Hertz #1 / QFF Pricing in the US

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SimonM

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I'm planning a car rental for a couple of days in Florida. As a random, the quoted cost on screen was USD$151.30, so I logged in with my #1 Club membership and Qantas FF number to find that the 'discounted' price is USD$183.37.

I checked and I'm certain the dates and locations are identical.

I'm not a frequent renter, perhaps every two or three years, but I'm surprised they'd try to ping me like this.

Normal for Hertz?


RentalWTF.JPG
 
Are you comparing like for like, one of the things I dont like is the lack of clear visibility of the amount payable when you have damage to the car, you may well find that the Qantas CDP has a lower amount payable, it does vary across CDPs as I found out when I had a taxi try to turn a falcon into a newer model by running into me last week.
 
Are you comparing like for like, one of the things I dont like is the lack of clear visibility of the amount payable when you have damage to the car, you may well find that the Qantas CDP has a lower amount payable, it does vary across CDPs as I found out when I had a taxi try to turn a falcon into a newer model by running into me last week.

Ouch, hope you're OK.

I should look further into the damage excess amounts, but there didn't seem to be anything mentioned.

I was also perplexed by the Hertz car/rate selection pages. One rate was often a lot less than the other, but included a Liability Insurance Supplement.

It might be just easier to try a different outfit.
 
roopaw, I had a somewhat similar experience with Hertz recently, when booking a Camaro for 3 weeks from SFO on July 9.

The rate for the three weeks without logging in was USD1,965 all inclusive (rate 2) and when I logged in and applied the QFF CDP, the rate was approx. USD1,500 with a 10% discount - great, I thought, until I realised that it didn't appear to include LDW or SLI insurance, despite my profile requiring both in the US.

A check of other cars at SFO and both the Camaro at different locations (LAS, SEA, etc), including LAX, which had almost identical pricing for all other cars except the Camaro, showed that when not logged in, rate 2 for all cars was a packaged or all inclusive rate and for all cars including the Camaro at SFO and when logged in and QFF CDP applied, the rate for all other cars/locations except the Camaro at SFO was the packaged rate less 10%.

Given this anomally, I called Hertz and the rep I spoke to initially said LDW and SLI was included. After I advised that it was not shown in my booking, she checked again and said it was no cost. I explained that all the other cars at SFO definitely had insurance shown as included, so she checked and confirmed that there appeared to be a problem with the Camaro at SFO! Great! I was told that they would need to contact the US and get back to me. A week later I'd heard nothing and my booking hadn't changed, so I called Hertz again. The first Hertz I spoke to wasn't there, so the person I spoke to told me again that the insurance was included! I explained the situation and she said she would look into and get back to me the same day or her superviosr would the following day (she was not going to tbe there). Again I didn't hear anything and three days later, I called again and asked to speak to either of the two people I'd spoken to, or their superviosrs. The person I spoke to was reluctant to transfer me, so I eventually had to say that it was a long and involved issue (which it was) and I didn't want to expalin it to a third person! After that, he transferred me to a supervisor and she advised that there was a note in my booking saying that the US had been contacted and the LDW was between approx. USD15 and 35 per day. I advised that was not good enough - the exact amount of the total, including LDW and SLI needed to be included in the quote/booking, as per my profile and, as there appeared to be a problem with this car at SFO only, it needed to be fixed. She eventually agreed to contact the US again and arrange for it to be fixed. Thankfully, she gave me her direct phone number and advised she would keep me informed. After I got off the phone to her, it twigged what the problem was - for some unexplained reason, for that car at SFO only, the QFF 10% discount rate was being applied to the unpackaged base rate, rather than the packaged rate, as it should have (I discovered this doing a search of cars via the Qantas website, which are all quoted on the base rate, so they appear cheaper, but once you add insurance, are significantly more expensive than the packaged rate). I rang the Hertz rep back and advised that's what I thought was happening - she said she would advise the US. She did keep me informed and the website was fixed a couple of days later, but my booking was not! My booking ended up being USD2,100 (incl. LDW & SLI, but not at the packaged rate), even a day after the website was fixed and I received an e-mail from another person at Hertz to say it had been fixed. My booking remained at the incorrect amount for several days, so I replied to the e-mail I'd received severla days later, saying that my booking was still not fixed and I getting tired of following it up. It turned out my booking had been fixed overnight and I hadn't checked! End result was USD1,670 packaged rate, all inclusive (Note: this is a 15% discount on the packaged rate, which I discovered RACV provide on this car).

