Have a confirmed reservation, show up for the rental car.... no car.

I worked, very briefly, for a rental car company over 30 years ago. Back then, we always overbooked because you'd always have some no shows. Sometimes, you'd have someone show up with a reservation for a small or medium sized car, and we'd have to give them a free upgrade to a luxury car because all the others had been rented out. Every great once in a while, you would run out of cars, but you'd usually have rental returns coming in and (hopefully) the customer would wait for a bit to have a return prepped for them. If all else failed, you'd call another branch in the area and have them bring one of their cars over. For the most part, the system worked well.

I ended up working a major holiday. We had 20 rentals on the books for the day and maybe 10 cars on the lot. My boss said there would be no problem - nobody showed up on holidays. Ha! I think just about every one of them showed. Most had reserved a luxury car - I had primarily economy cars. I was offering 50% off the going rate just to keep customers from killing me (and it actually worked - everybody loves a deal!).

I moved on to greener pastures soon afterwards.

PS: Be nice to your rental agent. We always had a couple of cars that were on their last legs, and we kept their keys in a specific area. If you were a jerk for no reason, you'd be handed a set of those keys. ;)
 
mccandish said:
PS: Be nice to your rental agent. We always had a couple of cars that were on their last legs, and we kept their keys in a specific area. If you were a jerk for no reason, you'd be handed a set of those keys. ;)
Click to expand...
You're supposed to be nice to people in general. Otherwise, like in the case of food service, you might end up with the "special sauce" that you didn't order.... Knew a guy who did that to the drunks who would get mad at him, they were so drunk they wouldn't notice though.
 
JTK said:
I've heard similar price quotes for 2 days.

Are people really paying this or are these the 'we don't even have a car to rent' price?

The we don't give a chit attitude of these rental car co's really amazes me. I guess they don't have enough competition for it to be a concern for them.
Click to expand...
People are really paying these prices. Trust us even us employees are shocked at these prices
 
Wolf359 said:
Depends on the entity. If you're government, you get the government rate.
Click to expand...

Yep. What I was hearing was about a 2010 conference in Anaheim. I wonder if Disneyland tickets were included in the packages. The main concern was that they didn't use government personnel to book and didn't try to negotate a better rate.

TIGTA determined that the IRS did not use available internal personnel to assist in searching for the most cost-effective location as required. Instead, SB/SE Division management approached two non-governmental event planners to identify a suitable off-site location for the conference. These two planners were not under contract with the IRS; hence they had no incentive to negotiate a favorable room rate for the IRS. Instead, the three hotels paid the event planners an estimated $133,000 commission based on the cost of rooms paid for by the IRS.​
***​
As part of the Letters of Intent with the hotels, the IRS received a certain number of free rooms per night as well as suite upgrades that were used by IRS personnel. Federal employees traveling for work are paid for their lodging costs plus a fixed amount for meals (per diem). As part of the agreement, the hotels charged the IRS the Federal Government rate of $135 per night for all rooms (including suites) provided.​
 
I'm not sure what is going on, but this Enterprise location appears to be running some sort of scam on people.

Earlier this afternoon, I went back to the location, and they had plenty of cars on the lot. So I parked, walked in, and acted like I had a reservation, all over again... as if I hadn't been there earlier at all. Before, I was wearing a hoodie... now I only had a t-shirt on, and of course, a face mask. The same guy who told me earlier that they didn't have a car for me was there, but either he never recognized me... or he did, and kept quiet. I figured that he'd call me out, and it would be over. Or maybe he was stunned that I had the balls to show up a second time...

But I got a car. While I was sitting there waiting, they had a guy on the phone, calling people and telling them that they were 'overbooked' and 'didn't have cars for tomorrow'... when there were plenty of cars on the lot. They even had cars on the lot, after they had closed for the night. The same 'we don't have any cars' excuse. What the heck is this?

Maybe someone at corporate saw my complaint about them "not having cars" and contacted the location, and told them that if I showed back up, that they'd better find me a car? I don't know.

My best guess at this point, is that they are doing what they can, to get rid of the people who have discounted 'pre-pandemic' rental rates with large corporate customers (like me), in favor of the rentals that they are getting much, much higher 'post-pandemic' pricing on. They're probably overbooking, and then calling the people with discounted rates on the phone, and are discouraging them from coming in to get their rentals with the 'no cars' excuse. No one ever cancelled my reservation, so then it doesn't have their fingerprints on it. They're just calling the people who actually believe that they don't have cars as "no shows". And then that frees up extra cars.

