"LJ909" (lj909)
06/17/2019 at 14:26 • Filed to: None
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"LJ909" (lj909)
06/17/2019 at 14:26 • Filed to: None | 0
| 12 |
In yet another move of a company grasping at straws they think Millennials are wanting, Hertz has jumped on the all inclusive subscription bandwagon.
Here’s how it works: There are 2 tiers to choose from, pictured above. Tier 1 starts $999/month and pretty much gets you standard rental fare. Tier 2 at $1399/month gets you large cars and a few luxury choices in addition to all the cars from Tier 1. To subscribe, you just call up the line, select your tier and pay a non refundable $250 enrollment fee.
There are a few caveats to all this though. The main one is that it requires you to be a member of their Hertz Rewards program and have a credit card on file with them as well and a qualifying credit score, because depreciation asset in the hands of a stranger require shit like that. Also there is a minimum contract period of 2 months. So if you signed up and thought, maybe this is dumb and I don’ t wanna waste my money on this, you have to wait 2 months before bailing. If not, the subscription auto renews until you request a cancellation .
The prices for each tier include the following:
Ability to exchange your vehicle twice per month. Additional exchanges (i.e. more than 2) are $75 per vehicle
2,000 monthly mileage allotment
Liability coverage (100/300/50)
Full maintenance
Loss Damage Waiver ($1,000 deductible)
Sirius XM Radio (where available)
Roadside Assistance
Free Additional Driver
Earn Gold Plus Rewards points: 1 point per $1 spent, with 25% and 50% bonuses for Five Star and President’s Circle members
All in all, its pretty pricey. The tiers are interesting, until you find out that vehicle availability is not guaranteed . So if you go in for a Infiniti QX60 specifically, you might be disappointed . I don’ t see many going for this unless your’re like a business traveler or something. Its interesting for sure, but don’ t expect this thing to be around in a few months or a year.
way2blu does a rev update
> LJ909
06/17/2019 at 15:48 |
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My car didn’t ask for such pain!
As a millennial Oppo , I’d be interested in the “switch 2x a month” to try things out & review them, but I doubt they offer many good stick shift options.
E90M3
> LJ909
06/17/2019 at 15:57 |
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Maybe if it was like half the price, but 999 a month for that is a bit ridiculous .
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LJ909
> way2blu does a rev update
06/17/2019 at 15:57 |
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Yeah they’d never have something like that. Even the Corvettes in the Fun Collection are autos.
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LJ909
> E90M3
06/17/2019 at 16:00 |
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Especially considering that the vehicles in that Tier are nothing special. You’re pretty much just paying for the insurance coverage and the access to the other vehicles.
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E90M3
> LJ909
06/17/2019 at 16:03 |
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You do get the luxury of swapping vehicles, but it’s still way more expensive than owing and operating your own car.
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LJ909
> E90M3
06/17/2019 at 16:07 |
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Right and that alone isn’t worth it, at least to me. You’d be cheaper financing or leasing a vehicle with insurance.
SPAMBot - Horse Doctor
> LJ909
06/17/2019 at 16:45 |
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This could work if it was a tad cheaper or had access to their fun cars like a week a month or something. Plus, if you could swap them as many times as you want, for the included price. (maybe add a clause saying they need 24 hours notice or something.)
For the swap, it would be super beneficial if you could leave “your” car at an airport, then grab a car at another airport, and swap cars again when you are home. Never having to deal with a cab/uber/airport parking/finding a ride and always having a “rental” car for every trip would be a huge perk.
RPM esq.
> LJ909
06/17/2019 at 17:40 |
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The only use case I can picture for this is in the short term , like if you live in a city where you don’t own or need a car, and relocate for a few months for a temporary job somewhere you need one to get around, or just somewhere really far away where you don’t want to have to drive your car there and back at each end . You wouldn’t be stuck buying and then reselling a car when you move back , and it might be worth paying a premium to have access to two different types of cars for commuting vs. getting outside and exploring your temporary environs on the weekends.
But in the longer term, this would be nuts. I’m not going to do the math, but for $999 a month couldn’t you pretty much buy just about any two cars in that tier, and still have two resellable assets —albeit depreciated —at the end of five years? I know there would be some costs associated with maintenance/insurance/registration, but it seems like you’d almost certainly still come out pretty far ahead, and you could switch between them in your own driveway anytime you like.
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RPM esq.
> SPAMBot - Horse Doctor
06/17/2019 at 17:43 |
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I agree it would be cool to just have access to a car anywhere, but frankly, Hertz’s rewards program is almost as convenient when you’re away from home —obviously you have to pay the usual rental rates , but you can pretty much just show up at the rental lot after you land at a given airport and drive off in whatever takes your fancy. You’d have to travel a hell of a lot for $999 a month or more to be worth it.
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SPAMBot - Horse Doctor
> RPM esq.
06/17/2019 at 18:12 |
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I’ve been a little disappointed in National’s program lately. Maybe I should look to Hertz next time. My friend got a Hemi Charger for this weekend for like $35 a day. National used to have a lot of cool shit you could grab, but it seems like the are cutting back.
My line of thought would not just be for rental cars. You would use it for your personal car as well. 1000 is still too high for what you get in the tier 1 cars, but after payment, insurance, plus the perk of an included rental car while on a trip, it starts to look slightly better. Also, 3x chase points on what is essentially my car payment :p
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RPM esq.
> SPAMBot - Horse Doctor
06/17/2019 at 19:09 |
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The rewards point angle would be a nice perk. I agree, though, that there needs to be some other benefit, like the “rental cars when traveling included” idea you describe, to make this worthwhile.
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SPAMBot - Horse Doctor
> RPM esq.
06/17/2019 at 19:21 |
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Agreed. CP at the current capacity haha