A couple of weeks ago, Sean O’Neill of Budget Travel pinged me with some news of more hybrid rental cars hitting the lots: Enterprise was adding 5000 hybrids to its fleet (totaling 7000 nationally), and sister company Alamo/National was bumping their hybrid fleet to 2000 vehicles.

Agencies are reporting more and more hybrids on their lots. But this growth story is being countered by reader reports that they weren’t able to actually rent the hybrid they reserved. Reader Steve reported that his reservation for a hybrid (at Hertz) was substituted for a different class when he showed up at the airports (two separate airports in California).

Then Tyler Colman of Dr. Vino, when renting from Fox Rent A Car at Oakland Airport, was told that hybrids were being cut back at the company “because the transmissions kept dying at 30,000 miles.” Hmm. Seems fishy.

I asked for comment from Fox Rent-a-Car, to see if this was actually a company-wide decision, or if this was just a big talker at the front desk. I still await their response.

Transmissions or not, the deck is stacked against hybrids in rental fleets, given the way rental cars are actually purchased. Sean’s post sums it up well:

Why are there so few hybrid rentals? I posed that question to Neil Abrams, president of the rental car consulting and research firm Abrams Consulting. He explained that rental car companies do not have an advantage with volume pricing buying power. Hybrids are so popular that car dealerships can get bigger margins selling directly to retail customers instead of rental car companies. Meanwhile, automakers are willing to offload lots of standard engine cars and below-market prices to rental car companies— to clear their inventories. So a rental car company can buy (to pick a random example) a Mercury Sable for, say, roughly $12,000. They can rent it for a year. Then they can re-sell it as a used car, and make money off the resale. This is far more profitable to them than buying a hybrid car, which might cost $20,000. They’ll have to charge far higher daily rates to customers to try to recoup the cost. But in an era of under-$2-a-gallon gas, not enough customers may rent the hybrids at the premium prices.

Indeed. And that’s more likely the better explanation for hybrid shortages at California airports. In this climate, it’s frankly surprising that any rental car company is adding hybrids to the fleet, period.

Enterprise’s expansion of the hybrid supply is unlikely an act of altruism. Perhaps they’re making a bet on the future direction of fuel prices. Let’s just hope the transmissions hold up.

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To see how the travel business really works, sometimes it takes a good old-fashioned lawsuit. Vanguard Car Rental, the parent company of Alamo and National, took Orbitz to court, because Orbitz wasn’t listing the Vanguard brands on the first page of search results when customers ran searches on the online travel megasite.

The suit, filed Friday in the Illinois Circuit Court of Cook County, alleges Alamo and National rental offers show up on a secondary page because Vanguard refused to increase the commission rate paid Orbitz for online bookings. That rate was established in a contract that runs through 2008.
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Chicago-based Orbitz called the claims “baseless” in a news release, and said Vanguard was trying to sue its way to preferential placement on the website.

In addition to requesting the higher commission rate, Orbitz demanded $1.5 million in mid-April, Vanguard claimed.

Baseless? Orbitz panned the suit in a press release, but in the process, effectively admitted to doing what Vanguard accused them of, and exposed the nature of their business model: pay to play.

The bottom line is that Vanguard is trying to use a lawsuit to get a sorting result from Orbitz that Vanguard and Orbitz did not agree to. In short, Vanguard is trying to use its lawsuit to get something for nothing.

So the sorting of rental car prices isn’t based on price. Other sites are up front about this, by labeling the first set of results as “preferred vendors” or such. But Orbitz doesn’t do that. They just show results. And those results are driven by — let’s be blunt here — bribes.

So why did the judge throw out the case? After all Orbitz essentially agreed with Vanguard and admitted that they rank results according to who’s willing to pay for the privilege. But all this is seemingly legit, according to the contracts between the agency and the supplier.

At the end of the day, this illustrates that you really need to shop around. Never, EVER use just one site to search for fares or rates. You never know what secret deals are influencing the search results.

(Thanks to Budget Travel’s Sean O’Neill!)

Two readers wrote in regarding late returns and grace periods when renting a car. Reader Francine writes:

When I rented a car from National recently, there was no grace period for late returns. None! Is this the latest way they get you?

And reader Peter offers this story, and advice, from his recent rental with Budget Rent-a-Car in Montreal:

I was late getting out of Vermont and late getting the car back to the airport. When I arrived I discovered that I had signed a contract that stipulated $33.xx CAD/hour for being late on a $55/day rental. Further, since I was 2hrs 15 minutes late they claimed I was 3 hours late (the grace period disappeared) and they charged me for another DAY, stating it would cost me less than 3 hours of the late charge.

I haven’t had any luck getting Budget to discuss this with me. If you rent from anyone be clear at pickup 1) what constitutes late and 2) what it costs when you are.

Indeed, grace periods are no longer a given when it comes to late returns. Hertz cut their grace period in half a year ago, and others soon followed suit. Nowadays, you really need to know what you’re signing (and initialing).

In Peter’s case, I see only one possible “violation” here on the part of the company: The forfeit of the grace period. But even then, if he returned the car two hours late (instead of three), he’s better off paying a full day extra, rather than two hours’ overtime. It sucks, but those are the terms.

With contracts like this, if you signed for it, you’re on the hook. These hourly rates are one of the items you’re often asked to initial.

