍩😲. Now I have to plan for when and where to fuel, something I have never ever had to do while using rental cars in San Antonio before.

I imagine the mystery car is a car that Avis has excess of at any location.....
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How did the return go?
 
y_p_w said:
How did the return go?
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Return went well, thanks. BITOG was a great help, especially letting me.know I could return the car without penalty charged at 70 percent.

Overall, I liked the car only two issues. The side rear mirrors are too small. I suspect TSLA wants the driver to use the screen as part of the check to change lanes. I am old school and want the side mirror to be a key tool as part of lane changes. The other issue was simply for a keyless vehicle, I still had to place a credit card like device manually on the center console. Numerous times I couldn't get the card to be identified by the security system. I suspect a TSLA owner has less of these problems with the tSLA smartphone app.

The car as stated is nice. The technology is awesome, well above anything I have sampled in other 2023 manufactured rental vehicles. The fuel drain is a deal breaker though. Can't believe how fuel inefficient the vehicle is. A ice is much more fuel efficient. And the cost of the charge was more than what isuspect I would have paid for a like sized ice vehicle in Texas. But this thing needed too be charged daily.

I charged once in the dark, and all I can say is (mark this post) , in the near future, armed guards will need to be posted at every TSLA charging bank. This will be the future target of violent and armed criminals. And you best like your TSLA owners cigarette smoke and their cell phone conversations. You will involuntarily be party to those things.

PXL_20230908_022807390.jpg
 
GON said:
Return went well, thanks. BITOG was a great help, especially letting me.know I could return the car without penalty charged at 70 percent.

Overall, I liked the car only two issues. The side rear mirrors are too small. I suspect TSLA wants the driver to use the screen as part of the check to change lanes. I am old school and want the side mirror to be a key tool as part of lane changes. The other issue was simply for a keyless vehicle, I still had to place a credit card like device manually on the center console. Numerous times I couldn't get the card to be identified by the security system. I suspect a TSLA owner has less of these problems with the tSLA smartphone app.

The car as stated is nice. The technology is awesome, well above anything I have sampled in other 2023 manufactured rental vehicles. The fuel drain is a deal breaker though. Can't believe how fuel inefficient the vehicle is. A ice is much more fuel efficient. And the cost of the charge was more than what isuspect I would have paid for a like sized ice vehicle in Texas. But this thing needed too be charged daily.

I charged once in the dark, and all I can say is (mark this post) , in the near future, armed guards will need to be posted at every TSLA charging bank. This will be the future target of violent and armed criminals. And you best like your TSLA owners cigarette smoke and their cell phone conversations. You will involuntarily be party to those things.

View attachment 177831
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I usually didn't feel unsafe with strength in numbers. Especially when there are limited options, the ones that are there are rarely going to be empty. I know if I had to choose around where I live, I know which ones to use, although I'd probably just charge at home. I was just taking advantage of free Supercharging with a loaner.

It would be nice if Avis allowed rentals to access the Tesla app (along with the "phone key" access). I did that with my parents' loaner, although it had this weird habit of self-deleting periodically. But for the most part I could use it an we had the card key as a backup. Tesla automatically removes app access after a return, so I'm not sure why Avis can't.
 
y_p_w said:
I usually didn't feel unsafe with strength in numbers. Especially when there are limited options, the ones that are there are rarely going to be empty. I know if I had to choose around where I live, I know which ones to use, although I'd probably just charge at home. I was just taking advantage of free Supercharging with a loaner.

It would be nice if Avis allowed rentals to access the Tesla app (along with the "phone key" access). I did that with my parents' loaner, although it had this weird habit of self-deleting periodically. But for the most part I could use it an we had the card key as a backup. Tesla automatically removes app access after a return, so I'm not sure why Avis can't.
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I may have been able to use the tSLA app. I am working a full schedule, I didn't have the time nor desire to download, program, and learn a application. I try to keep it simple.

For the safety in numbers, I think that is old school thinking. All one has to do is watch assaults on public transit to know that is no longer the case. Something tells me 90 plus percent of current TSLA owners don't have the mindset to help someone in distress if it puts them at risk/exposure. Real life......
 
GON said:
I may have been able to use the tSLA app. I am working a full schedule, I didn't have the time nor desire to download, program, and learn a application. I try to keep it simple.

For the safety in numbers, I think that is old school thinking. All one has to do is watch assaults on public transit to know that is no longer the case. Something tells me 90 plus percent of current TSLA owners don't have the mindset to help someone in distress if it puts them at risk/exposure. Real life......
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At the very least everyone has a cell phone and there are people capturing video of crimes in progress even they don't necessarily intervene directly. I personally wouldn't try to stop a carjacking. However, Teslas are some of the worst vehicles to try and steal since they can be remotely disabled, even if a victim hands over the keys.
 
y_p_w said:
At the very least everyone has a cell phone and there are people capturing video of crimes in progress even they don't necessarily intervene directly. I personally wouldn't try to stop a carjacking. However, Teslas are some of the worst vehicles to try and steal since they can be remotely disabled, even if a victim hands over the keys.
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Yes, I imagine TSLA is hard to steal.... so maybe one has to kill the tSLA driver and keep the dead TSLA owner in the car during carjacking. I.imagine lots can be obtained from a TSLA driver outside of the vehicle.

Everyday videos are posted of violent felonies and armed robbiries being committed. These videos have not helped in detterence from nefarious actors whatsoever. Looking at trends, things are very bad and getting worse when it comes to violent and armed crimes.

We obviously access risk very differently.
 
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GON said:
Yes, I imagine TSLA is hard to steal.... so maybe one has to kill the tSLA driver and keep the dead TSLA owner in the car during carjacking. I.imagine lots can be obtained from a TSLA driver outside of the vehicle.

Everyday videos are posted of violent felonies and armed robbiries being committed. These videos have not helped in detterence from nefarious actors whatsoever. Looking at trends, things are very bad and getting worse when it comes to violent and armed crimes.

We obviously access risk very differently.
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Oh - no. If someone has the card key or remote, it would be pretty easy to steal. At least until it's reported stolen and Tesla acts to disable it remotely. But that can be done with any number systems, including OnStar.
 
GON said:
Overall, I liked the car only two issues. The side rear mirrors are too small. I suspect TSLA wants the driver to use the screen as part of the check to change lanes.
Click to expand...


And again I wonder why Elon hasn’t put a HUD in these cars? My CX5 has the HUD and the blind spot monitor is displayed. If I want to change lanes that is my first reference since it’s right in front of me and if the symbols are showing then I don’t proceed. That saves me from checking mirrors and looking over the shoulder. If the HUD shows clear then I will double check with the mirrors and looking.

Looking at the screen takes your eyes off the road for just that much longer. Sometimes I wonder how Tesla can avoid scrutiny by the regulating agencies since I think mirror size is defined by those regulations.
 
GON said:
I charged once in the dark, and all I can say is (mark this post) , in the near future, armed guards will need to be posted at every TSLA charging bank. This will be the future target of violent and armed criminals. And you best like your TSLA owners cigarette smoke and their cell phone conversations. You will involuntarily be party to those things.
Click to expand...


Captive audiences like that are easy prey for thieves and whatever. I guess the answer is to not charge at night but in some places you are vulnerable in the daytime as well.
 
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