Enterprise Rent a Car: Inexpensive and Smooth, but not Without its Flaws
Written: Apr 07 '05
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Car renting is often an essential part of travel. We fly into an airport and, rather than pay for a taxi, we sometimes choose to borrow a vehicle from one of the many rental services found at most every airport. One relatively inexpensive car rental service is Enterprise, and its on- line service, Enterprise.com, allows travelers to reserve a vehicle ahead of time to minimize wait time and to ensure that the vehicles do not sell out.
What Does This Service Offer?:
Enterprise on- line offers the following services:
Rent a Car- This is the main reason people use this on- line site. Here, you can select the size of vehicle you desire and the dates of pickup and drop off for the different Enterprise rental locations.
Buy a Car- Most are probably unaware of this, but the on- line web site for Enterprise also offers previously rented vehicles for sale. You enter your desired make, model (or default to all) and your zip code and the web site will show you a list of vehicles for sale, indicating the asking price, mileage, location, and color. Other vehicle information is available by clicking on the name of the vehicle model.
Fleet Management- This is a business service offered by Enterprise. The company will help you purchase a large fleet of vehicles and obtain a better price that your company would normally get by purchasing in bulk.
Payment Methods/Shipping Charges:
Enterprise on- line accepts Visa, Master Card, Discover, American Express, Diner’s Club, and JCB credit cards to make a reservation. They will also accept debit cards, but only at the regional rental office. You have to use a major credit card to make the reservation, but once you get to the actual store to complete the transaction and pick up your car, you can then use a debit card for payment.
Customer Service:
Assistance with your rental can be obtained by calling 800-261-7331. If you prefer using the on- line site, you can get help by consulting the frequently asked questions part of the site. You can also lookup a phone number for your regional rental offices, via the web site, and send a question and wait for an e-mail response.
Final Thoughts:
Enterprise on- line provides a quick and simple way to confirm the rental of a vehicle for any of Enterprise’s more than 5,000 locations in the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Germany. In a very short time, you can have your rental confirmed, removing one of the many stressful components of traveling.
The web site is designed efficiently, and it’s very easy to use. By entering a city and state (or zip code, or airport code), then selecting desired dates and vehicles, along with indicating your date range, you can quickly see a listing of branch offices available to rent from. Then, by selecting an office, you can see a listing of vehicles for rent, along with prices for comparison shopping. Prices show the base cost, plus the final cost once taxes are factored in.
To complete the transaction, at the very least, you need to enter your name, e-mail address, credit card number, and telephone. At this point, you can click one more time and finish off the reservation. Or, if you like, you can enter the remaining personal info, like your address, driver’s license number, etc. I recommend doing this second step (entering personal info) on- line because it will save time when you get to the office to pick up your vehicle. If you don’t provide this info on- line, you will have to complete it at the office. I think it’s best to get this out of the way as soon as possible.
I like the ease of use that Enterprise provides in the on- line site and I think it’s nice to get this task completed before you arrive at a destination, just to make sure the vehicles are not sold out. But I do have a few bones to pick with this on- line service. First of all, there are some instances where the on- line site didn’t have the pricing information available on specific classes of vehicles in specific locations. When this happens, you have no choice but to call the customer support line to make your reservation. This is frustrating, because part of the reason you use the internet for this type of task is to avoid calling or making a reservation in person. You want the ease of transacting that the internet provides.
Another problem I have had with the on- line service is that the prices I have been quoted have sometimes proven to be misleading when I arrived to pick up the car. Sometimes, the price I was quoted was too low and I ended up paying a few dollars more than I thought I would. Arguing with the customer service people at the office didn’t help much. They simply told me the price was only meant as a “loose guideline to follow”. A friend of mine once had a similar experience, making a one- way rental using the on- line site only to discover later that the price was misquoted on- line: about $20 less than it turned out to be. These errors on the part of Enterprise are frustrating. I want to know exactly what I’m going to pay when I make the transaction on- line. I don’t want any surprises. I admit that most transactions have gone smoothly for me when I have used the on- line site. But I can still remember those that didn’t and I cannot understand why Enterprise would allow this to happen.
Still, in spite of these few problems, I like the idea of on- line vehicle reservations. It is very easy to complete a transaction (no need to setup a personal account profile first) and it makes it easy to compare prices for different classes of vehicles. I have had problems in the past, but I am still satisfied overall with this web service. It could stand to make a few improvements, but it makes car renting very fast and simple, guaranteeing that a vehicle will be there, waiting for you, when you arrive at your destination.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Compact car
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About the Author
Member: Bryan Carey
Location: Houston, TX
Reviews written: 3611
Trusted by: 1569 members
About Me: Beer Drinker and Libertarian Political Activist. Great Combination, eh?
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