Rental car info tracking

"smobgirl" (smobgirl) 12/31/2019 at 13:07 • Filed to: None

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I rented about 35 cars this year and I’m sort of amused by the whole process, so next year I plan on tracking much more than what models I drive. Current items I’m considering include:

Rental car agency

Location

Cost per day

Class reserved

Car received

Approximate mileage

Car condition

Interesting features

WT F items (if applicable...for instance, the non working windows on that Mirage)

I’m mostly curious about how many upgrades I actually got this year and how many of them were “desirable” versus a surplus of vehicles (like the minivans they frequently offer). I’m also trying to better remember or more accurately track whether specific locations suck more for specific rental agencies. Anything else you guys think I should add?

BaconSandwich is tasty. > smobgirl 12/31/2019 at 13:26

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Funny that a minivan would be a "surplus" vehicle. My brother got a rental, and was supposed to be a minivan. They didn't have a minivan, so they gave him a Durango. He hated it. Less interior space and worse fuel economy.

Future next gen S2000 owner > smobgirl 12/31/2019 at 13:29

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That’s a lot of travel if you are getting into 35 cars a year.

smobgirl > BaconSandwich is tasty. 12/31/2019 at 13:30

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It depends heavily on the time of year and location, I think. Kids out of school and I’m in a vacation area? I’m going to get upgraded to a pick up. Minneapolis at the end of January? They’re still going to be trying to charge $150/day for minivans and no one will be reserving them.

But I want better proof, hence the tracking :)

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > smobgirl 12/31/2019 at 13:33

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If I don’t have to drive a lot I try to get the worst car on the lot just to keep things interesting. This year my highlight was a Mitsubishi something or other. It was so bad all I could do was just wonder when Mitsubishi is going under. The nissan altima was surprisingly nice!

smobgirl > Future next gen S2000 owner 12/31/2019 at 13:35

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If you consider I drove my own car a few times plus had one of those rentals for 10 days straight it’s even worse! But yeah, my job is almost all travel. 

smobgirl > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 12/31/2019 at 13:38

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Yeah, I’ll definitely take some potentially awful cars for the experience! But dear lord I will do anything to avoid a Sentra or Versa.

You’ve inadvertently suggested another column for me though - how many miles I put in the cars. I want to keep track of whether I had enough time to really form an opinion.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > smobgirl 12/31/2019 at 13:41

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My opinion of cars is either quick to arrive or hard to make . I really liked the Nissan Rogue and knew I liked it right from the start. Other cars like the VW Jetta I thought I liked but the more I drove it the less I liked it. V6 mustang, liked it from start to finish same with the dodge challenger. 

smobgirl > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 12/31/2019 at 13:50

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There are cars that seem tolerable to me at first, but two hours down the road I’m squirming because my back hurts or my butt is asleep and I have 7 hours left to drive. Those are the ones I really want to remember not to get again!

TheRealBicycleBuck > smobgirl 12/31/2019 at 14:10

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0-60 time. :)

I don’t get to experience as many cars as you do since I’m really on a month-to-month and drive them until they need an oil change. I might have you beat on number of days, though. I wrapped up this year with 11 rentals and 313 rental days!

With the way our contract works, my company pays for a mid-size, but they let me take whatever I want that isn’t a luxury rental. The Audi was an exception since it was a free rental during my vacation.

I think the most notable things for me in my rentals is how they differ from each other. For example, the Audi I had came with a panoramic roof (neat in the winter, sucks in the summer), but it didn’t have ease-of-entry (seat slides back, etc.) like the Ford Edge I had previously. It would be interesting to note the differences between your rentals that are in the same class and what features you really get when you’re given a free upgrade.

smobgirl > TheRealBicycleBuck 12/31/2019 at 14:23

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You’ve definitely got me beat on days!

And really good point there. I’ve definitely had “rental class” upgrades that turn out to be rental spec cars so they’re missing pretty key features. Then yesterday I ended up with a totally maxed out Impala (but who needs seat heaters in Miami?).

(You just made me think of another category - state the car is registered in versus where I’m driving it. Cars that were long distance  one-way rentals in their past usually seem to be the shittiest, highest mileage cars and I want to verify if that’s true)

Poor_Sh > smobgirl 12/31/2019 at 14:31

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Nonworking windows? So they're opaque? 

smobgirl > Poor_Sh 12/31/2019 at 14:34

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Hah. Non ventilating windows would’ve been a better description. Only the driver window moved.

