I rented a car from Hertz for a week recently; and I thought I had scored a good deal with the total cost of $98.06 — which comes out to approximately $14.00 per day, which included all taxes and fees.
Did Hertz AutoSlash Me?
Before I continue relating my experience — as I first reported in this article on Saturday, June 5, 2010 — AutoSlash was founded eight years ago by three members of FlyerTalk to help customers secure the lowest rates on car rentals by searching multiple vendors, tracking rental rates, and applying coupons and discounts in a process which it has virtually automated; and it has saved countless people thousands of dollars in rental car rates since its launch.
Anyway, Back to My Experience…
When I checked up on my rental twenty days after reserving the car, the cost of the same rental dropped to $93.76. Cool, I thought…
…so when I picked up the rental car nine days after that, I was greeted with a smile by one of the employees, who asked for my driver’s license immediately after I walked in — no waiting.
“Do you need my credit card as well?” I asked.
“Nope — got it all on file,” he replied.
“Yes — for $93.00 or something like that.”
“No, it’s not,” he replied.
A quizzically confused look appeared on my face. Did the rental rate increase, I wondered?
“We dropped the price to $91.05.”
He smiled as my eyebrows raised in astonishment; and I then nodded my head in approval.
After a cursory checkover of what turned out to be a fully-loaded blue Nissan Versa sedan with fewer than 600 miles in total clocked on it, he handed me the key to the car — and that was it.
Summary
Perhaps this happens more often to you or other people; but I have difficulty remembering the last time I rented a car and the total cost of the rental decreased automatically — twice, in this case.
The total cost of $91.05 comes out to approximately $13.00 per day, which again included all taxes and fees — and I earned Hertz Gold Plus points plus what I typically earn on the credit card which I used.
I guess the only negative part is that I received a scant fewer Hertz Gold Rewards Plus points for the rental due to the reduced cost — but hey, I will take that any day of the week…
…especially the week during which I rented that car, with which I had no significant problems or issues at all.
Photograph ©2018 by Brian Cohen.
