Hertz To Compete With Zipcar For Hourly Car Rentals
This is a test using rich text formatting and html links. It's the generic "company" ad that should appear on all posts with the Company category if they don't have an ad attached to a specific company.
Post a comment
Comments:
New York City, Park Ridge, N.J, London, and Paris
One of these places is not like the other...
One of these places is not the same...
One of these places is not like the other...
Now it's time to play our game!
Which city doesn't belong?!
To be fair to all the Hertz staff I have ever encountered, they were all very nice. It wasn't their fault that despite my reservation they we struggling to find cars in their empty lot for all the people in line.
Still not sure I picked right between the Hummer and the Town & Country.
Im a zipcar member and love it. the things I would like to see added (and would make me switch) are:
1. GPS in all cars
2. Some cars that can trade spots so you could travel from one side of town to another instead of always returning to the same spot
those are my major gripes...
The thing I don't like dealing with at the Hertz counter is the high pressure to sign their terms. In my last two encounters earlier this year, they gave me a document of six pages of small print and legalese to sign. If I didn't sign it in about 30 seconds their machine beeps, and the counter person said, "oh it's timed out, we have to start over now" and printed out another one.
Park Ridge? This make no sense. Regardless of it being Hertz's corporate headquarters, Park Ridge is a small middle class suburb where EVERYONE has their own cars, and most have more than one.
@The Name's Ash78, Housewares: No, I believe the correct question is,
"Do you have anything with a large trunk?"
;)
@mbd: I live in an area where everyone has their own car and I can think of some occasions where an hourly rental would be helpful. Like right now, my car has a flat, I'm waiting for the new tires to come in, I've been trading around schedules with my husband, but I would totally rent a car for two hours to run errands. Or if I'm in the downtown without my car, or at the mall or whatever, for the day, and I need to zip over somewhere else before my ride is ready to leave/pick me up.
The limiting factor for me is really the "get to the starting point" thing. But since I was contemplating a looooooooooong taxi ride the other day when I found myself carless, screwed, and needing desperately to get to school to pick up student finals to get them graded before the deadline, I would totally pay a couple bucks for a cab to get to the hourly rental place.
@grouse:
I work in the industry. Most rental contracts are standard in terms of legalese... just be careful to double check for any charges you may be accepting (insurance, etc). The rental agreement is a binding contract, and you may end up paying a lot for non-refundable insurance if you aren't careful.
@Ass_Cobra:
I was going to say NYC, since it didn't have a river that went through the middle of the city. But I wasn't sure of Park Ridge. =)
@mbd: Maybe they're trying to gauge how the service would fair in communities that wouldn't be the typical market for this type of service.
Actually, there is another competitor in the NYC car share market- mint, Cars On Demand (http://drivemint.com) They've been around since late summer and are pretty good-- I'm a member!
I used to use zipcar but got turned off by the lack of customer service -- especially when i was supposed to use them on a moving day and my card wasn't working. Needless to say, move day had to move and now I moved my loyalties!
Actually, there is another competitor in the NYC car share market- mint, Cars On Demand (http://drivemint.com) They've been around since late summer and are pretty good-- I'm a member!
I used to use zipcar but got turned off by the lack of customer service -- especially when i was supposed to use them on a moving day and my card wasn't working. Needless to say, move day had to move and now I moved my loyalties!
I have an innate dislike for Zipcar. Philadelphia has a well functioning, non-profit hourly car rental company - Philly Car share. Zipcar started popping up around the city within the past year or so. Something just irks me about a for-profit trying to take away the market of a local non-profit. I wouldn't mind so much if Philly car share was poorly managed or something and Zipcar would offer an alternative, but PCS is a well run company.
Sounds like just the thing now that my town has banned hourly motel rates.
Do any of the existing companies have corporate agreements? I could see where that may be an opportunity for Hertz.
@bonzombiekitty: I agree with you on this. I live in Philly and am a member of PhillyCarShare. I remember several months ago seeing Zipcars start popping up around the city. Maybe some people are pleased to have another option, but I think PCS is a great company, so I was disappointed to see someone else coming in and taking away potential pods (parking spaces) and part of the market from a local organization.
