The photo system is part of a broader plan to use technology to increase efficiency and improve customer service, [Hertz Chairman and CEO] Frissora said. The equipment produces a high-resolution, digital photograph of the rental car, and will compare before and after pictures for differences, Frissora said. Hertz employees currently walk around the vehicle and mark any damage on a form, which the customer signs.

“There will be no discussion because the document would clearly show any incremental damage,” Frissora said. “This keeps customers from being placed in a confrontational position and saves time.”

The Park Ridge, New Jersey-based company’s customers would sign a waiver acknowledging the process and be billed for any damage, Frissora said. Hertz is testing the technology at a location at an airport in the northeastern U.S., he said.

“There will be no discussion” seems a little brusque, but I get the point. Why debate the condition of the car when there’s photographic evidence?

Here’s hoping that the camera won’t lie. E-mailing a copy to the customer — both at the start and the finish of the rental — might be a low-cost way to ensure that the company is being an honest broker.

Dishonest rental locations have commonly tried to milk extra bucks out of customers by billing them for previously-existing damage to the vehicle. (For the paranoid, it’s always been a good idea to take photos of your rental car before you drive it off the lot, though I admit it’s something I’ve never done…)

But interestingly, the company suggests that it’s the one who’s going to come out ahead. Hertz says it’s been letting too many dents and dings slide, for a loss of $170 million, and that the photo system will catch these dings, leading to greater earnings.

Which worries me. Yes, the system SHOULD be win-win, by keeping both the agency and the customer honest. But $170 million is a lot of dings and scratches. Will the system start calling birdpoop dents?

Photos or no photos, don’t let your guard down.

Upgraded: Air
A bright side of the downturn: The recession means less travel. Which means less pollution. (Duh.) 8% lower carbon emissions by the industry as a whole, in fact.

Upgraded: The Race Card
Without any additional comment… video of Steven Colbert on the Visa Black Card:

Everyone is ga-ga for the urban car-sharing services that have crossed into the mainstream. Now Hertz is fighting back with shorter rental terms at its European locations.

It will now be possible to hire a car for three or six hours for short day trips, or nine hours for overnight trips.

A Hertz survey revealed that 61 per cent of travellers would be more likely to hire a car if they did not have to rent it for a full 24 hours.

The new service – Hertz 369 – is available at over 1,200 city and airport locations across Europe, including Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.

Why am I reminded of that unfortunate motel experience in 1998, when the front desk clerk asked, “You gonna need the room the whole night?” Why yes, yes we did. But I digress.

This isn’t Hertz’s descent into the equivalent of a seedy motel. This is a good thing.

You might be surprised that a full 61% of travelers don’t want to rent a car a full day. But consider parking expenses and hassle in center-city European cities, and it becomes more plausible. Consider, too, that you could use a short-term rental car to shuttle yourself to the airport, and it makes even more sense.

Of course, it all comes down to rates. But this is a welcome option.

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This week, Hertz rolled out a new subsidiary named SimplyWheelz, targeted at the leisure market. Let’s get one thing right out of the way: “SimplyWheelz” is an absolutely awful brand name, repulsively stupid in its gratuitous use of the Z in lieu of the plural S. Trying to be hip? Edgy? “Urban”? It didn’t work, Hertz. Marketers, just for using that “Z,” you get an “F.”

I know it’s hard to look past the awful name. And it pains me every time I type that “Z.” But let’s move on.

SimplyWheelz (ouch!) promises to be a “low cost, low rate” brand, by automating everything possible and pushing the rental transaction online wherever they can. (Alamo/National rolled the automated rental out first. See here and here.) They’ll also keep a smaller variety of cars on their lot and rent a narrower range of car classes.

