Avis's web site is fast, clear, easy to use, even for international reservations
Written: Jul 24 '04 (Updated Aug 14 '04)
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I rarely need to rent a car, especially when I travel outside the USA, but due to special circumstances, I needed to pick up a car at the main train station in Rome, Italy and drop it off a week later at the Pisa Airport.
At first it was difficult to even identify rental car companies that could accomodate this itinerary. I couldn't get travel web sites like Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz to even deal with one way rentals outside the US. At least one went through the motions of handling my requests, but when it came right down to it, it always ended up on an error page saying something like “no cars available for your itinerary.”
I finally realized that, to have any hope at all of making a reservation, I would have to go directly to the rental company web sites. After checking Hertz, Avis, Thrifty, and Eurocar, I found that Avis offered the lowest rate, so I booked with them.
Making the Reservation Online
The Avis web site at www.avis.com was very easy to navigate, even for my international one way rental. There's a pop-up menu for selecting the country and a check box to indicate a one-way rental. Furthermore, you can limit the search to just airports or take a look at all locations -- including train stations, hotels and other in-town offices -- which is what I needed.
The web site clearly identified and located the available pick up and drop off points in Rome and Pisa, offered a variety of vehicles on which the options for air conditioning, manual/automatic transmission, number of passsengers and bags, etc. were clearly identified.
It quoted an approximate final price, but listed some possible additions that might not be included in that price. As it turned out, our actual final price was within $2 of the quote.
Caution: For rental locations in Europe, Avis may quote some prices in dollars and others in euros, so be careful when you make price comparisons for different types of cars. To help out, the quotation page has a built-in currency converter.
The web confirmation clearly summarized all relevant information for the reservation including the addresses and phone numbers of the pick up and drop off locations. One slight glitch: Avis also sent an email confirmation, but the information for the drop off location was a bit confused (somehow it was mixed up with the pick up location info). A call to Avis confirmed the correct information.
The web site made it easy to change the reservation online through quick access using my last name and the reservation confirmation number. Each change in the reservation brought a new email confirmation.
More Advanced Site Features
I did all of the above using only the "non-member" mode of the web site. You can get a higher level of convenience by becoming a "My Avis" member. This allows you to enter pertinent information -- name, credit card, car preferences, etc. -- once and to keep track of all your itineraries in one place without having to remember and enter confirmation numbers.
This mode also allows you to enter your membership numbers for various affinity programs such as AAmerican Airlines AAdvantage and others.
Avis offers higher levels of "membership" with various benefits that I did not explore.
The Actual Trip
For more information on our experience picking up, driving and returning the car, see Avis in Italy.
Aftermath
The amount finally billed to my credit card was within $2 of the original online estimate, but the billing was a bit mysterious. I never received a detailed billing statement from Avis, and I wasn't able to access one online using the original confirmation number. Furthermore, even though I paid for the car by credit card in Italy, the transaction did not appear as a foreign transaction on my credit card bill. Neither of these is a big deal--just a little strange.
Since I had given Avis my American Airlines AAdvantage number, they credited me with 50 miles per day, which appeared on my next AAdvantage statement.
Overall, the interaction with Avis was very smooth, and the glitches fairly minor. I think I might have gotten a slightly lower price if I had shopped more, but I felt I got a fair deal, especially considering what I had heard beforehand about the high cost of renting cars in Europe. The convenience of picking up and dropping off exactly where I wanted to was a major plus.
Most important, the web site was easy to use and very fast.
Related Links
Looking for ways to save money while traveling in Europe? Check out:
-- Your credit card probably adds 3% to every foreign transaction. This one doesn't.
-- Your Europe Trip: Dealing With Travel Money, Currency Exchange, and Tourist Rip-offs
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jsquarejj
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Member: Jim J
Location: Santa Cruz, California
Reviews written: 190
Trusted by: 78 members
About Me:
#7 in Personal Finance, #14 in Travel. My goal? Saving you money.
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