TheRealBicycleBuck > smobgirl 12/31/2019 at 14:34

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The state registry is an excellent idea! One of my rentals had Alabama plates and I was worried that something might happen to it since the LSU/Alabama game was at the same time. Nothing happened to the car, but I did have a couple of less-than-desirable interactions with local boneheads with LSU stickers on their cars.

I can’t remember which cars had out-of-state plates. Most were either Louisiana or Texas, but I did have one car that made it here from New York.

Poor_Sh > smobgirl 12/31/2019 at 14:58

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Damn I would have liked to believe enterprise is just like, "sorry bro clear windows are an upgrade option" lol

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > smobgirl 12/31/2019 at 15:00

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Do you get to build up points for something interesting on vacation? 

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > smobgirl 12/31/2019 at 15:41

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What class you reserved vs what you got would be an interesting data point. Last time I reserved a car I think it was a midsize for $13/day and got a top of the line Tahoe.

fintail > smobgirl 12/31/2019 at 16:13

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Something else I’d track is spec - base vs loaded. In my experience, US rental car fleets are quite miserly on options compared to what one can experience in Europe.

That’s a crap-ton of rentals, I hope you get the points for yourself.

Do you ever read the Flyertalk rental forums? Sometimes some interesting info there. Mietwagen-talk.de also has a lot of data, but of course is primarily German language.

I can really fixate on the minutiae of rental cars, but I only rent a few times a year at most.  My latest rental, in September via Sixt, had me reserving an XT5/GLC or similar, I ended up in an Escalade as they didn’t have my booked class.  As it was a road trip, I was pleased.  

smobgirl > TheRealBicycleBuck 12/31/2019 at 17:34

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I had a Br itish Columbia rental in Seattle, which makes perfect sense except everything was kilometers and not miles. I noticed when I got on the highway and was like how am I going A HUNDRED?!?...oh. 

smobgirl > Poor_Sh 12/31/2019 at 17:35

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That’s Payless 

smobgirl > fintail 12/31/2019 at 17:47

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I’m sort of curious about this too. I wish it was easier to tell what’s a legit base model and what’s even more miserly because it’s fleet sales. And then there are big differences based on make - like at Enterprise, Japanese rental cars tend to be really stingy on options but American tend to be nicer equipped; but then Thrifty cars are pretty much all lower end. So I may end up with such diverse data that it’s harder to see a trend.

I’ll check out Flyertalk. I haven’t really studied what I’m doing right or wrong here. Just had good experiences with my primary company after a couple damaged vehicles so I just go with who I know!

smobgirl > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 12/31/2019 at 17:51

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Yeah, I had an economy booked in Bozeman MT and got a Suburban. Turns out they don’t keep economy cars there over the winter (smarter than I expected).

I’d like to track that myself but it’s hard to know what class they consider some vehicles when their descriptions can be so skewed from real life. I think reservation class versus  make/model received are definitely worth recording though.

smobgirl > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 12/31/2019 at 17:53

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Yes! I actually get to keep all car, hotel, and airline perks. I tend to book cheaper options so they don’t add up quickly but they’re all mine.

fintail > smobgirl 12/31/2019 at 18:41

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That’s a good point - domestics tend to be better equipped. I’ve had a pretty loaded Grand Cherokee from Hertz, an almost completely loaded Impala from National, but at the same time, had an absolute zero option 300 from Hertz. I also had a Challenger Scat Pack from Hertz, not sure how optioned it really was, but the engine overshadows a lot.

The MBs and BMWs I have rented from Sixt in the US have also been relatively sparsely equipped, and the Evoque they wanted to give me before I got the Escalade also appeared basic. However, that   barge was a nicely equipped ESV. I’ve only had one Japanese brand rental I recall, an Armada from Hertz, I think it was middle spec.

I’ve had fairly loaded Audis and BMWs from Sixt in Germany, not to mention the F-Type S roadster for my last rental there. I’ve also seen some pretty fantastic cars in the fleet there - endless M and AMG cars, V12 cars, i8s, Porsches, etc.

TheRealBicycleBuck > smobgirl 12/31/2019 at 20:16

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I accidentally switched the units  on one of my rentals. Mighty confusing!