Segmenting the car rental market is nothing new, and it’s common to see one brand under a corporate umbrella go for the holiday crowd while another tries for the less price-sensitive business clients. Avis focuses on corporate contracts and business travelers, while their sister firm Budget targets the leisure traveler. National is more business travel, Alamo more leisure. On the other hand, Dollar and Thrifty, which are one company, both seem to target leisure travelers. Maybe they should start a new business travel brand… “CarRentBizzz” if you want to throw some “Z’s” into your name. ::shudder::

For now, SimplyWheelz is only live at Orlando Airport. Obviously, that’s a huge leisure market, and the car rental rates are already really, really low. I priced out a reservation for a random set of dates in October, and SimplyWheelz was indeed the lowest, by $1.26 total, for a three-day rental.

Hertz has built a reputation for solid customer service, so starting a largely self-service subsidiary is a bit of a risk to the brand name. Especially since they remind users that they’re a part of Hertz on every webpage — it’s “SimplyWheelz by Hertz” everywhere you look. Automation in itself isn’t a problem (see my defense of kiosks) but there needs to be a human “net” to catch you if the automation fails. If Hertz can pull off this tightrope trick while lowering prices, then they’ll have a winner on their hands.

Now if only they learned how to spell.

Upgraded: Kayak.com introduces alliance-based search
Aggregator Kayak.com tweaked its search tools ever so slightly, allowing you to sort by alliance (Star, oneworld, Skyteam) and not just by airline. But you can only sort it that way AFTER you’ve the basic search. (You can search preferred airlines up front, so why not alliances? Meh.) Orbitz has allowed alliance search for some time, but this is the first aggregator that I’m aware of that’s doing this.

Upgraded: Hertz’s environmentalist credibility
Last September, Hertz rolled out its “Green Collection” of rental cars and I was thoroughly unimpressed. Buick LaCrosse? Come on. Where were the hybrids? Well, it took nine months, but Hertz finally got around to buying more genuinely eco-friendly vehicles, with a purchase of 3,400 Toyota Priuses (or is that Prii?). That’s more like it.

Upgraded: Wine in coach. Viva jetBlue!
JetBlue is serving up some slightly more interesting wines than usual the usual coach fare. Thanks to a partnership with Best Cellars, the airline is giving their all-economy class passengers a slightly better guzzle. Choosing wine for coach can be challenging, since it has to be a) cheap, b) in tiny ready-for-sale bottles, unlike in premium cabins, and c) pair-able with a wider range of foods. I hadn’t thought about that last one before: After all, the wine in business and first can presumably be paired with the menu (though that’s not always obvious). But in coach, a wine demands “versatility in pairing with a wide assortment of airport meals people bring on planes, including pan pizzas from Pizza Hut and Taco Bell burritos with chicken and mole sauce.” (Taco Bell has a mole sauce? Really?) Either way, good for jetBlue, and good for their wine-imbibing passengers. (Thanks Tyler!)

Downgraded: US Airways right to serve any wine
Unlike jetBlue… US Airways, which got into trouble for selling booze without a license in New Mexico a few months ago, and which has been serving the sauce with a temporary scrip since then, was denied an extension of its license this past week. Tough break. BYOB, anyone?

Upgraded: Marriott; Downgraded: Ian Schrager (or is it the other way around?)
Look, I happen to like Marriott hotels for what they are: Consistent, clean, competent, and overall comfortable spaces to spend the night. (4 C’s!) They usually don’t have too much bling or pizazz, though some of their big-city properties have that 1980s glitz that has an odd appeal to my mid-to-late-30s, graying-gracefully, receding-hairline self. So when I hear that they’re teaming up with Ian Schrager, king of the boutique hotel, to create a new boutique-y brand, I’m skeptical. It seems like a late-to-the-game attempt to create a “W” chain within a chain. If it adds a little funk to the Marriott decor, great. (Bye bye brass fixtures, please!) But it also smacks of desperation. And isn’t Ian Schrager past this? Seems like he’s here to cash in while the cashin’ in is good.