I checked Florida International airport for 2 days from July 9 and came up with similar rates to you and it appears a similar thing is happening - the QFF discount is being applied to the unpackaged base rate, rather than the packaged rate, and once insurance is added, the cost ends up being higher.

Apologies if this reply is long! In summary, Hertz appear to have some IT glitches and it appears that either the QFF 10% discount doesn't apply to the packaged rate in Florida (unlike all the other places in the US I've checked), or they have another system glitch!
 
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Thanks for that AdMel.

I'll contact Hertz and ask them to have a look at my case too.
 
Are you comparing like for like, one of the things I dont like is the lack of clear visibility of the amount payable when you have damage to the car, you may well find that the Qantas CDP has a lower amount payable, it does vary across CDPs as I found out when I had a taxi try to turn a falcon into a newer model by running into me last week.

markis10, see my post above re quoting like for like - Hertz website sometimes doesn't allow it. With regard to the amount payable when you damage the car, I agree that the Hertz website doesn't make it clear, but my understanding is that in the US, unlike Australia, it's either all or nothing, i.e. no insurance or full insurance with $0 excess, irrespective of CDP. This was confirmed by a Hertz rep I spoke to recently.

With regard to your recent incident, I second roopaw's comment - hope you're ok. For the benefit of us, would you mind posting your experience? Maybe in a new thread?
 
I am from the States and visit often. Don't know if you know but when searching for car rentals type in 'car rental discount codes' in Google, and search car rental websites. For many rental companies you can use several codes at one time for discounts! Last time I think we used 4 coupon codes and got the car for hardly anything. Just a tip and hopefully will save you some $$$.:p
 
Hertz pricing totally baffles me.

I have just got a quote from Qantas Holidays for a UK flight plus car hire. The price of an Intermediate (D) manual for 16 days over Christmas was $772 (~445 Sterling).

Just to compare I jumped on the Hertz UK site and got a quote for .... 906 .... Sterling! I changed the country of residence to Australia and the next number out of the Hertz Hat (or is it their Arrse?) was 528 Sterling.

As far as I can tell the conditions will be much the same, and if the Qantas UK 2010/11 brochure is anything to go by - they have even bundled in an extra driver. My travel insurance should cover the excess so it should truly be a drive-away price.

So are the Qantas rates just really good or will I be in for a nasty surprise come December?
 
I am from the States and visit often. Don't know if you know but when searching for car rentals type in 'car rental discount codes' in Google, and search car rental websites. For many rental companies you can use several codes at one time for discounts! Last time I think we used 4 coupon codes and got the car for hardly anything. Just a tip and hopefully will save you some $$$.:p

Thanks jennyhubbard, I'll do a search and see what I come up with.
 
Hertz pricing totally baffles me.

I have just got a quote from Qantas Holidays for a UK flight plus car hire. The price of an Intermediate (D) manual for 16 days over Christmas was $772 (~445 Sterling).

Just to compare I jumped on the Hertz UK site and got a quote for .... 906 .... Sterling! I changed the country of residence to Australia and the next number out of the Hertz Hat (or is it their Arrse?) was 528 Sterling.

As far as I can tell the conditions will be much the same, and if the Qantas UK 2010/11 brochure is anything to go by - they have even bundled in an extra driver. My travel insurance should cover the excess so it should truly be a drive-away price.

So are the Qantas rates just really good or will I be in for a nasty surprise come December?

