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Gabriel S. posted:For those that are still somehow flying are all the rental car companies giving out the best upgrades? At least for those of us with status? I've rented 3 cars for road trips in lieu of flying recently, and there wasn't poo poo to choose from on the National Emerald Aisle. It's like they got rid of all their good cars and left all the lovely ones.
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Sep 8, 2020 13:19
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I mean they certainly A) stopped buying new cars and B) "right sized" the fleet by selling off anything that was remotely valuable so of course the only thing left is poo poo
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Sep 8, 2020 14:40
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DJCobol posted:I've rented 3 cars for road trips in lieu of flying recently, and there wasn't poo poo to choose from on the National Emerald Aisle. It's like they got rid of all their good cars and left all the lovely ones. KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I mean they certainly A) stopped buying new cars and B) "right sized" the fleet by selling off anything that was remotely valuable so of course the only thing left is poo poo This has been my experience across three different rentals, and another with Avis. Pickings are extremely slim and I'm puzzled as to where all those cars actually went in terms of physical space. Places like IAH have enormous parking decks as part of their consolidated rental facilities and they're all empty. It's also further puzzling that I was able to sell my car to Carvana for a really good price; I figured the market would be glutted with used vehicles from the rental fleets and no one would be buying right now. 
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Sep 8, 2020 14:59
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I mean they certainly A) stopped buying new cars and B) "right sized" the fleet by selling off anything that was remotely valuable so of course the only thing left is poo poo Imagine how bad the cars Enterprise Local are renting right now. We use them as our 'local' fleet for when people need to travel within a 120 mile radius on business - and/or transport to various locations in town or business lunch. They drop cars off in a designated lot at our HQ, people reserve them internally. Our demand is down from 25 cars on site to 5, but last week all 5 vehicles had 45k+ miles on them. As a point of reference, our pre-COVID cars had anywhere from 10-10000 miles on them. At least they were clean (for a rental car). Goober Peas fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Sep 8, 2020 |
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Sep 8, 2020 15:12
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Mackieman posted:This has been my experience across three different rentals, and another with Avis. Pickings are extremely slim and I'm puzzled as to where all those cars actually went in terms of physical space. Places like IAH have enormous parking decks as part of their consolidated rental facilities and they're all empty. My car was wrecked a few months ago and while picking up my rental I was talking to the agent there for a bit about the market. Apparently business has been booming for them because a ton of people decided to use their stimulus checks to take a road trip plus other people who had other travel plans canceled / people working from home who don't have to worry about being physically close to their office. The airport rental places are empty because they've moved most of their inventory to all the other locations. At least this is how things were two months ago. Who loving knows now
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Sep 8, 2020 15:22
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Mackieman posted:I figured the market would be glutted with used vehicles from the rental fleets and no one would be buying right now. There's a lot of demand for used cars right now, apparently.
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Sep 8, 2020 16:53
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also carvana is a device to take a big pile of vc money and turn it in to market share
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Sep 8, 2020 17:01
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:also carvana is a device to take a big pile of vc money and turn it in to market share No doubt this is true, but I sold a car in ten minutes and they came to my place to pick it up. I'm happy to ride the gravy train in this particular case.
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Sep 8, 2020 18:47
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Mackieman posted:No doubt this is true, but I sold a car in ten minutes and they came to my place to pick it up. I'm happy to ride the gravy train in this particular case. oh 100%, take the money. i'm just explaining why it's happening
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Sep 8, 2020 19:01
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I had to use a rental a couple weeks ago. They said that everyone is driving instead of flying now so they were really thin on cars available.
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Sep 8, 2020 19:12
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I'm not surprised they're selling used inventory especially when no one is traveling. What I find absolutely bizarre is that more often than not they somehow manage to make a profit. How they do that along with persuading someone to buy used rental car is beyond me. Hopefully we will see less Altima's but I doubt it 
Gucci Loafers fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Sep 9, 2020 |
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Sep 9, 2020 00:12
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Mackieman posted:This has been my experience across three different rentals, and another with Avis. Pickings are extremely slim and I'm puzzled as to where all those cars actually went in terms of physical space. Places like IAH have enormous parking decks as part of their consolidated rental facilities and they're all empty. Stimulus checks, low interest rates and low output of new cars from the factory. The used market jumped in June. It's the one bright spot for Hertz. Used dealers are scrambling to find cars so it's a seller's market.