Hertz would have to offer a SIGNIFICANTLY better deal -- like better cars for half the money and half the membership fee -- for me to switch from Zipcar.
In fact, it was my last encounter with Hertz that got me to become a Zipcar member in the first place: the lady at the Hertz counter asked me if I wanted the "buy gas from Hertz" option, telling me they would charge me for gas even if I returned the car with a full tank.
I declined the option and returned the car with a full tank. Sure enough, the $30 gas charge showed up on my bill. I called Hertz, and because I had my gas receipt, they removed the charge, but really -- cheating the customer as part of their basic business model rubbed me the wrong way, and I intend never to use them again.
Here in Chicago, We have i-Go Cars in addition to Zip Car. I'm also a member of Philly Car share, and love there concept, and once I move to Philly, I'll be good!
@bonzombiekitty: I've actually become quite upset at PhillyCarShare in the last few months.
They *used* to have very reasonable rates which made the cars attractive for short trips, or longer weekend trips. The rates were so attractive that I sold my car over a year ago and opted to use PhillyCarShare instead.
Then, a few months back, they suddenly raised both the hourly rates, as well as the daily maximum rates (without being open about the latter). This had the effect of doubling the prices on all daily rentals. A weekend trip to visit my parents would be on the order of $300, completely unacceptable.
For folks looking at car sharing in the Philadelphia area, I would recommend someplace other than PhillyCarShare.
@Ass_Cobra: I was walking the dog the other night and noticed it was running backwards... my thought of course was "the tide is coming in" but it did seem a bit strange....
@dmuth: PhillyCarShare made the changes you talk about for the specific reason of upholding their "car sharing" model by encouraging shorter, local trips and increasing daily usage rates to discourage longer trips which serve to privatize a vehicle which is meant to be shared, thereby making less cars available for other members and not generating the money needed to cover the costs of those cars.
Most members of PhillyCarShare, like myself, use it for shorter, local trips with rare longer trips, and we are benefiting a little from this change. Also, I must say that the newsletter which was sent out on Oct 30th says that hourly rates will steadily go down as daily rates go up, so the hourly rates are not being raised. Perhaps you meant that the mileage fee is being increased slightly, which also mostly affects the people who want to use the cars for longer trips.
PhillyCarShare isn't meant to be a car rental agency to provide you with a replacement car for long weekend trips, it's all about sharing. If you want to rent a car for more than a day, there are car rental agencies for that. PCS is still a great option for people looking for a car sharing organization, not a weekend rental.
@LunaLazor:
Either LunaLazor has 2 screen names (this one and SaraswatiWebster below)and switched them really quickly or this is Marketing BS from someone over at Mint Car. Their site looked promising but if this "advertising" is indicitive of the company's values I think I'll pass.
@Hamtronix: agreed. im in boston and i zipcar alot, unfortunately theres no car pickup by my house so if i get a car, i gotta take a bus/train to get the car and back home after i drop it off :( plus i always seem to get lost on the way to returning it.
@dmuth: Isn't the whole point of these types of services to use them for short periods of time? If you need a car for the weekend, rent one at a regular car rental place. Otherwise it's the equivalent of renting a hotel room for a couple of months instead of renting an apartment.
I have been a member of Zipcar (NYC) for two years and have been generally pleased. Even after an accident (damage, too), they were pretty cool about it...they suspended me until it was clear I was not at fault. Signed up for Hertz Connect last week and already got my membership car...but already I am disappointed. The locations are much more scarce than Zipcar (nothing on the upper east) and all the cars seem to be small in size. As a result, my reservation this weekend is for ZipCar and not Hertz Connect. My sense is that Hertz Connect will go through many growing pains until they can match Zipcar's service. On a side note, if I am drving any distance beyond the boroughs or westchester, I do a normal Hertz rental...some peace of mind with their road service and customer service.
recently, we've just been going on kayak.com and finding rental cars (usually thru alamo) that are cheaper for 24 hours than zipcar is for 8 hours. we've been getting cars for saturday afternoons for around $85 in midtown. pick up at noon on sat, return on sun at noon. for that price, it's just not worth it to join zipcar or anyone else for that matter.
"You got something with a big back seat?"