Premium for Renting a Subaru

[kl]

My girlfriend & I are headed to Vermont for a ski vacation. I saw that
Hertz rents Subarus at the Manchester NH airport, where we're flying in
to. I thought it might be good to have AWD, but was a bit disappointed
to find that a Forester or Legacy were significantly more expensive
($347 for our trip) than other similar size cars (Taurus or Sable is
$205). They also weren't significantly cheaper than Ford Escape ($360)

Anyone else find this premium on Subaru rentals? Same for other
places? Other times of the year?

I'm going for the good ol' all purpose rental Taurus for that price
difference.

kl

ps - Hope it is cold and snowy, even without AWD!

 

[y_p_w]

My girlfriend & I are headed to Vermont for a ski vacation. I saw that
Hertz rents Subarus at the Manchester NH airport, where we're flying in
to. I thought it might be good to have AWD, but was a bit disappointed
to find that a Forester or Legacy were significantly more expensive
($347 for our trip) than other similar size cars (Taurus or Sable is
$205). They also weren't significantly cheaper than Ford Escape ($360)

Anyone else find this premium on Subaru rentals? Same for other
places? Other times of the year?

I don't ever recall ever seeing a Subaru in a rental lot. I haven't
even seen that many Japanese nameplates, although my last rental was
a Mitsu Lancer at Enterprise.

I'm going for the good ol' all purpose rental Taurus for that price
difference.

Well - the major US car makers offer huge fleet discounts to rental
companies. Notice that Avis "features" GM cars, Hertz -> Ford,
Enterprise -> Chrysler, etc.

 

[Mike Hardiman]

First of all, let me say that I am extremely jealous of you. I'm in the
borderland of west Texas now, but have been very homesick for Vermont the
past couple weeks!

I think the dramatic difference in price was probably just due to the size
of the car. SUV's are more expensive than "full size" cars (for rentals),
which is probably where the Forester would fall under. Legacies or Outbacks
probably have a premium since they are larger than a regular car, and are
AWD.

Interesting to hear that MHT airport has Subaru rentals. I'll keep this in
mind for my next visit, though Hertz offers hefty surcharges for those under
25 at Manchester. ($25/day, even if you have your own full coverage
insurance). If there was a surcharge for those over 65, it would be called
age discrimination!

-Mike

 

[Jeremiah]

My girlfriend & I are headed to Vermont for a ski vacation. I saw that

I'm a former Hertz area manager. We rented Legacy sedans, Forresters and
Outbacks, with Outbacks comprising the majority of our Subaru fleets.
The reason the price is higher is the same reason the price is higher at
the dealer, you pay a premium for a better vehicle. The Taurus/Sable is
the standard full size vehicle. If you reserve a fullsize, you are
guaranteed at least a Taurus/Sable. If the location sells out of these,
they will sub you a premium fullsize such as a Camry or similar etc

Also depending on the time of year and location the rates can jump. All
rental companies jack up their rates at opportune times. I can't say i'd
ever work in the rental business ever again, but i can say that Hertz is
on the ethical end of most situations, while Enterprise tends to play
the dirtiest.

Major Hertz airport locations as well as some smaller locations carry
ski racks where apprpropriate, especially in CO.

After driving all too many Escapes, and hundreds of Taurus' i can tell
you that the 347 is worth it.

What you can also do is keep your Taurus res and then when you get to
the counter see if the CSR has anything to upgrade into. But don't
immediately say the Outback because they'll just give you the matrixed
in upgrade rate. Do it smartly and you can get out of there with the
Outback at a rate lower than the reservable weekly rate of 347 you were
quoted.

Also, the ONLY situations that Hertz rents to anyone under 25 are:

1) Your employer has a CDP setup with Hertz that allows you to rent, on
business or pleasure.

2) You're renting due to insurance replacement, and this only pertains
to 21-24 year olds. If you're under 21, you can't rent at all.

The above also refers to driving the vehicle, not just renting it.

The person who responded that Hertz has an additional rate for under 25
is wrong. Many of the other rental companies have these additional fees,
but Hertz doesn't.

 

[Jeremiah]

I don't ever recall ever seeing a Subaru in a rental lot. I haven't
even seen that many Japanese nameplates, although my last rental was
a Mitsu Lancer at Enterprise.

Hertz rents Subarus, Nissans, Mitsu's, Hyundai's, Mazdas, Toyotas, and
they used to rent Hondas too.

Well - the major US car makers offer huge fleet discounts to rental
companies. Notice that Avis "features" GM cars, Hertz -> Ford,
Enterprise -> Chrysler, etc.

Ford owns Hertz, so while we would make fleet purchases from Ford as we
did other makers, all the money was staying "in house."

Enterprise goes into an area and buys cars from every dealer in the area
that they want their service and body work from. If you can't give them
it, they won't buy your vehicles. That's how they operate.

They also give the shops their "hits" which means when a rental gets
into an accident, instead of sending it to a regional Enterprise body
shop, they will give it to a local body shop in exchange for using them
everytime a customer comes in and needs a rental. But they rape body
shops with lowball hourly rates.

 

[Jeremiah]

Interesting to hear that MHT airport has Subaru rentals. I'll keep
this in mind for my next visit, though Hertz offers hefty surcharges
for those under 25 at Manchester. ($25/day, even if you have your own
full coverage insurance). If there was a surcharge for those over 65,
it would be called age discrimination!