This is all just so odd. They're doing something... but what?

Oh yeah... not only did I get a car... I did good. A 2021 Mustang Convertible. $44 a day.


1620962954326.png
 
Last edited:
mccandish said:
PS: Be nice to your rental agent. We always had a couple of cars that were on their last legs, and we kept their keys in a specific area. If you were a jerk for no reason, you'd be handed a set of those keys. ;)
Click to expand...

It might not work so well these days where the customer gets to select the car and then show the paperwork on the way out. That being said, I've had a case where an agent tried to upset to the next level and didn't particular want it. Kept on insisting. I had the impression that they might have been out of the class I reserved and was seeing if I would pay for an upgrade. In the end the agent just gave me the upgrade at my reserved price.

However - I've never been rude to anyone. A lot of people have told me that I was pleasant to deal with compared to a lot of irate customers.
 
mrsilv04 said:
I'm not sure what is going on, but this Enterprise location appears to be running some sort of scam on people.

Earlier this afternoon, I went back to the location, and they had plenty of cars on the lot. So I parked, walked in, and acted like I had a reservation, all over again... as if I hadn't been there earlier. Before, I was wearing a hoodie... now I only had a t-shirt on, and of course, a face mask. The same guy who told me that they didn't have a car for me earlier was there, but either he never recognized me... or he did and kept quiet. Or he was stunned that I had the balls to show up a second time...

And I got a car. While I was sitting there waiting, they had a guy on the phone, calling people and telling them that they were overbooked and didn't have cars for tomorrow... when there were plenty of cars on the lot. They even had cars on the lot, after they had closed for the night. The same "we don't have any cars" excuse. What the heck is this?

My best guess at this point, is that they are doing what they can, to get rid of the people who have heavily discounted 'pre-pandemic' rental rates with large corporate customers (like me), in favor of the rentals that they are getting much, much higher 'post-pandemic' pricing on. They're probably overbooking, and then calling people with the discounted rates on the phone, and trying to discourage them from coming in to get their rentals. The Enterprise location never cancelled my reservation, so it doesn't have their fingerprints on it. They're just calling them "no shows". And then that frees up extra cars.

This is all just so odd. They're doing something... but what?

Oh yeah... not only did I get a car... I did good. A 2021 Mustang Convertible.


View attachment 57116
Click to expand...
What? No, it’s not a scam. On the scale of importance in the rental world, walk in customers are a higher priority than reservation (non paid) customers. The reservation customer can cancel at anytime and the walk in customer is there ready to pay, and they get charged whatever the going rate is. Reservations are usually booked with discounts and rate codes so the walk in customer is more profitable. You’re also forgetting that a Pre-Paid rental is different than a Reservation. The cars on the lot are probably prepaid and they won’t rent those out to walk in’s or use them to fill reservations.

Enjoy the Mustang, I had a 2019 Mustang GT convertible rental a few years and loved it.
 
mrsilv04 said:
My best guess at this point, is that they are doing what they can, to get rid of the people who have discounted 'pre-pandemic' rental rates with large corporate customers (like me), in favor of the rentals that they are getting much, much higher 'post-pandemic' pricing on. They're probably overbooking, and then calling the people with discounted rates on the phone, and are discouraging them from coming in to get their rentals with the 'no cars' excuse. No one ever cancelled my reservation, so then it doesn't have their fingerprints on it. They're just calling the people who actually believe that they don't have cars as "no shows". And then that frees up extra cars.
Click to expand...

Is there really any doubt in your mind???
 
mrsilv04 said:
I'm not sure what is going on, but this Enterprise location appears to be running some sort of scam on people.

Earlier this afternoon, I went back to the location, and they had plenty of cars on the lot. So I parked, walked in, and acted like I had a reservation, all over again... as if I hadn't been there earlier at all. Before, I was wearing a hoodie... now I only had a t-shirt on, and of course, a face mask. The same guy who told me earlier that they didn't have a car for me was there, but either he never recognized me... or he did, and kept quiet. I figured that he'd call me out, and it would be over. Or maybe he was stunned that I had the balls to show up a second time...
Click to expand...
Do You have that dark black Mustang For Me ? !
I have a hot date with a Princess ...
main-799f3.jpg
 
What amuses me is that surely these rental companies knew that at some point after the year or so they would regain customers.
Sure they would take a short term hit retaining some but they would be better off in the long run when business returned.

