So it’s like “Hey I need a car, here’s my name”. Then they’re like “Ok, car reserved”. Except they didn’t take any money from me to reserve the car.

I mean if you reserved plane tickets that way, I’m pretty sure there would be a lot more problems with there not being a seat on the plane for you.

Given the how quickly the Rental Agencies turn over their fleets things should shift in the next 12-18 months.

For people who already own an SUV it is usually cheaper to just grit their teeth at the pump rather than get hosed on trade-in and acquisition costs for something smaller. The only exception would be if you had a longer (60mi+ round trip) commute.

A four-banger, stripped-down Ford Escape.

Maybe someone can explain this “upgrade” to me. Unfortunately, the sheer horror of this vehicle was not completely evident until about an hour into the drive, at which point going back for something else was out of the question. Worst road noise, wind noise, and handling of any late model vehicle I’ve driven in a decade.

Bonus: Worse fuel economy than the V6 Charger. Not that I was paying for it, but still. Coefficient of drag for the loss.

We had booked a car at Budget but well they didn’t name the company Budget for no reason…certainly we got Budget level customer service.

After spending an hour in line, the lady told us straight out that there were no more cars available … even the FULL SIZE one that we had booked.

so they said that we could either wait for a few hours for one of the expected cars to come in or hop into the Trailblazer right away.

Budget didn’t really have any tactics or anything. They basically didn’t have any freaking cars. You either get in an SUV or you GTFO.

Agent: I’m sorry, we have no mid-size available at the moment.

Jerry: I don’t understand, I made a reservation, do you have my reservation?

Agent: Yes, we do, unfortunately we ran out of cars.

Jerry: But the reservation keeps the car here. That’s why you have the reservation.

Agent: I know why we have reservations.

Jerry: I don’t think you do. If you did, I’d have a car. See, you know how to take the reservation, you just don’t know how to *hold* the reservation and that’s really the most important part of the reservation, the holding. Anybody can just take them.

Buick 61:
just curious, isn’t one of the points of owning something like a SRX the nice highway cruising environment it affords??

Sure. But we’ve had to make the trip several times this month, and it was getting hard to justify spending $130 for gas over the course of just two days all in the name of traveling in comfort and style.

P.S. Thalter, see above as to why reserving that subcompact is now guarantee that you will get it. You may arrive their and be faced witht he decision of taking a larger car or no car as they don’t have any Aveos left ont he lot (How wierd is that?). In Las Vegas, I got stuck with a Magnum at the pick-up location. As far as I knew when I left the rental counter to take the shuttle to the car lot, I was getting a compact.

The speculators will never know how fortunate they are that they did not deprive me of that trip.

But lately, they’ve been constantly asking if a wanted an SUV for my company’s standard car rate ($38 per day)!. I usually don’t get the things as they are a terrible drive, but if its between a Cherokee or a PT Loser…

Thankfully, the job pays for gas, too. It cost me $74 to fill up the Cherokee’s tank.

JUST this weekend my wife and I decided to save money on a 600 mile round trip by renting a sub-compact instead of taking our SRX. We were given a stripped Rio but ended up turning it in as I didn’t fit behind the wheel. We ended up with a PT Cruiser (the only other car they had), which, as most know, doesn’t offer much in the way of MPGs, but it was roomy and comfortable, and the fuel savings were enough to cover its $20/day cost. So the rental was basically free, and we saved miles and wear/tear on our car.

All in all, I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. Perhaps next time in an even more fuel-efficient car.