Hertz doesn't rent to under 25 as a policy. This isn't to say that its
never been done, hint hint, but what you paid isn't an age surcharge.
They sold you the full package(LDW/LIS/P&P) coverage on the vehicle you
rented.


All the northern Hertz locations have Subarus and plenty of crap SUV's
like Explorers and Monteros available.
Burlington...Manchester...Bangor...Portland...

Also one way rentals dump nice vehicles at locations all the time.
Whenever bad weather grounds flights at La Guardia, JFK, Newark, you'll
be guaranteed a ton of one ways thruout new england. Since these
locations tend to sell out due to this, they're sending their land
rovers and jaguars etc.

 

[kl]

I'm a former Hertz area manager. We rented Legacy sedans, Forresters and
Outbacks, with Outbacks comprising the majority of our Subaru fleets.
The reason the price is higher is the same reason the price is higher at
the dealer, you pay a premium for a better vehicle. The Taurus/Sable is
the standard full size vehicle. If you reserve a fullsize, you are
guaranteed at least a Taurus/Sable. If the location sells out of these,
they will sub you a premium fullsize such as a Camry or similar etc


:
:

What you can also do is keep your Taurus res and then when you get to
the counter see if the CSR has anything to upgrade into. But don't
immediately say the Outback because they'll just give you the matrixed
in upgrade rate. Do it smartly and you can get out of there with the
Outback at a rate lower than the reservable weekly rate of 347 you were
quoted.

Thanks for the info and advice. I have had substitute premium cars in
the past (even getting a full size on a midsize reservation), but I
wouldn't have thought about asking about the upgrade like this. I'll
give it a try!

kl

 

[Jeremiah]

Thanks for the info and advice. I have had substitute premium cars in
the past (even getting a full size on a midsize reservation), but I
wouldn't have thought about asking about the upgrade like this. I'll
give it a try!

kl

Yeah, a major part of the business is cost per vehicle left on lot. If
we left ten taurus' on our lot overnight w/o having been rented it
wouldn't cost us nearly as much as ten grand marquis or even ten
camry's. So that, as well as internal incentive programs for upgrades
encourage CSR's to upgrade every customer that walks in the door.

Also, another trick is to reserve an A class or sub-compact vehicle
which was usually a Hyundai Accent. The reason being we had very few of
these and if you have a res that isn't first thing, you're almost
guaranteed a free upgrade to a compact or midsize. Quite a few people
make reservations for A's knowing this. At some of my smaller locations
(HLE's) if the manager's had "regulars" who would try this on weekend
special rentals they'd keep an A class just for these renters to see the
dissapointed look on their face when they weren't getting a free upgrade
and had to take the Accent. But if you're renting at major locations
such as airports or downtown city locations 95% of the time you'll get
the free upgrade.

 

[Brian Wasson]

In the past few months, I've rented from Hertz in Maine, Montana,
Colorado, and Oregon. Two out of the four times I've received a free
upgrade from my mid-size reservation to a Subaru (Outback in Maine,
Forester in Oregon). I tried to get a Subaru in Colorado (the one time
I actually needed AWD), but the agent wouldn't budge, even though I
had reserved a full-size car and I'm a Hertz Gold member. I talked
with the manager, who said "Subarus are in a car class of their own
with Hertz." In other words, even though technically they are
mid-sized cars, they are not rented as such. I ended up with a Camry,
which is a nice car, but wasn't too helpful on my 1.5 hour drive
during a snowstorm from the airport to my destination.

 

[Jeremiah]

(e-mail address removed) (Brian Wasson) wrote in

In the past few months, I've rented from Hertz in Maine, Montana,
Colorado, and Oregon. Two out of the four times I've received a free
upgrade from my mid-size reservation to a Subaru (Outback in Maine,
Forester in Oregon). I tried to get a Subaru in Colorado (the one time
I actually needed AWD), but the agent wouldn't budge, even though I
had reserved a full-size car and I'm a Hertz Gold member. I talked
with the manager, who said "Subarus are in a car class of their own
with Hertz." In other words, even though technically they are
mid-sized cars, they are not rented as such. I ended up with a Camry,
which is a nice car, but wasn't too helpful on my 1.5 hour drive
during a snowstorm from the airport to my destination.

The manager was correct. Hertz classifies a midsize as a "C" and a
fullsize as an "F". Subarus are all classified as a "Q."

I bet that the CSR's were having an upgrade field day if it was a CO
snowstorm day. Do you know i had CSR's working for me that made more
than me? They'd been there for years and worked all the best shifts for
volume and upgrading so their incentives paid them around $70K. They
would be crazy to become station managers, lol...

The new('02+) Camry's are great cars and easy to upgrade from the crap
Taurus'. Solara's are fun too.

If you're a gold member, i'd suggest calling the gold desk and having
your profile reflect that you prefer a Q and/or everytime you make a res
make it for a "Q."

Gold members receive free upgrades, but its based upon availability. If
a location doesn't have the right mix of vehicles to fit the res' then
you'll receive at least your reserved class but under only very extreme
circumstances (ie stars) will a CSR break someone else's res of a higher
class to give that gold member an upgrade.