The US has too many people operating on short sighted planning, which destroys the long term health of any company.
 
If you are in a pinch try out Turo.

It is person to person renting of used cars. Your rental comes with full coverage from a major insurer.

You can rent everything from a kia to a slingshot.

When I needed a car on the west coast I rented a cheap kia SUV for like 30 dollars a day. I think it was a 2015 model but it worked fine for my purpose.

The owner of the car will arrange pickup and drop off, usually at your hotel or whatever.
 
Snowflake White said:
What amuses me is that surely these rental companies knew that at some point after the year or so they would regain customers.
Sure they would take a short term hit retaining some but they would be better off in the long run when business returned.

The US has too many people operating on short sighted planning, which destroys the long term health of any company.
Click to expand...
Problem is they can’t purchase new inventory because of the chip shortage.
 
Snowflake White said:
What amuses me is that surely these rental companies knew that at some point after the year or so they would regain customers.
Sure they would take a short term hit retaining some but they would be better off in the long run when business returned.

The US has too many people operating on short sighted planning, which destroys the long term health of any company.
Click to expand...
Nobody likes to have a car payment when there is no business (lockdown). So it could be they just cancel new car delivery and return off lease vehicles to the lender (they are usually leases) and "reduce inventories". It doesn't mean they sell everything and expect to buy everything right away.

It could also means they usually get massive discount to absorb overproduction from major car companies but they are not getting any due to chip shortage. So they will not be buying new inventories until the price come back down.
 
PandaBear said:
Nobody likes to have a car payment when there is no business (lockdown). So it could be they just cancel new car delivery and return off lease vehicles to the lender (they are usually leases) and "reduce inventories". It doesn't mean they sell everything and expect to buy everything right away.

It could also means they usually get massive discount to absorb overproduction from major car companies but they are not getting any due to chip shortage. So they will not be buying new inventories until the price come back down.
Click to expand...
Close. But the rental car companies buy the cars through fleet sales, they didn't lease them. That's why they sold them to raise cash so they could stay afloat when nobody was renting. Car makers don't like to do fleet sales because they tend to depress the prices of used cars when they're later sold and they tend to be more basic models. So now they're just building loaded models because that's where all the profits are so the rental car companies aren't expecting any new cars from the automakers anytime soon.
 
Snowflake White said:
What amuses me is that surely these rental companies knew that at some point after the year or so they would regain customers.
Sure they would take a short term hit retaining some but they would be better off in the long run when business returned.

The US has too many people operating on short sighted planning, which destroys the long term health of any company.
Click to expand...

They also let them go cheap at the start of the crisis, where used car prices are though the roof apparently right now...
 
The key is to wait when no car is available. I waited over three hours in Houston last month. It's life. Cars come and go all day long. Pre-pay means nothing. I rent four cars per week. My "status" often helps in bad times, but not always.

Enterprise is one of the more predictable rental car companies. I avoid them, but they have always supplied a car. I avoid Enterprise because they are super frugal with how they spec their cars, and the before and after pickup inspection is a time killer for me. Enterprise almost exclusively uses college grads from lower four tier institutions as their customer service reps. The recruit them with the title "management trainee". This allows enterprise to work them day and night and avoid paying overtime. A few of them will make it to mid level Enterprise managers. Most will not and leave in under 12 months. Enterprise has some of the more intelligent customer service reps in the car rental business.

The companies one should ALWAYS avoid is Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty, Fox, and ACE. ALWAYS... I warned you :whistle:
 
Wolf359 said:
Close. But the rental car companies buy the cars through fleet sales, they didn't lease them.
Click to expand...
Actually believe it or not, a lot of rental cars are leases, or repurchase programs. It’s still a fleet vehicle but it’s a commercial lease and they turn it back into the manufacturer under certain conditions, vehicle mileage, vehicle condition, basic maintenance logs must be provided, etc. Its setup just like a lease with an agreed upon depreciation rate and residual.

www.autorentalnews.com

The ABC’s of Manufacturer Repurchase Programs

Repurchase programs are still available to small- and medium-sized rental companies. For the uninitiated, here’s how they work and when they work best.
www.autorentalnews.com www.autorentalnews.com


www.autonews.com

Where are the GM program vehicles?

The flow of retired rental vehicles that General Motors normally sells at auction to its dealers has slowed to a trickle since mid-November, dealers say. The prices that GM can fetch on program vehicles -- those that the automaker takes back after they're retired from rental fleets -- dropped...
www.autonews.com www.autonews.com
 
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