Not all companies are the same, though: Late-return policies vary by chain, with some chains offering no grace periods whatsoever.

Perhaps even more importantly, some companies reserve the right to retroactively change your rate to a higher level — for the duration of the entire rental — if you return the car late. If anything, Peter was lucky they didn’t change his rate for the earlier days as well!

The policies of each major U.S. chain, with key points highlighted, after the jump:
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Your newspaper smells delicious, did you stay at an Omni?
Hotels’ “scent programs” and aromatherapy trends may have just jumped the shark. In a cross-promotional marketers’ fantasy come true, Omni Hotels have started slapping berry-scented stickers advertising Starbucks muffins on copies of USA Today. And the Wall Street Journal is considering adding scents to their advertising pages. Hopefully these odors won’t interfere with the whiff of lemongrass and green tea that’s being pumped into lobby spaces at the chain. What’s next, pay-per-view Smellovision?

Predict the next threat? A TSA-inspired contest
Bruce Schneier is running a contest to conceive of an absurd, fictional terrorist plot that would cause the TSA to start banning yet another product from airports. The more ludicrous the product, yet oddly plausible the threat, the better. Why? “The purpose of this contest is absurd humor, but I hope it also makes a point. Terrorism is a real threat, but we’re not any safer through security measures that require us to correctly guess what the terrorists are going to do next.” Partially-digested food, tooth-fillings, and zippers are front-runners in my book.

Enterprise Rent-a-Car buys Alamo and National
Enterprise is buying Vanguard Car Rental, the parent company of Alamo and National. The combined company would have over a million cars on its lots. Will rentals at Enterprise become more automated, like at Alamo/National? Will Alamo/National start doing the long walkarounds, hard-sells on CDWs, and secretly-negotiable rates?

Wi-fly
After the shutdown of Boeing’s Connexion satellite-based inflight internet service, other companies have been slow to start up service, which was promised nearly a year ago. Scott McCartney checks in with possible providers, and we’re still not there. But it’s coming “early next year.” And rest assured, Skype calls won’t go through. They’ll be blocked, so your fears of cellphone conversations can be kept at bay. Onboard wi-fi — which is already approved for service by both the FCC and FAA — will cost around $10 per day, and packages that link with existing services like T-Mobile HotSpot, Boingo, and iPass will be available. No word on which airlines will be the first to bite.

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The self check-in kiosk is already taken for granted by most airline passengers, and increasingly, for better or worse, by hotel guests. Car rental companies have been slow to adopt self-serve machines, though. (In part, this likely has to do with the distribution of keys, though you get around this by simply putting the keys in the ignition in the secured parking lot. Anyway…)

Alamo and National (both belong to the same company, Vanguard) are introducing kiosks nationally, after successful testing in Las Vegas, Dallas, and Jacksonville.

I’m all for it. I can say “no” to collision damage waiver, etc., as quickly and easily to a person as I could to a machine.

While some companies, like Hertz and Alamo, make it easy for their frequent renters to get in and out quickly, the “masses” are generally stuck waiting in line. I remember waiting for over an hour — at midnight! — at the Budget desk at LAX. Awful. I would have gladly used a kiosk.

Perhaps this will improve the companies’ ratings for customer satisfaction. As Chris Elliott points out, the industry essentially gets a grade of “C.” Maybe the kiosks can bump it up to a B-.

Drive too little? That’s a fee. Live in the Bronx? Enjoy your surcharge. Bring the car back undamaged? More and more, that may be a fee too.

Car renters beware: You may be charged for vehicle damage that you didn’t cause, or that doesn’t exist. It may not be a matter of official policy, but it’s your word against theirs.

Laurie Berger reports that more and more travelers are finding repair charges on their credit card bills — often weeks or months after they’ve returned the car. The article focuses on rentals in Europe, though I’m sure the problem isn’t confined to there.

Particularly galling is the accusation that some rental agencies offer bonuses to their employees who charge customers for vehicle damage. (The accused, National/Alamo parent company Vanguard Car Rental, denies that such bonuses exist.)

Most of Berger’s advice is sound, though the takeaway is overly alarmist: “Rent at your own risk.” Come on. Are we supposed to cower in fear of the almighty power of Hertz? How about some more practical suggestions?

To avoid charges, customers should SLOWLY inspect the car before returning it, should have a rental representative sign off on the car’s condition upon return, and should bring a camera and — wow — a magnifying lens with them to document matters. A magnifying lens!?! (You don’t pack light, do you, Laurie?…)

One big omission, and perhaps the easiest solution of all: The article skips any reference to the insurance coverage benefit that many credit cards provide. For example, when renting abroad, most gold, platinum, or Signature Visa cards will provide primary collision and loss coverage, so if the rental agency says you scratched a bumper, it’s the credit card’s problem, not yours. If your card doesn’t have such a benefit, call your credit card issuer (or the competition) and get a card that does.

The credit card coverage offers enormous peace of mind. That doesn’t mean you should drive like a maniac (then again, you ARE covered…). You should still be diligent about checking the car for scratches and dents, before and after the rental. Even if the credit card issuer is on the hook for the bill, you’d still have the hassle of dealing with the charge to your account, the phone calls to customer service, etc. And besides, if it really IS a fraudulent charge on your card, then the rental company shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it.

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