3 ms·

Car rental inventory is absurd, and renting a box truck is even worse. I've learned over the years that a "reservation" is a best case scenario. - nothing's re

Car rental inventory is absurd, and renting a box truck is even worse. I've learned over the years that a "reservation" is a best case scenario. - nothing's real until money changes hands. There's also a lot of weird nuance around renting at an airport and renting at an in-town location. And even when you've turned down all the needless upsells and paid for your car, you have to be careful about further sleight of hand! Earlier this year, I reserved a mid-size vehicle for a few days' drive for a business trip, and after they charged my card, they told me they're bringing around a compact vehicle. I probably should have let it go, the difference in price wasn't that much (and was a work expense) but old habits die hard. "That's not what I paid for - either you can refund me the difference, or you can bring me a mid-size sedan." They said if I could wait 15 minutes, they'd bump me up from a Hyundai Accent to a larger Toyota, but it wasn't until I sat in the car that I learned that even as a new car, it was as bare-bones as they make them. No CarPlay/Android Auto, the in-car GPS was disabled, no cruise control - I'm sure it would have had manual windows if that were an option. The Hyundai would have been a better ride, I shouldn't have fussed. But yeah, U-Haul or Ryder or whatever, it's the stone ages there. Years ago, I drove halfway across the state to pick up a sixteen foot truck I'd reserved, and when I got there - "Yeah we don't have a sixteen foot truck, I don't know why it let you reserve that." A smaller truck wasn't an option for what we were moving. I ended up having to call around and hit some local place up.

kylehotchkiss 4y ago
No CarPlay? Every Avis rental car I get seems to have it. Which brand?
hrunt 4y ago
> Car rental inventory is absurd, and renting a box truck is even worse. I've learned over the years that a "reservation" is a best case scenario. - nothing's real until money changes hands. As Seinfeld said, they're good at taking the reservation, but not good at holding it.
jjulius 4y ago
Penske is the winner there (edit: in my experience, YMMV). We moved from CA to OR in spring 2021. Got a res through UHaul for a box truck, and got a call 24 hours later basically telling me that they were massively overbooked and wouldn't be able to confirm a truck for me until the morning we were supposed to pack the truck up and leave. There's not a snowball's chance in hell that I'm gonna plan for a move with that level of uncertainty, lol. Called Penske, because I'd always had a good business relationship with them via my job. I was told, "Oh, yeah, we don't do that shit. If you book a truck that day, it's gonna be here, guaranteed." Sure enough, Penske had it. We packed up the truck, I got on the road, and about 45 minutes later I got a call from UHaul telling me that I could pick up an available truck, but it was three hours away. I laughed loudly and just hung up.
- pc86 4y ago
  I've probably rented box trucks a dozen times in my life for various personal and professional endeavors, including a stint of regular quarterly rentals for several years, and two cross-country moves. At this point Penske gets my money no matter what; I don't even look elsewhere.
optymizer 4y ago
I rented cars in Europe, Carribean, Israel and the US. Some things I've learned: * In the US, Hertz with corporate discounts and status is usually the cheapest and most convenient option. Walk to the car, pick your car from the President's Circle, drive off. Absolutely the best experience I've had with rentals. * Without status, it's a coin toss: Avis or Hertz, with Avis generally having worse service across the board. * In Europe, Avis was the worst. In Israel I think it's a franchise, it was all manual entries, long waiting lines. In Portugal I had to wait in line for 1.5 hours to pick up the car because I wasn't Preferred. Their Preferred booth was empty the entire time. All I had to do was validate my drivers license, and they still refused to accept me at Preferred because they print the preferred customers in the morning. Almost missed my flight. * Europcar in Israel - cheaper but I wasted an hour in line to _return_ the car. * In Aruba (I think), Avis doesn't tell you they run shuttles to the airport and you have to wait 30+ min for the shuttle to come around and pick you up. * I rented 26' trucks from U-Haul twice. Both times went well, though the first truck was very bouncy and the second truck's engine light was on, but otherwise I got from A to B with no issues. But this all pales in comparison to this car rental company in Moldova (Eastern Europe) that took $100 to book an SUV a month in advance, and then when I arrived they said "we don't have it". The only car they had was $50/day more expensive and instead of apologizing and giving me that car, despite being more expensive, they told me that my only option was to pay more to get this car. They were fixing the A/C outside while I was trying to explain to them that it was a ridiculous demand. A bunch of crooks. I walked away. Sixt was a better experience there, and cheaper than Avis, though 4rent.md is definitely the best option with great customer service.

kylehotchkiss 4y ago

No CarPlay? Every Avis rental car I get seems to have it. Which brand?

hrunt 4y ago

> Car rental inventory is absurd, and renting a box truck is even worse. I've learned over the years that a "reservation" is a best case scenario. - nothing's real until money changes hands. As Seinfeld said, they're good at taking the reservation, but not good at holding it.

jjulius 4y ago

Penske is the winner there (edit: in my experience, YMMV). We moved from CA to OR in spring 2021. Got a res through UHaul for a box truck, and got a call 24 hours later basically telling me that they were massively overbooked and wouldn't be able to confirm a truck for me until the morning we were supposed to pack the truck up and leave. There's not a snowball's chance in hell that I'm gonna plan for a move with that level of uncertainty, lol. Called Penske, because I'd always had a good business relationship with them via my job. I was told, "Oh, yeah, we don't do that shit. If you book a truck that day, it's gonna be here, guaranteed." Sure enough, Penske had it. We packed up the truck, I got on the road, and about 45 minutes later I got a call from UHaul telling me that I could pick up an available truck, but it was three hours away. I laughed loudly and just hung up.

pc86 4y ago
I've probably rented box trucks a dozen times in my life for various personal and professional endeavors, including a stint of regular quarterly rentals for several years, and two cross-country moves. At this point Penske gets my money no matter what; I don't even look elsewhere.

optymizer 4y ago

I rented cars in Europe, Carribean, Israel and the US. Some things I've learned: * In the US, Hertz with corporate discounts and status is usually the cheapest and most convenient option. Walk to the car, pick your car from the President's Circle, drive off. Absolutely the best experience I've had with rentals. * Without status, it's a coin toss: Avis or Hertz, with Avis generally having worse service across the board. * In Europe, Avis was the worst. In Israel I think it's a franchise, it was all manual entries, long waiting lines. In Portugal I had to wait in line for 1.5 hours to pick up the car because I wasn't Preferred. Their Preferred booth was empty the entire time. All I had to do was validate my drivers license, and they still refused to accept me at Preferred because they print the preferred customers in the morning. Almost missed my flight. * Europcar in Israel - cheaper but I wasted an hour in line to _return_ the car. * In Aruba (I think), Avis doesn't tell you they run shuttles to the airport and you have to wait 30+ min for the shuttle to come around and pick you up. * I rented 26' trucks from U-Haul twice. Both times went well, though the first truck was very bouncy and the second truck's engine light was on, but otherwise I got from A to B with no issues. But this all pales in comparison to this car rental company in Moldova (Eastern Europe) that took $100 to book an SUV a month in advance, and then when I arrived they said "we don't have it". The only car they had was $50/day more expensive and instead of apologizing and giving me that car, despite being more expensive, they told me that my only option was to pay more to get this car. They were fixing the A/C outside while I was trying to explain to them that it was a ridiculous demand. A bunch of crooks. I walked away. Sixt was a better experience there, and cheaper than Avis, though 4rent.md is definitely the best option with great customer service.