Personally, I hate:
- Over Priced Insurance
- Rip-off Airport Prices
- Sweaty Shuttle Bus
- Long Lines at Counter
- Poor UI/UX when booking
We're trying to fix this and want to hear HN's opinions.
Ask HN: What do you hate most about renting a car?
1–10 of 49 posts
Re: Ask HN: What do you hate most about renting a car?
#2Opaque pricing.
Re: Ask HN: What do you hate most about renting a car?
#3I rent from Hertz and Avis and Silvercar exclusively, and have elite status with each.
What I hate is when I get a car which is dirty, especially the side mirrors or glass in general (safety issue). I do not fucking want to have to wash the car when I get off a plane at 11pm to not have massive internal glare.
Insurance is only an issue for morons.
Counter lines are solved for elites.
Prices at Hertz and Avis are sometimes high, but not usually out of the realm of reasonableness for at least one of them.
Silvercar is the correct solution to all car rentals, but it's not in enough cities yet. Consistently "ok" prices (if a little high), great cars, great service. No need for anything other than this, IMO.
Re: Ask HN: What do you hate most about renting a car?
#4At most airports, the walk / shuttle / train / whatever, from my gate, to the rental car facility. The worst ones are the shuttle-bus rides when it's cold, raining, after midnight, and I get stuck standing on the sidewalk for 15 minutes waiting for the next $VENDOR shuttle-bus, while freezing my balls off. If you can walk (indoors) from the gate to the rental cars, that's not too bad, and if there's a train, the wait is usually indoors. But man, I freaking hate waiting for those goddamn shuttles at night, in the cold. Brrrrrrrr.....
Re: Ask HN: What do you hate most about renting a car?
#5Opaque pricing.
Like hotwire? As in not telling you which car company you're booking from? Or adding hidden costs after?
Can you elaborate?
Re: Ask HN: What do you hate most about renting a car?
#6I rent from Hertz and Avis and Silvercar exclusively, and have elite status with each. What I hate is when I get a car which is dirty, especially the side mirrors or glass in general (safety issue). I do not fucking want to have to wash the car when I get off a plane at 11pm to not have massive internal glare. Insurance is only an issue for morons. Counter lines are solved for elites. Prices at Hertz and Avis are som…
Ryan, thanks for your input!
I was under the impression Silvercar required you to take a shuttle there, is this not the case anymore? Or maybe not an issue for you?
Re: Ask HN: What do you hate most about renting a car?
#7At most airports, the walk / shuttle / train / whatever, from my gate, to the rental car facility. The worst ones are the shuttle-bus rides when it's cold, raining, after midnight, and I get stuck standing on the sidewalk for 15 minutes waiting for the next $VENDOR shuttle-bus, while freezing my balls off. If you can walk (indoors) from the gate to the rental cars, that's not too bad, and if there's a train, the wait…
To me that's really the only bad part. Everything else is pretty smooth these days. I usually don't even deal with any paperwork or tricky waiver situations any more.
Re: Ask HN: What do you hate most about renting a car?
#8Not being able to pick it up at any time.
Not being able to return it at any time.
Getting charged for a full two days when only renting for a day and an hour.
Reserving the vehicle online weeks before, then getting to the rental office and finding that the requested vehicle won't be available for an hour or more until it's returned by the previous renter or sent over from another rental office.
Getting a vehicle that's damaged in some way that isn't visible, like grinding in the tranny, which only becomes obvious after having started one's journey.
The fear involved with reporting problems like the aforementioned problem with the tranny, out of fear of being blamed for causing the pre-existing problem, and then getting charged for it.
Re: Ask HN: What do you hate most about renting a car?
#9At most airports, the walk / shuttle / train / whatever, from my gate, to the rental car facility. The worst ones are the shuttle-bus rides when it's cold, raining, after midnight, and I get stuck standing on the sidewalk for 15 minutes waiting for the next $VENDOR shuttle-bus, while freezing my balls off. If you can walk (indoors) from the gate to the rental cars, that's not too bad, and if there's a train, the wait…
This is a big issue for me as well. Even with something Silvercar; I still had to take a shuttle.
Re: Ask HN: What do you hate most about renting a car?
#10I rent from Hertz and Avis and Silvercar exclusively, and have elite status with each. What I hate is when I get a car which is dirty, especially the side mirrors or glass in general (safety issue). I do not fucking want to have to wash the car when I get off a plane at 11pm to not have massive internal glare. Insurance is only an issue for morons. Counter lines are solved for elites. Prices at Hertz and Avis are som…
Ryan, thanks for your input! I was under the impression Silvercar required you to take a shuttle there, is this not the case anymore? Or maybe not an issue for you?
Many airports have shuttles anyway. I'm not Hertz Platinum or anything, so I don't have someone usually bringing my car to me -- it's a shuttle ride to the rental place, which tends to be close.
SFO has the airtrain/car pez dispenser, but I never need to rent a car at SFO.