No issues with National - biz or personal rentals (Company has a corp rate/partnership with them. And Hertz. Much better than Hertz)

Never had an issue with Avis.

Emerald Club member, no issues.

My director is here and her flight landed last night close to midnight. Nashville airport's car rentals close at 11:00 PM. She had a confirmed Budget reservation so she called to say her flight arrived after 11:00 PM so she had to pick up the car in the morning. The guy told her that no cars were available in the morning. What - did the car spontaneously combust at midnight? She only rents cars probably 48 out of 50 weeks of the year from Budget.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

I've rented a few times in the past. Personally haven't had any issues, but I've read of there being a fair number of problems with supply.

I last rented from Avis (I think) and apart from the car smelling like wet dog the process was fine.

Last June I rented a Tacoma from Budget (again, I think) and was pleasantly surprised.

My company has a corporate account with National (Emerald Club) and I use that for work and personal use several times per year. I've never had any problems with them. Skipping the counter and just picking any car they have is pretty nice and makes the process much simpler.

Haven't had any drama with Avis, Budget, and Enterprise over the last couple of years. I imagine it's very location dependent though. Have also used Turo twice and it was ok as well.

Emerald Club is so nice. The rental car checkout counter is a relic of the previous era that needs to go away.

Locally we only have Enterprise so that’s our corporate account. Other than that, I use Hertz. I’ve never had an issue with Enterprise any where but Denver, it seems they never have cars. If you get into Midway late you’re screwed at Hertz.

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TEAM HD
Each day is what you make of it so make it the best day possible.

My recommendation is to avoid Hertz. They’ve jerked me around too many times

Corporate account gets me Emerald club access and use National as much as possible. No issues with them or any other brands in the circle.

Looks like feedback on National is most favorable...

Additional info... National, Enterprise, Alamo are owned by same the parent company. Likewise for Avis and Budget. And Hertz is Hertz.

Perhaps related to Hertz's struggles are more than a few reports of customers getting arrested for car theft! Sounds like if a reservation is modified their systems' do a poor job of updating things so a return is not correctly logged. A 'stolen car' notice is triggered and the police track down the renter and arrest them. Despite having receipts etc. folks' have said it's can be quite the hassle to resolve.

Same. I’ve really not had an issue with National’s Emerald Club. The only time I had a problem was when the previous renter obviously smoked in the car and it fucking reeked… despite like five stickers on and in the car stating you can’t smoke in the vehicle. The car was super clean so National did their best to clean it up but it still smelled like an ashtray.

For my “troubles” they gave me an Infiniti QX80 for the week. I was good with that. 😁👍

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Another + for National and Emerald Club. No issues and just grabbing a car a scooting is great.

I"ll throw a plug out for Avis. Get a decent discount through my insurance company so I've always used them, haven't had any issues aside from the normal upsell shit they all try at the counter.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

None of them are great. But Hertz/Budget are bad even by rental car standards. With Hertz, I had issues with availability - ie, make reservation show up and they don't have any cars - didn't really happen with Avis/National whom I normally rent with.

And last rental I had with Budget, I returned car to attendant who checked me out and gave me receipt. A month later, I get a letter from their internal collections agency claiming I had abandoned the car in the lot with front end damage of $4K. Even after showing them the receipt of checkout which showed a discrepancy of an additional 3 miles after I returned it, they kept pursuing and trying to get me to settle for half "as a courtesy to me". Finally I gave them my lawyer's information and told them to communicate with him. They immediately dropped the claim.

I've never had any issues with Avis or National. Both domestic or international. Not sure what issues with Hertz are, but the bankruptcy didn't really help their already low standards.

^^This. Been an Emerald Club member for 14 years.

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All I Wanted Was A Pepsi, Just One Pepsi

Team Zoot, Team Zoot Mid-Atlantic

I like SIXT, if they are at the airports you are flying into.

Hertz has gone badly downhill since the PE firm bought them, not the Hertz I used for many many years. It's like one of those old Italian bike brands how being slapped on some far east crap bikes.

Avis/National still pretty good. Budget is almost always bad, not sure what the deal is with their reservation system or pricing strategy, they are always slow at the counter and reservations are never guaranteed.

Rented a car for personal vacation, first time ever. Several friends said get national emerald isle you wont regret it. I am Cheap as most on this forum know but said okay... landed walked past long lines at counter, did have to wait a few for a car with several others as they were turning them over as fast as they could get them in. a couple a minivans and jeep gladiators rolled in they said anyone who wants these, then a I was and as I was walking over a Nissan Sentra pulled was pulling in, said hey can I wait for that they said sure attendant parked it as we walked up he got out of car handed me the keys we loaded drove to the gate, showed her my license and we were on our way. Return drove into the return area, parked, attendant looked it over said your good. and we left.

Will definitely use them again

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

Pretty happy with National. I rent enough that I am Executive, and can pick almost any car on the lot. I will usually look for something with low miles and Apple car play. Most of my recent rentals have been less than 5,000 miles and pretty nice cars (Mini Countryman, Audi A5 and Q3, Chrysler Pacifica).

I used to be an Avis guy, then they gave me 3 bad cars in a row. Then I went to Budget and it wasn’t too bad. Never used Hertz as they are expensive.

drn92

I'll echo the others.

I started with Hertz way back in the day (2006 - 2008ish), tried to offer a friendly suggestion to customer service, they proceeded to talk down to me without understanding the situation (again, this was from customer service).
Moved over to Avis, and it wasn't too bad at first. Their motto was (no idea if it still is): "We try harder", which I now think of as: "We try harder to piss you off." This was while I even had status.
Jumped to National, night and day better than everyone else. I've been at the top of status and no status with them, I won't even shop rates with anyone else.

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There are three kinds of people, those who can count, and those who can't.

Additional comment re: National. From customer experience, when stuff doesn't go well, they made it right.

Late night last winter I hit a pothole hard in an Audi A3 (Exec Elite status choice). I knew the tire was flat almost immediately. Pulled over, checked, and called their roadside assistance #. Because the spare is a donut and I was 100+ miles away from where it was due back they said I should return it instead to the nearest location (closest airport) and swap cars rather than drive the full distance on the donut. They'd let the location know to expect and prepare a swap. Roadside assistance would come and deal with the tire.

That's the part that wasn't great. They couldn't find an available repair truck, but they texted regular updates that they're still trying. After 40mins of waiting I decided I'll deal with the cold and dark and do it myself. Wife helped w/the cell phone flashlight. Got the spare on and headed to the nearest airport, keeping it under 60mph in the right lane got passed by everyone and everything. We swapped the smallish A3 some huuuuge Cadillac SUV that drove like a boat. Returned that at the end of the rental a couple of days later.

On the final bill, I noticed they added a charge for tire repair. Not cool. Spoke to a manager about the roadside service delay and the hassle of having to change spare myself. Asked them to remove the tire repair charges. Not only did they agree, but they comp'd the whole weekend rental - no charges at all. No complaints and better than what I expected.

*Realized that National has mostly (only?) airport locations, which can be inconvenient. Their sister company, Enterprise, has more locally convenient locations. And a proper selection of exotics, if that's your thing.

bump on this thread....

Just used the National app to arrange a rental.

There's an option to select, "Left foot accelerator" . . . What could possibly go wrong?