Upgraded: WestJet’s honesty; Downgraded: Little old ladies’ pensions
Canada’s WestJet (hearts) little old ladies. Not because they’re nice grandmas, but because they’re walking piggy banks, and the airline’s got a hammer. Consider this nugget from the airline’s president:

“There would be a little old lady coming up and she’d have a table and she’d have a chair and she’d have six or seven bags and we’d say ‘Yeah, take it on the plane. No problem.’ Now we’re actually going to charge a little bit of money for taking that table and chair and those extra bags on board. And that incremental revenue that we extract from that little old lady is very, very profitable to us. Some 85% goes to the bottom line.”

Good for him, for saying publicly what other airline executives discuss privately. So I guess the business traveler isn’t the company profit center; the rarely-traveled senior citizen is. Bank it.

Upgraded: Amputees and their TSA experience
Got a prosthetic? The TSA wants to make your security checkpoint experience kinder and gentler. Good! On the other hand…

Downgraded: Sippy cups, and TSA cinema verité
A former Secret Service agent reports that she was harassed when she accidentally carried her child’s sippy cup of water through security. Stupid enough, but it gets more absurd: The TSA actually released a silent security tape of the incident, labeled “Mythbusters,” in their own defense. Feel free to view the videos, read the incident report, review the embarrassed mother’s story, and decide for yourself.

Upgraded: Demolition
Let me make myself perfectly clear: I want to help destroy this hotel. I’ve never been to it, but I want to help Spanish hotel chain NH Hoteles wreck the Alcala Hotel in Madrid. The company is holding a contest to see who can take a sledgehammer to the joint. Only 30 lucky few will get to play rockstar-cum-wrecking ball. Let the spirit of Keith Moon guide you.

Skybus 2: What’s next, Amway?
Be careful if you try booking a “vacation package” on the Skybus website. It’s really a timeshare sales pitch. Classy.

Beats getting three toasters
In a smart marketing move, Northwest Airlines has started a gift registry. Friends and family can make payment toward air travel, such as for a honeymoon. Note that the registry funds can’t be applied to hotel, rental car, etc., as part of packages. Air only. But still, it’s surprising other airlines haven’t done this before.

This isn’t Singapore Airlines
Iris Peterson, the oldest flight attendant in America’s skies, has retired from United Airlines. She started flying in 1946 and is now in her 80s. Quite a bit of aviation history she’s witnessed, and a good number of job title changes, “sky girl” and “stewardess” among them. Congratulations to Iris! Though frankly I’m glad that she’s not flying anymore. Honestly, was she able to perform all safety duties? How productive would she have been during an emergency?

Red, white and drunk all over NYC
Got 36 hours to spend in New York? Does a bar crawl feel a little too college for you? How about a wine crawl? Alright then. Dr. Vino shows the way.

On top of the world, pissing down on creation
When you’re done with that wine tourism, you might need to hit the WC. For the gentlemen, why not seek out a urinal with a view?

Car rental by the hour goes mainstream
Hertz and other big rental car firms must be feeling some heat from Zipcar, Flexcar, iGo, and other regional short-term rental companies. The big guys are increasingly offering hourly rates for their cars. Unlike hotels, hourly rates are a good thing, especially for business travelers doing same-day hit-and-run visits to cities.

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-.

Hertz is rolling out a “Green Collection” of rental vehicles, with some fanfare, but I’m not impressed.

The company is touting models with EPA highway ratings of 28 or more miles per gallon, with models like Toyota Camry, Ford Fusion, Buick LaCrosse, and Hyundai Sonata on the list.

Where are the hybrids? Heck, where are the non-hybrid cars with really decent gas mileage, like a Honda Civic?

The Buick LaCrosse gets 19 mpg in the city, and 27 on the highway, according to the EPA’s own site, FuelEconomy.gov. 19. Nine-frickin’-teen miles per gallon is not green.

This is a pathetic attempt to appeal to Americans’ increasing unease about the price of gas. A real green offering would be welcome, but this isn’t it.

Related:
- Incentives for adding hybrid cars to your travel plans

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Following the revelation earlier this week that Hertz and Dollar have surcharges for residents of these three boroughs of New York City (but not Manhattan or Staten Island), I decided to write to Dollar and Hertz and ask why some New Yorkers were worthy of higher rates than others.