I don't even understand the prices in the same place on their site. They have Rate 1 and Rate 2. The only difference between the two appears to be that Rate 2 includes the Liability Insurance Supplement and yet is significantly cheaper in most cases.
 
Hertz have replied to my enquiry reminding me that I asked for insurance to be included in my rental quotes. That doesn't explain anything as the US casual rate includes insurance.

Apparently there are different rates for bookings originating from Australia. Doesn't help, I was booking on the US site.

They go on to tell me that the rates should be lower for members. I agree and that's why I wrote to them when they weren't.

Finally, I should phone International Reservations as there are many rates available.

Typical copy & paste reply that is more annoying than useful.
 
Hertz have replied to my enquiry reminding me that I asked for insurance to be included in my rental quotes. That doesn't explain anything as the US casual rate includes insurance.

Apparently there are different rates for bookings originating from Australia. Doesn't help, I was booking on the US site.

They go on to tell me that the rates should be lower for members. I agree and that's why I wrote to them when they weren't.

Finally, I should phone International Reservations as there are many rates available.

Typical copy & paste reply that is more annoying than useful.

roopaw, I actually called Hertz Gold international reservations (from and in Australia) rather than sending them an e-mail/query via their website.

For your information, it doesn't matter whether you use the Hertz US or Australian website - the key is the country of residence in the top right corner. For Australian residents, you have the option of a packaged rate which includes all insurances (rate 2), with the packaged rate including insurances significantly lower than the rate for US residents excluding insurances.

As previously mentioned, the QFF discount usually applies to the packaged rate (rate 2), rather than the unpackaged base rate, like it is doing in Florida. At least it does in SFO, LAX, SEA, LAS.
 
roopaw, I actually called Hertz Gold international reservations (from and in Australia) rather than sending them an e-mail/query via their website.

For your information, it doesn't matter whether you use the Hertz US or Australian website - the key is the country of residence in the top right corner. For Australian residents, you have the option of a packaged rate which includes all insurances (rate 2), with the packaged rate including insurances significantly lower than the rate for US residents excluding insurances.

As previously mentioned, the QFF discount usually applies to the packaged rate (rate 2), rather than the unpackaged base rate, like it is doing in Florida. At least it does in SFO, LAX, SEA, LAS.

Thanks for the info AdMEL. I think I must have a bit of a mental block about this stuff as I'm certain that the two quotes I got (see the image in my earlier post) are equivalent in all respects other than my membership login and country of residence. In this case, my price is significantly higher than for casual renters with USA as the country of residence.

Hertz themselves can see the difference and can't explain them other than to say that the price depends on which web site you visit, etc. I don't find that very encouraging really.
 
Called Hertz. 15 minutes wasted.

I was initially offered US$204.25 as the best rate. She eventually found the US$183.37 rate, but was perplexed when I told her that was the very rate I was complaining about. Apparently there are just too many rates (12) to be able to go through them all looking for the best price.

Hopeless.
 
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roopaw, I actually called Hertz Gold international reservations (from and in Australia) rather than sending them an e-mail/query via their website.

For your information, it doesn't matter whether you use the Hertz US or Australian website - the key is the country of residence in the top right corner. For Australian residents, you have the option of a packaged rate which includes all insurances (rate 2), with the packaged rate including insurances significantly lower than the rate for US residents excluding insurances.

Okay I am now having a similar "problem" with the Hertz website

I am looking a a rental in the USA for mid next year for approx 7 week...

I log-into my account and get VERY different rates when choosing
Australia
NZ
Canada
USA
UK

As the country at the top, of course Australia is by far the most expensive :evil::evil::evil:

Now the only T&C is that you are meant to be in the country that you select at the time of the booking and that it is meant to be "your current geographic location."

So an an Aussie resident, why is it almost $2000 AU cheaper if I was in the UK and make the booking...

Maybe I should do a status run to the UK, make the Hertz booking and fly home here to AUS again :p
 
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