Hertz Rent a Car Is an Easy Place to Rent Cars Online
Written: Feb 05 '06
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Hertz is a car rental company, which just about everyone has probably heard about. They advertise having 3,100 locations in the United States, and over 4,600 locations listed internationally. That is quite a high number of facilities that Hertz has rental possibilities from. They offer automobile rentals on daily, weekly, or monthly contracts, and have become a place where many travelers rent their cars from. They moved to the Internet back in 1997, offering the chance for people to rent cars from home, and then pick them up in person. It seems like such a good idea, that if people are going to be flying into a different city, that they could have a car already ready for them. Going online makes it so that you have your car in front of you, you know how much you will be paying, and you have a certain guarantee that you will be getting the car when you fly in. Its intent is to remove some of the stressors related with traveling, and it is a way for Hertz to put a little more cash in their pocket by being available from multiple locations.
The Hertz Web-Site Itself:
Coming on to the Hertz web-site for the first time (www.hertz.com), you are going to be offered the chance to login as a member, or to get a quote based on a reservation time. There is a menu on the front page that lets you choose from everything that is accessible on the site, and lets you get where you want to go quickly. You can choose from Rates and Reservations, Special Offers, Locations, Weather, and several other company relate informational links. At the center of the front page, it gives you the chance to find a car quickly, and also what the rate for that car is going to be. There is a quick list of things that you have to decide upon, and this is one of the places where I ended up having problems with the site. If you want to search for what cars a specific rental location has, or how much they are charging for the cars on their lot, you are almost going to have to lie on the first screen, or know every bit of information about your trip.
To explain better, you must enter the renting city or airport code, the time and date (exactly) that you plan on picking up the car, as well as when you will be returning it, what your arrival information is, and whether or not you have a discount that you plan on using. You must fill in all of the categories, and it will give you error messages if you try to leave any of the information open. For me, I am car-less at the moment, and was looking to rent a car for the weekend to drive around 150-160 miles round-trip. So, I came on to the site to find out how much it would cost, as well as what my options for rental were going to be. I didn't know whether it would be 1, 2, or 3 days, and I didn't know what time I would want to return it without having that information handy. So, of course I wanted to find out how much it would cost, and I was then going to base my decision on that total cost. This was not going to work, because the site only works under certain search parameters. So, when I couldn't get it to work through my own methods, I started feeding false information into it to see what it would come up with.
Using The "Quote It" Search Engines:
When you have entered in the information regarding date, time, and location, you are given the list of cars that are available during that specific time, and the cost for renting the specific car for one day. This does not include any of the taxes, fees, or insurance, so don't think that you are going to come away with that price just yet. A good point, is that you can see how many people the car will hold, and there are notations about the car being available during that weekend. If it is not, then it denotes that for you. I was looking for a smaller size car, because I only needed to get myself from Point A to Point B, and I really didn't need to do it in that much "style." Going with a Hyundai Accent for two days, at a rate of $45.98 per day, I pushed on through the engine. The daily rate includes unlimited miles for the duration, and it tells you what amenities you will have in the car.
There is of course the warning that you must be at least 25 years of age to order (reserve) a car, and they ask for your first name, last name, and e-mail address to mark your reservation. The bottom of the page gives you an invoice that tells what charges are going to figure into your total cost: Tax , Airport concession fee recovery, and Car rental cost. The tax runs at 13.6% and for the airport fee it cost $7.00 for the Pullman-Moscow airport. Their first total came to $112.42, but that doesn't include any insurance options that you will want to put on the car. The liability insurance supplement is $10.95 per day, the loss damage waiver is $21.99 per day, and finally the personal effects coverage costs $4.95 per day from Hertz. Confirming the reservation doesn't require anything further, but they do give you a number (888-777-5885) that you can call if you want to just make sure that everything is in order. Verification of your reservation is sent to the e-mail you have denoted though, so at this point you should be good to go with your reservation.
Final Thoughts on the Hertz Rent A Car Web-site:
Now regarding Hertz as a company, I am not the biggest fan of the company. I think they are a little on the expensive side, and that their options for rental cars are somewhat limited at times. However, this is a review of what their web-site is all about, and how easy it is to find what you are looking for there, so I will leave my opinion of the company out of my final recommendation. I pointed out earlier that I was a little put-off by the main search engine, in the fact that you need a lot of specific information in order to come away with anything from the site. The site is also slow at times when it is loading up the information that you are looking for. Regarding the positive aspects of the site, I have to admit that they really have a lot going for them here. They do break down the costs that you are paying, so it doesn't seem like they are trying to put one over on you. Also, with all of the cars, you are presented with the options that they have (like AC, CD Player etc.) and you are shown a picture of the type of rental you are looking at. So, you can go through the list and click on a lot of different selections until you find what you are looking for. It is easy to set a reservation, and they do get back to you quickly to confirm that this is what you are going for. Phone numbers are easy to find on the site, and they give you the specific address and information about where you will be picking up the car. When you look at all of those specifics, you find that the web experience can be quite easy, and save you a lot of hardships if you know what you are looking for. The thing that I must point out, is that you really need to know ahead of time exact times that you want to get the car for if you want the experience to be complete stress free. If you are planning on reserving a rental from Hertz on a long trip, I do suggest going to the web-site and giving this great option of online reservations a try.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? rental cars in Pullman, Washington
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About the Author
Member: Ryan
Location: Somewhere near the land of the lost
Reviews written: 1752
Trusted by: 616 members
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