Within a few hours, Donna from Dollar Rent-a-Car replied:

Unfortunately this is the locations policy. According to the location, rentals from people in these areas who have rented from Dollar have proven to be more of a liability.

Hmm. Well, at least Donna wrote back quickly. Still no reason why New Yorkers renting at a location in another state (e.g., in Philadelphia) get smacked with surcharges.

How about Hertz? 36 hours after the original inquiry, Rhonda wrote back:

Hertz does apply residence based rates for residents of New York City renting locally, that take into account the extraordinarily high liability costs associated with local rentals in the New York area. These rates are based on borough of residence. The same residence-based rates apply equally to all residents of a borough. The residence-based rates are not applied on the basis of race, ethnic origins, age or sex. Rather, they are based on historic liability costs associated with local rentals to residents of New York City boroughs.

“Extraordinarily high liability costs” ? Personal liability, as in running people over, or loss of the car? And if liability is higher, then isn’t that what insurance is for, instead of raising the base rate?

I once rented from Advantage Rent-a-Car in Seattle, and they demanded a copy of my insurance policy before they would let me waive their CDW, LDW, etc. I had to call USAA and have them fax a copy over. As obnoxious as that was, perhaps Hertz and Dollar should demand proof of insurance before they slap $55 a DAY in surcharges on the base rate!

New Yorkers, you’ve been warned!

The Consumerist points to a nasty punitive provision in the Dollar Rent-a-Car rental agreement.

1.O Higher rental rates for New York City (Brooklyn, Bronx, and Queens) resident renting in New York, Newark, NJ and Philadelphia may apply as follows:

* For Brooklyn residents the rates will be $55.00 higher per day.
* For Bronx residents the rates will be $53.00 higher per day.
* For Queens residents the rates will be $11.00 higher per day.

I’ve heard of rental rates varying depending on the country of the renter’s residence (obnoxious enough in its own right, frankly). But varying by city borough?? (Manhattan and Staten Island residents are in luck, no surcharge And $55 per day surcharge for Brooklynites?!!?) This sounds a heck of a lot like redlining.

But the shocker, for me at least, is that Dollar isn’t alone. Similar policies, with different surcharge rates, exist at Hertz for NYC rentals:

Higher rental rates for New York City residents may apply as
follows:

- for Queens residents rates are USD 15.00 per day higher
- for Bronx residents rates are USD 56.00 per day higher
- for Brooklyn residents rates are USD 34.00 per day higher

Hertz and Dollar must be run by Mets fans.

I couldn’t find outer-borough surcharges on Budget or Avis. Anyone out there know of other redlining car rentals?

Dollar already alienated me with their no-grace-period policy. That, plus the New Yorker Tax, suggest that they won’t be satisfied until everyone in America is offended.

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Among the most noteworthy changes are these: Hertz is holding its customers responsible for “any and all” loss or damage to a rental car resulting from natural disasters, from hailstones to hurricanes. If you return a rental car after hours, Hertz may continue charging you for the car until the rental office reopens (it used to consider the vehicle returned when you brought it back). And it abbreviated the grace period for returns to 30 minutes, from one hour.

The grace period is the real nuisance, in my opinion. I have frankly taken the 1 hour grace period for granted for some time, and I’ve used it. It’s time to start checking the terms of the rental agreements more closely. If Hertz is doing it, others will likely follow. The other changes seem rather intuitive to me, and I was surprised that they weren’t the norm, anyway.

What surprises me a little is that Hertz, which seems to portray itself as a premium brand, and typically is the most expensive in the markets where I’ve rented, would nickel and dime their customers like this. It’s bad publicity. And as the article points out, the travel industry doesn’t really want the minutiae of these rate hikes made explicit:

I was allowed to speak with him only on the condition that a member of the company’s public relations staff be present. Mr. Kilduff jokingly referred to him as “the guy in Mutual of Omaha’s ‘Wild Kingdom,’ up in the tree, waiting to take a shot.”

Where would Marlin Perkins rent?