Best rental car upgrades

[NMBurb02]

When with my previous employer I used to travel an average of one week out of every one to two months and so got the chance to drive a wide variety of rental cars. I would normally reserve a "standard" or "intermediate" car through Enterprise and would often get complimentary upgrades (didn't have anything in the reserved size, extra cars sitting around, etc.). The best upgrade I every got was to a new four door F-150 (less than 10,000 miles, IIRC) and the second was to a Nissan Armada (my choice was either that or a minivan). I still travel in my current job but have not had the luck of getting upgraded as of yet.

What is the best complimentary rental car upgrade you have every had?

 

[TFB1]

Best I've gotten was three years ago in Vegas when I got a 850mi Grand Marquis over a Wimpala... Turned it back in with a little over 1300mi...

 

[dishdude]

VW CC, CTS, F-150, a loaded LaCrosse, Avalon.

It never fails - whenever I land, the email I get from Avis always says "Your Toyota Corolla is parked in stall L-9". ALWAYS a Corolla. Fortunately Avis has the little row of cars that you can hop in if you aren't happy with what they assigned you, and National just you hop in any car if you're a member of the Emerald club.

I always pick the lowest mileage car because they get nasty quick.

 

[OriginHacker21]

When I was rear ended by an Audi at 60mph, my insurance said they'd give me an econobox to replace my Sunfire while it was being fixed (audi was totaled). Apparently Hertz was fresh out of econoboxes so they gave me a Nissan Titan 5.6L to play around with at econobox rates. Sure was a lot of fun but had to put over $100 of gas in that week (2x over what I pay per month in my Sunfire). Don't know how people pay for that.

 

[Astro14]

Jaguar XJ8 - in Denver, it had all the toys (I had paid for a Taurus).
Mercedes E class - in London, when I had paid for something like a Yaris...

There have been a few others, but those 2 stand out...

 

[Rick in PA]

Only once, a long long time ago... I got upgraded to a Cadillac. One thing I remember was how that thing could "step out".

 

[spackard]

Flew west to east coast, flight late, arrived 11:30p, had reserved compact with Hertz, got a Mustang with a V6.
I walked back to the counter (because nobody told me about this) and the place was locked and the lights turned off. Really wondered what happened to my compact, but drove away eventually.

 

[michaelluscher]

At the San Juan Enterprise this January.
Booked a intermediate, they pointed to "08 accord & altima.
I pointed to the freshly washed '13 sonata with 16k.
$177 for 5 days and 2 drivers.
Loved it.

 

[PF52]

Free upgrades are common.

Best I recall getting was when I reserved the littlest car they had, like a Fiesta or Festiva. They were all out so they gave me a Cadillac Deville.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Most expensive rental upgrade in history: I reserved an economy car...I was going to get an Accent, right up until the dude that was doing the walk-around saw a nail in the tire. I was upgraded to a Dodge Charger, and was really impressed.

A year or so later, I bought a Dodge Magnum R/T. That was about a $25,000 upgrade!

 

[The_Jeff]

I pay for the insurance with a rewards credit card, and they are strict about not covering trucks or luxury vehicles. I don't want to get stuck in a he-said she-said about a unibody SUV being a truck... so that rules out Chevy Captivas etc.

Usually renting cars reminds me that I don't want new cars at any price:

Pontiac Vibe: Okay, but downshifted on highway hills under cruise. Sometimes blipped up to 5000+ RPM. Didn't sound raucous, but was annoying just the same.

Dodge Charger: Huge A-pillar. At least it had pep (3.5 HO) and great brakes.

Dodge Neon: 225 mile cruising range. Lame in Nevada.

Chrysler 200: Gas guzzler, huge a-pillar. Carpet reminded me of felt glued to cardboard.

