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I'm sure it's genuinely a hard problem. If you don't have enough cars in a given area then there's zero you can do about it. You can't conjure them out of nowhe

I'm sure it's genuinely a hard problem. If you don't have enough cars in a given area then there's zero you can do about it. You can't conjure them out of nowhere. You can't even order new ones anymore! Think about how complex airline operations are - getting the right plane in the right place at the right time - then imagine that with random pilots that may just not get where they said they would be at a given time.

dragonwriter 5y ago
> I'm sure it's genuinely a hard problem. If you don't have enough cars in a given area then there's zero you can do about it. You can make people pay for reservations, limit reservations based on stock, and only refund late cancellations when the loss has been mitigated by an actual rental or replacement paid reservation (using a FIFO queue of slots where a cancelled reservation goes behind unreserved stock of the same class). This is not an unsolved problem, this is just a problem the rental agencies are happy enough not solving because there is no adverse consequence for the bad experience they impose on customers.
- chrisseaton 5y ago
  How do you guarantee a reservation? Literally keep the car at the pick-up point from the time it was ordered until the person gets there months later? Any other way, you're relying on someone returning a car to you in time at that location so you have it to give to the reserver. You're always reliant on random people bringing their cars back on time. You're always vulnerable to not being able to fulfil the reservation.
  - dragonwriter 5y ago
    > How do you guarantee a reservation? Literally keep the car at the pick-up point from the time it was ordered until the person gets there months later? Any other way, you're relying on someone returning a car to you in time at that location so you have it to give to the reserver. Yes, any rental reservation, whether it's a hotel room or rental car, has some irreducible level of risk, because the prior renter may unlawfully hold over the rental, damage it, or do something else unforseen. Heck, even if you physically hold it from the point of reservation, it could be hit by a meteor. There are known ways to quantify and account for (either by holding back stock from reservation to cover incidents or holding back money to cover compensation) these things, and you can tune it how you like. The rental car industry, however, doesn't even try to manage the easily mitigated risks that are the entire reason reservation systems exist, because they take reservations but treat them as meaningless. This isn't hard.
    - lotsofpulp 5y ago
      > The rental car industry, however, doesn't even try to manage the easily mitigated risks that are the entire reason reservation systems exist, because they take reservations but treat them as meaningless. They obviously do not treat reservations as meaningless considering most people get a satisfactory experience most of the time. I have rented a car at least 30 times off the top of my head, and a car I was happy with was available every time. There are also 3 competing rental car companies, so if people really hated the car rental price to car rental experience ratio, surely one of them would have capitalized on it to gain market share.
    - listenallyall 5y ago
      "this isn't hard" -- first sign that the ranter, I mean commenter, is way out of his depth. Of course car rental companies take reservations seriously, there are plenty of times a company will say they are "sold out" in a specific city on specific dates. Plenty of others where prices are sky-high exactly because of a large influx of reservations. Are there times when their algorithms don't work precisely right? Assuming 10% no-shows and actually turns out to be 6%, for example. Yes that's a problem (that hotels and airlines face as well). And it sucks to be stuck. But unable-to-fill reservations probably comprise a very small percentage of overall rentals. Flights are asking for volunteers to be bumped all the time. If you really want to be safe, don't just make a reservation, pre-pay. They will have a car for you.
    - kortilla 5y ago
      > This isn't hard. Rule of thumb, if you find yourself saying something like this about a massive industry where there would be billions to gain by doing something that seems obvious, you’re out of your depth.
  - midasuni 5y ago
    Even if you do kee one, what happens if the car is stolen the night before? Or a meteor lands on it? Or someone drives into it 5 minutes before pick up?

dragonwriter 5y ago

> I'm sure it's genuinely a hard problem. If you don't have enough cars in a given area then there's zero you can do about it. You can make people pay for reservations, limit reservations based on stock, and only refund late cancellations when the loss has been mitigated by an actual rental or replacement paid reservation (using a FIFO queue of slots where a cancelled reservation goes behind unreserved stock of the same class). This is not an unsolved problem, this is just a problem the rental agencies are happy enough not solving because there is no adverse consequence for the bad experience they impose on customers.

chrisseaton 5y ago
How do you guarantee a reservation? Literally keep the car at the pick-up point from the time it was ordered until the person gets there months later? Any other way, you're relying on someone returning a car to you in time at that location so you have it to give to the reserver. You're always reliant on random people bringing their cars back on time. You're always vulnerable to not being able to fulfil the reservation.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > How do you guarantee a reservation? Literally keep the car at the pick-up point from the time it was ordered until the person gets there months later? Any other way, you're relying on someone returning a car to you in time at that location so you have it to give to the reserver. Yes, any rental reservation, whether it's a hotel room or rental car, has some irreducible level of risk, because the prior renter may unlawfully hold over the rental, damage it, or do something else unforseen. Heck, even if you physically hold it from the point of reservation, it could be hit by a meteor. There are known ways to quantify and account for (either by holding back stock from reservation to cover incidents or holding back money to cover compensation) these things, and you can tune it how you like. The rental car industry, however, doesn't even try to manage the easily mitigated risks that are the entire reason reservation systems exist, because they take reservations but treat them as meaningless. This isn't hard.
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    > The rental car industry, however, doesn't even try to manage the easily mitigated risks that are the entire reason reservation systems exist, because they take reservations but treat them as meaningless. They obviously do not treat reservations as meaningless considering most people get a satisfactory experience most of the time. I have rented a car at least 30 times off the top of my head, and a car I was happy with was available every time. There are also 3 competing rental car companies, so if people really hated the car rental price to car rental experience ratio, surely one of them would have capitalized on it to gain market share.
  - listenallyall 5y ago
    "this isn't hard" -- first sign that the ranter, I mean commenter, is way out of his depth. Of course car rental companies take reservations seriously, there are plenty of times a company will say they are "sold out" in a specific city on specific dates. Plenty of others where prices are sky-high exactly because of a large influx of reservations. Are there times when their algorithms don't work precisely right? Assuming 10% no-shows and actually turns out to be 6%, for example. Yes that's a problem (that hotels and airlines face as well). And it sucks to be stuck. But unable-to-fill reservations probably comprise a very small percentage of overall rentals. Flights are asking for volunteers to be bumped all the time. If you really want to be safe, don't just make a reservation, pre-pay. They will have a car for you.
  - kortilla 5y ago
    > This isn't hard. Rule of thumb, if you find yourself saying something like this about a massive industry where there would be billions to gain by doing something that seems obvious, you’re out of your depth.
- midasuni 5y ago
  Even if you do kee one, what happens if the car is stolen the night before? Or a meteor lands on it? Or someone drives into it 5 minutes before pick up?