Reader Tanya writes:
I know you’re all about the upgrade, but what about the rental car upgrade? I was offered a free upgrade to an SUV last week. I had reserved an economy or a compact, like I do every other week, and I was happy to drive my fuel-efficient Hyundai Accent or whatever. They wanted to upgrade me to a Ford Explorer. I didn’t want one. I don’t like SUVs, for environmental reasons, as well as the additional cost of gas. (I own my own business, so I care about the bill.) So what’s your take on car upgrades?
I’m with you, Tanya. Like you, I care about the environment — and my wallet — and would rather burn less fuel. Car rentals are the one type of free upgrade that actually end up costing you more, since the upgraded vehicle is typically a gas guzzler.
I’m admittedly pretty spartan with my rental car needs. I like a nice bed and a cushy seat on the plane, but I’m less demanding with my vehicles. Reasonably comfortable (no Kia Rio!), fuel efficient, reliable, and clean? Consider it rented.
Others may have different demands. They may need to transport clients, or a large number of family members, so greater comfort may be an issue. But in that case, they should be reserving an appropriate vehicle in the first place.
Still others might want to satisfy their aspirational fantasies at the rental car counter, so an upgrade might be welcome if they can get a car they’d never buy (or afford.) I can see this argument, especially if the car being offered is genuinely exotic.
There might be other sensible upgrades, for special circumstances, like getting bumped up to a convertible when you’re on vacation in Hawaii. (That’s an upgrade I’ve accepted.)
Remember that upgrades aren’t always a recognition of you as a valued customer. They’re often for the convenience of the agency. I’ve experienced this scenario several times, and in fact, I’ve declined an upgrade more than once.
In those instances, the upgrade is a function of vehicle supply. They upgrade you because they’ve run out of the vehicle category you actually reserved. First they try to upsell you to the higher category, but if you refuse they give you the car anyway. It goes like this:
Them: “Would you like to upgrade to an SUV for only $13.95 extra per day?”
Me: “No thank you, the compact will be fine.”
Them: “It’ll be a much more comfortable ride! Lots more space!”
Me: “No thank you, I prefer the compact.”
Them: “Ok, here are your keys… sign here, etc. etc.”
Me: (looking at the keys or the contract details) “Hey, this is an SUV!”
Them: “Yes, I upgraded you for free.”
Me: “I just told you I didn’t want the SUV. I didn’t want it for $13.95, and I don’t want it free. Thanks, but no thanks. May I please have the compact?”
Them: “Sorry, sir, we’re out of compacts.”
Lucky me…
Love the car upgrade? Hate it? Wish you’d get one? Sound off in comments!
A reminder: Reader mail is always welcome. Just use the “contact” form at the top right of the blog to send a secure e-mail. Don’t forget to indicate how you’d like to be referred to, and if you have a blog or website of your own to which you’d like a linkback.
(image)
RSS (FeedBurner)
Read with Amazon Kindle
Subscribe by E-mail
March 7th, 2007 at 11:28 am
We recently rented a car from Hertz to go to a wedding a couple of hours away. We reserved a compact but were stuck with a freaking Crown Victoria!
I calculated that the additional gas cost us $25 and emailed Hertz to that effect. They sent me a voucher for $25.
March 7th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Again speaking as a former National/Alamo employee, if any of the rental agents where I worked had tried to upsell the car they were going to upgrade a customer to for free they would have been fired on the spot for unethical behavior (I saw a couple let go for similar things). That being said, if you are given a free upgrade because they rental company has run out of the car you reserved, do everyone a favor and don’t start screaming about it. A good agent will try thier best to put you in the most fuel efficient vehicle they can (a Chevy Equinox instead of a Trailblazer) and screaming about how you reserved a mid-size car isn’t going to get you a mid-size car. If you do what Simon did you might get reimbursed for the added gas, but if the notes in your rental file say you were verbally abusive toward an agent you might find that reimbursement harder to get.
March 7th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
I usually rent from Hertz, and they always upgrade me – sometimes it is for something I like, sometimes not. I have a similar opinion on upgrades in general as you do Mark, but it is nice to have a nicer car. As I don’t drive much, it’s nice to try out new and different cars.