I generally book through hotwire.com; a midsize is about a buck more than a subcompact per day. (And there's something to the upgrade game if you reserve a midsize.) Bummer is, IIRC, I don't pick the company, and usually get one with horrible customer service. DollarThrifty lured me through three levels of people: The incompetent, slow airport desk then the incompetent, slow field office at their parking lot. Finally, I pick a car, and have to wait at the tire spike gate while someone with inch long fingernail extensions slowly typed my info into her keyboard.

DollarThrifty wanted to upgrade me to an explorer and all I could think of was the gas. I told them, sure, if they'd throw in the LDW waiver. They found me a Dodge sedan.

 

[UNC017]

Mustang Convertible because they were out of Fusions. Double-win, because that was at LAX and my destination was about 100 miles up the PCH.

Challenger instead of another midsize 4-door. Same reason- I wonder how they still manage to run out of a car type even with such long-lead reservations... fickle renters extending, booking late, etc. I guess.

The rental Challenger, even though it was the old 3.5 v6, was what convinced me that the chassis was orders of magnitude above the competition and led directly to my owning the SRT now.

 

[jimbrewer]

The rental Challenger, even though it was the old 3.5 v6, was what convinced me that the chassis was orders of magnitude above the competition and led directly to my owning the SRT now.

[/quote]

440 Magnum your screen name and all five cars in your signature are Chryslers! This is us you are talking to. You are driven to buy only Chryslers.

 

[PF52]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
I wonder how they still manage to run out of a car type even with such long-lead reservations... fickle renters extending, booking late, etc. I guess.



Weird, isn't it?

I was renting in Phoenix a few years ago. Long line at the counter; retired people, tourists, college kids, you name it. Everyone wanted something different - an economy car, a minivan, a sports car, a sedan, etc, etc. They were all out of everything. Everyone got PT Cruisers! If I recall, mine only had like 100 miles on it.

 

[Sunnyinhollister]

When we went to Kauai in April, I wanted to rent a Wrangler Unlimited because I am thinking about purchasing one. The wife reserved a small SUV, but not a Wrangler. When we got to the rental counter they tried upselling us into the Wrangler for $200 which we declined. When we walked outside to select the SUV and drive off, the lot guy told us to take any Wrangler on the lot! I felt sorry for the couple next to us that paid for the upgrade.

 

[NMBurb02]

Originally Posted By: css9450
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
I wonder how they still manage to run out of a car type even with such long-lead reservations... fickle renters extending, booking late, etc. I guess.



Weird, isn't it?

I was renting in Phoenix a few years ago. Long line at the counter; retired people, tourists, college kids, you name it. Everyone wanted something different - an economy car, a minivan, a sports car, a sedan, etc, etc. They were all out of everything. Everyone got PT Cruisers! If I recall, mine only had like 100 miles on it.

I got a PT Cruiser as a rental while my company car was getting its alternator replaced and I HATED it! If it was going to be for more than one day I would have taken it back and got something else.

 

[ls1mike]

Camaro in San Diego.

 

[97f150]

On the rare occasion I find myself driving a rental car, I have not been upgraded at all. Whether it be a car I paid for or having one of our vehicles in for work we have always gotten a Focus, Corolla, etc.

 

[artificialist]

Many years ago, one rental car company had Mitsu Eclipse convertibles with manual transmissions, back in the 1990s. The upgrade price wasn't too bad. I know that because my dad would sometimes rent one to relieve the boredom of business trips.

 

[bubbatime]

I rented the smallest cheapest econo box there was through hotwire.com when I went to Yellowstone for a week. It was something ridiculous like $12/day. The SUV I really wanted was much much more expensive, like $89/day. When I got off the plane and went to the car rental counter, I asked the guy if I could upgrade to an SUV. He gave me a Tahoe for a few bucks more per day. Worked out to like $16/day, way cheaper than going through hotwire.

My wife gets a rental car every week as part of her job traveling the state of Florida. Her company uses National so she just grabs whatever is on the lot usually. The Avalon is a nice rental car.