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Sep 9, 2020 01:28
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Gabriel S. posted:How they do that along with persuading someone to buy used rental car is beyond me. Hopefully we will see less Altima's but I doubt it Is that really hard to understand? Most people who own a car could not bring themselves to care any less about what they drive. They want the Cheapest Car That Can Fit My Kids full stop. I doubt most people who buy a used car look at the vehicle history report, and few who read the report would care about the rental line item. Used car sales are significantly higher profit than new, so it's not surprising to me at all that they make a profit. Making a profit on used car sales is an essential part of the rental car business and has been since it began, so they are experts at it and have multiple sales funnels. Inner Light fucked around with this message at 01:36 on Sep 9, 2020 |
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Sep 9, 2020 01:33
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Inner Light posted:Is that really hard to understand? Most people who own a car could not bring themselves to care any less about what they drive. They want the Cheapest Car That Can Fit My Kids full stop. Good point but as far as I know everything these days come with a free CarFax or whatever report.  Inner Light posted:Used car sales are significantly higher profit than new, so it's not surprising to me at all that they make a profit. Making a profit on used car sales is an essential part of the rental car business and has been since it began, so they are experts at it and have multiple sales funnels. Making a profit one is thing but more than new? That seems backwards?
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Sep 9, 2020 01:44
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Gabriel S. posted:Making a profit one is thing but more than new? That seems backwards? It's counter intuitive but generally true  https://auto.howstuffworks.com/buying-selling/do-dealerships-make-more-off-new-or-used-cars.htm Inner Light fucked around with this message at 01:48 on Sep 9, 2020 |
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Sep 9, 2020 01:46
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Gabriel S. posted:Good point but as far as I know everything these days come with a free CarFax or whatever report. Dealer invoice pricing is pretty widely available for people, which changes the negotiation quite a bit. So dealers shifted much of their profit making to things like financing. You have stuff like holdbacks too but the numbers for those aren't wildly available. So the margin doesn't really come from the purchase price but in rebates from the manufacturers and financing. On the other hand, people generally don't know poo poo about the value of a used car. On the rare occasions they consult something like the KBB or NDAA book, they will assume their car is top dollar pricing. But they rarely check. So dealers will almost always make lovely offers on trade ins. And people accept them. So the margin on the deal gets much better. And of course you have other sources like auto auctions for used car dealers. You will almost never see a car go for blue book value there because there is some risk and that usually gets factored into what people spend. Fleet auctions tend to vary a lot. Stuff like cars from local governments tend to be trashed. There are exceptions. I suspect the people looking at LAPD's sale of their i3s will find cars with four digits of mileage. Rental car fleet vehicles don't tend to be nearly as bad as you might think. Depending on the parent company. Ace or Fox fleet vehicles tend to be what people imagine. Enterprise, Hertz, and Avis tend to turn their cars over much faster. The amount of maintenance a sub-40,000 miles car needs isn't super high. And while they weren't lovingly driven, that's true of drat near every used car. And given that modern cars will go a hell of a lot longer than cars of the 80's or 90's they aren't bad used car options. Because the rental car companies are buying cheap, and making the rental money off of them, they are willing to sell at a low price to get them off the book. Which is my long winded way of saying the spread on used cars is a hell of a lot better and you can still make money on the financing side too.
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Sep 9, 2020 02:07
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I've had to rent from the Budget a block away from my house a few times recently for work. First rental was a ~500mile brand new Passat and the next was a 55k beat to poo poo Camry. They were incredibly busy and basically sold out over Labor Day weekend, as were all the other local spots.
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Sep 9, 2020 02:21
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Thomamelas posted:Dealer invoice pricing is pretty widely available for people, which changes the negotiation quite a bit. So dealers shifted much of their profit making to things like financing. Ah hah. That reoccurring revenue.
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Sep 9, 2020 02:33
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Gabriel S. posted:Ah hah. That reoccurring revenue. Eh, it's not great but it is one of the reasons you're seeing loans with absurd terms like 96 months. The dealership is basically tacking on 1 or 2% to the interest rate of the loan. Extending the loan improves their money quite a bit. But as an RMR model it sucks. Used Cars, and Service departments are where the profits tend to be.