March 7th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Sometimes we rent convertibles on vacation. My husband loves to drive and it’s a splurge.
March 7th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Agreed with Jason that you don’t want to get abusive or nasty about not getting the car you reserved.
Writing to the agency and asking for a refund/voucher to cover the gas, a la Simon, is hardcore! Nice work.
March 8th, 2007 at 1:12 am
Well, granted, it’s not the agent’s fault that they are out of the smaller cars. But it’s the agency’s fault: they are not meeting their part of the reservation contract. A fair payment would be, IMO, the difference in gas mileage at the price they’d charge me for not returning the car filled up
I remember once in Vancouver I had booked a midsize and the smallest (and only) vehicles in stock were a fleet of Ford Expeditions. That trip up the mountains to Whistler was comfortable yet quite expensive.
March 8th, 2007 at 3:06 am
Actually Oliver, if you read your rental contracts more carefully you will notice that in all of them there is a sentence saying something like: “we are obliged to provide you with the vehicle in the class you booked OR BETTER” obviously meaning larger in terms of size and engine. Therefore, rent a car companies are legally not breaching the contract at all.
If you are concerned with the price of fuel, ask them for a discount straight away and in most cases they will be happy to deduct $15 – $20 off the total price.
March 10th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
Alex — really? I just did a mock reservation on Hertz’ website and there was no such clause visible anywhere. And I just fished my last Hertz rental agreement out of the recycling bucket and didn’t see anything like this either. Granted it’s a LONG, LONG document with large portions in BOLD CAPS, so I might very well have missed it.
March 18th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
My beef is not just the gas, it’s the parking. My sister lives in San Francisco where street parking is at a premium. My experiences renting small cars from SFO (at least with Alamo/National and Enterprise) is that they are perpetually out of the small but parkable cars.
I’ve had some luck begging for a smaller car, at SFO sometimes they’ll go wash one that’s been returned but not prepped for me, in another case (at LAX) they gave me the convertible rather than the SUV. Be careful though, sometimes credit card rental car insurance won’t cover ’specialty’ vehicles which may or may not include sportscar convertibles.
I also had one rental where the agent couldn’t figure out how to swap cars once he gave me the keys to the big car. The computer locked him out of assigning me a different car, and in the end he gave me free gas instead because he couldn’t figure out how to give me the small car sitting right there on the lot. (national/alamo). The irony was I was home and was renting rather than driving my own car specifically to save gas.
March 21st, 2007 at 9:41 am
[...] or subscribe to the latest posts via RSS or e-mail. Thanks for visiting!Just two weeks ago, in a post about rental car upgrades, I mentioned how some car rental agencies will first try to upsell you. [...]
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:43 am
To piggy back on tophe’s comment about it not just being about gas mileage: I flew into DCA three weeks ago, and the Avis agent informed me they had no intermediate vehicles available, but they’d be happy to upgrade me to a 15-passenger van at no additional charge. I told the woman that I’m driving around downtown D.C. on business; the absolute last thing I want is a mammoth van that I have to try to park in the city! I waited 20 minutes for them to finally “find” a Saturn ION, but I thought that was hysterical.
December 5th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
[...] – Loss of use? Get lost. – Reader mail: Why would I want to upgrade my rental car? – Reader mail: What happened to car rental late-return grace [...]
March 13th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
[...] want these upgrades most of the time. I’ve argued before that rental car upgrades are generally not worth it in my book, especially with the price of gas these days, unless you’re going all-out for a [...]
June 19th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
[...] – Reader mail: Why would I want to upgrade my rental car? – Rental car agent blows smoke up my backside, [...]
June 19th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Back in 06, I only had a motorcycle, so there’d be times when I had a friend or otherwise in town and I’d need something more practical, especially during the winter. And I would have been quite happy to get a “free upgrade” as long as it was not to some monster SUV. But a V6 sedan would have been nice. Driving around in dinky little weenie cars that struggle their way toward 60 mph after riding a quarter-mile destroyer is not my idea of fun.
July 16th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
[...] Amen, David. [...]