Take my van — please!
Question: I recently rented a car at the Seattle airport from Advantage Rent-A-Car. When I arrived at the counter, an agent told me they were out of cars before I could even give her my reservation number.
It turns out that a lot of customers had decided to keep their vehicles longer because it was a holiday weekend. But Advantage didn’t want me to leave empty-handed. It offered me a 15-passenger van at the same rate.
Unfortunately, with high gas prices and a long drive ahead of me, a van wasn’t going to work. I asked if there were any cars at another Advantage location near the airport that I might have instead . “Advantage doesn’t do that,†she snapped.
The agent told me I could check with other car rental companies at the airport. But each car rental counter had a long line of people waiting to be served. I asked her if she could check for me and her response was to turn to someone at the Budget counter next to her and say, “Hey, you guys got any cars?†They didn’t.
I ended up having to take the train to visit my family in Oregon. I’d like Advantage to reimburse me for my expenses. Can you help me?
– Kristen Dietz, Seattle
Answer: Advantage should have offered you a car — not a van.
Here is the standard industry practice: When a rental company runs out of vehicles (say, on a busy holiday weekend) then it should give you the next class of vehicle available at no extra charge. Not the next type of vehicle. If it doesn’t have any cars, it should offer to pay for one at another rental company.
You also didn’t get the level of customer service that you should have gotten from Advantage. I’m not sure the agent you dealt with was actually dismissive of your situation. Yes, she could have been more polite. But in reviewing your case with Advantage, and knowing what I know about holiday travel, I think she was probably just stressed out.
Your request for a car was reasonable. However, your request for a train ticket wasn’t. The Advantage rental contract makes no mention of paying for transportation under these circumstances. When Advantage didn’t offer you a car, you should have phoned the reservations number. Phone agents with major car rental companies can often provide you with a solution that its local representatives haven’t thought of. That might have included renting a car from a different Advantage location or from another company.
Here’s another tip: If you know you’re going to rent a car over a busy holiday weekend, pick up the car early. If you’re renting on a Friday, plan to arrive in the morning. Or better yet, take the car out on Thursday. You’re practically guaranteed to get the vehicle you requested.
I checked with Advantage, and initially its position was that it had lived up to the spirit of its reservation by offering you transportation (in your case, a 15-passenger van, which would have been driven by one person). “If we would not have had any vehicles, we would have looked at this differently,†said Advantage spokesman Monte Ramey.
But after some additional back-and-forth between you, Advantage and me, the company offered you either a free weekend rental or a $100 refund to make up for the trouble.