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Sep 9, 2020 02:48
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everyone has figured out new cars are commodities but somehow hasn't figured out that used cars are commodities
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Sep 9, 2020 18:03
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Gabriel S. posted:For those that are still somehow flying are all the rental car companies giving out the best upgrades? At least for those of us with status? Rental car upgrades? You can rent 40+ cars a year and avis will stick you in the smallest smokiest thing they can find, and they call midsize cars full size for some reason. If you're name isn't up on the board they look at you and if tall they will put you in some stupid ford that has no legroom (fusion) and claim its a full size when you inform them there is no room for my legs in their lovely, tiny, last renter was a chain smoker car. No one answered my question earlier on if there is a better rental company, enterprise cars don't usually smell as much like smoke but they seem to be mostly lower optioned vehicles and hertz is usually expensive and currently going through issues.
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Sep 17, 2020 16:49
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I like national cause I can get skypesos that don't expire as rewards and can generally pick a nicer car from their exec aisle E: I'm also expensing it so cost doesn't matter
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Sep 17, 2020 17:09
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I get hertz points, plus 1000 United miles per hertz rental and I pick what I want from the presidents circle aisle, usually an impala. Pickings have been slim lately, last time I was forced to choose between a Malibu and SUVs.
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Sep 17, 2020 17:13
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SpeedFreek posted:Rental car upgrades? You can rent 40+ cars a year and avis will stick you in the smallest smokiest thing they can find, and they call midsize cars full size for some reason. If you're name isn't up on the board they look at you and if tall they will put you in some stupid ford that has no legroom (fusion) and claim its a full size when you inform them there is no room for my legs in their lovely, tiny, last renter was a chain smoker car. Every car rental agency is unhappy in its own way. Pre-2017 Avis was stretching for business and gave out upgrades to elites like candy. I'm hoping they'll be hungry again post-COVID and the business development team defeats the beancounters in mortal combat. LOL, it's gonna be 90K mile Mitsu shitpiles forever
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Sep 17, 2020 18:17
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SpeedFreek posted:Rental car upgrades? You can rent 40+ cars a year and avis will stick you in the smallest smokiest thing they can find, and they call midsize cars full size for some reason. If you're name isn't up on the board they look at you and if tall they will put you in some stupid ford that has no legroom (fusion) and claim its a full size when you inform them there is no room for my legs in their lovely, tiny, last renter was a chain smoker car. Do you actually get a choice? Every company I've worked for had a prefferred car rental agency that you had to use. If you can choose National is the best by a wide margin, except rewards which are ok, and then Hertz (pre Covid).
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Sep 17, 2020 18:32
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I've only had good experiences with hertz, I did a status match a few years back and liked the whole picking my own car thing but I don't think they status match with that company anymore. Who will match with Delta, IHG, or Mariott currently? I expense everything too but with the freedom to not have to use that horrible travel service that starts with a "c" and ends with an "ur" I have to be able to justify anything that's out of the ordinary. Avis was better about upgrades a few years ago but the first car they would send me to almost always smelled like smoke. edit: I can book whatever I want as long as I can justify it. Someone wanted to switch us all to the crap travel service mentioned above and we refused to use it, we also proved that it was way more expensive than booking direct. SpeedFreek fucked around with this message at 18:39 on Sep 17, 2020 |
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Sep 17, 2020 18:32
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You can just say “Concur,” it’s not word filtered.
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Sep 17, 2020 19:28
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I’ve been given the go ahead to request approval from the pandemic committee to travel to my site in New Orleans. First onsite work travel since mid-March. Even though I’m going to mask up on the planes and travel won’t be fun, I can’t wait to get out of the house and have work return to a semblance of normal (at least in my work activities).
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Sep 17, 2020 20:42
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It's not clear to me why anyone wouldn't use National provided that they're A) at a location with the aisle and B) not run by a dipshit GM (looking at you BTR) who doesn't stock the Emerald aisle correctly. I know Hertz and Avis try to do something similar but National has it down solid in my experience.
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Sep 17, 2020 20:53
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Midjack posted:You can just say “Concur,” it’s not word filtered. You underestimate how much I hate using them, I still have to use it for my expenses and once a month I am reminded of how awful it is to use. Delta is not train fare and home depot is not a currency exchange service, it gets the currency wrong on probably 1/5th of my transactions too. I'm going to take a good look at National, whats their standard full size car if I cant status match my way to the pick your own option? I typically rent a full size, full size SUV, or pickup depending on where I am going and what I'm doing there, one nice thing about avis was the full size SUVs at SNA were all Denalis.
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Sep 17, 2020 22:04
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Mackieman posted:It's not clear to me why anyone wouldn't use National provided that they're A) at a location with the aisle and B) not run by a dipshit GM (looking at you BTR) who doesn't stock the Emerald aisle correctly. I know Hertz and Avis try to do something similar but National has it down solid in my experience. The only National location I ever have a bad experience at is Savannah, Georgia. And it's bad every time I go there. 4 times a year for the past 5 years bad. Enterprise, outside of our corporate fleet, I hate with a burning passion. At least with our fleet program we (usually) get brand new cars with near 0 miles and no bonus cigarette/clove/cologne smell and don't have to interact with their employees and their skeezy policies.
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Sep 18, 2020 00:00
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Goober Peas posted:The only National location I ever have a bad experience at is Savannah, Georgia. And it's bad every time I go there. 4 times a year for the past 5 years bad. that location is awful, can confirm!
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Sep 18, 2020 01:19
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SpeedFreek posted:Rental car upgrades? You can rent 40+ cars a year and avis will stick you in the smallest smokiest thing they can find, and they call midsize cars full size for some reason. If you're name isn't up on the board they look at you and if tall they will put you in some stupid ford that has no legroom (fusion) and claim its a full size when you inform them there is no room for my legs in their lovely, tiny, last renter was a chain smoker car. In my opinion, National is the best or least bad. Most of my travel was around Texas, Georgia and Florida. The only drawback is sometime around 2018 they decided to replace nearly everything with newer Nissan Altimas. This wasn't bad, they all had Android Auto and Car Play but a little boring if anything. When I flew in late on Sunday's I'd occasionally be able to upgrade to a BMW, Audi or Mazda for free if I found a sympathetic manager. I've been thinking about going back to Hertz now that they have their "paperless" or whatever check out.
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Sep 18, 2020 01:27
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Goober Peas posted:The only National location I ever have a bad experience at is Savannah, Georgia. And it's bad every time I go there. 4 times a year for the past 5 years bad. Richmond Virginia. It's one of the locations that doesn't have secure lots. So you get what they want to give you. And what they want to give you is a truck. Always a truck. And if you don't want a truck, you're getting a mini-van.
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Sep 18, 2020 01:34
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SpeedFreek posted:You underestimate how much I hate using them, I still have to use it for my expenses and once a month I am reminded of how awful it is to use. Delta is not train fare and home depot is not a currency exchange service, it gets the currency wrong on probably 1/5th of my transactions too. Full size gets you access to the regular aisle without status which seems better than most alternatives.
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Sep 18, 2020 02:00
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I like it when American full size trucks are on the lot because I really like them but can't rationalize buying one.
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Sep 18, 2020 03:16
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I like it when American full size trucks are on the lot because I really like them but can't rationalize buying one. Worst Executive aisle choice I made was a Dodge 3500. Convinced me I REALLY don't need/want that big of a truck. Parking was horrendous.
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Sep 18, 2020 03:19
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Zaepho posted:Worst Executive aisle choice I made was a Dodge 3500. Convinced me I REALLY don't need/want that big of a truck. Parking was horrendous. a modern 1500 / 150 short bed is uh plenty big
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Sep 18, 2020 03:20
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:a modern 1500 / 150 short bed is uh plenty big Agreed, but I was leaning to the 3500 for equine reasons. The 2500 however is plenty big and shockingly all the difference in parking for whatever reason.
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Sep 18, 2020 03:22
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:a modern 1500 / 150 short bed is uh plenty big Too big to go into a lot of parking garages! I had one for a weekend when my idiot hellcar Subaru was hit because it was the only thing they had at the lot by the body shop. I had to bring it back after a couple of days because I couldn’t stand having it, though I did help a friend move some furniture over the weekend.
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Sep 18, 2020 08:03
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