I have only been charged for fuel once, myself, thanks to the TSA closing down one of the two entrances to Rental Car Return at SEA during an Orange Alert two years ago, and I had to tool around in a Town Car. Ended up burning about an eighth of a tank, and they charged me that when I finally got the car to the return station. At the time I'm not even sure I was a 5 Star.

 

I have been told by CS that, while Hertz in the US considers the Cavalier to be a compact now, in Canada it is still considered a midsize (it even lists it as the example on the Canadian website.) They have no idea why this is the case, but it is corporate policy.

 

See, and that's exactly my point to begin with. I hope to NEVER EVER rent a cavalier even on a compact rate, not to even mention reserving and getting it as a mid-size car with such a premium agency as Hertz. I have yet to really rent from hertz (most of my previous experience has been with Avis preferred and National's Emerald Aisle), so I'm hoping it will be a great first experience as a Hertz Gold.

 

I got a colorla as a midsize car too...it was better than the malibu they tried to stick me with, but still, it's pretty small

Hertz used to be my favorite, but now they're getting cheap - as a 5 star member I would expect an upgrade when there are 50 cars sitting in the hertz #1 area and only 2 names up on the board

I used to get SUVs and foreign makes of higher classes all the time, but no more

 

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but I rented a Midsize with NL at SFO, and got a Corolla last night. I didn't realize just how much it sucked until after I got on the road and tried to accelerate, and by that point I was too tired to take it back.

The base model Mazda 3 (which Hertz considers "compact") has 148hp and many more features than the "midsize" 130HP Corolla CE I am stuck with.

If i wanted to exchange it for something else (say, a Mazda 6), how would I go about doing that? I tried calling Hertz SFO just now, and got kicked to central res, who referred me to "rental changes/extensions". They just left me on hold for 10 minutes before I gave up.

Is there any easier way? Can I just roll back to SFO this evening and demand a swap? Or do I have to call and get it approved first? Or am I just SOL and I'm stuck with this POS for the rest of the week? I'm #1 Gold, FWIW.

Thanks for the help!

 

Just roll back and make your desperation cries.

 

I would just bring the car back and tell them there is a problem with the car...ask for a Mazda6...I book by model now, instead of class to avoid those problems. The Mazda6 is way better than the Corolla, IMHO.

 

I just went back to SFO and I asked for a 6, but they did not have any with Neverlost, so they gave me an Altima. MUCH, MUCH better!

I don't know how Hertz can even say that a 130HP 1.8L $14000 car is the same class as a 175HP 2.5L $20000 car! The Corolla didn't even have keyless entry!

 

I rented a mid-size and was offered a Corolla, Chevy Classic or a Kia Optima(not sure abt the kia). I asked for a mazda 6, and she went searching and found me one. Nice car except that the steering pulled towards one side.

 

Interesting thread. I'm new to reading the Hertz forum here, but I thought I would check it out since more car rentals are in my future. I used to drive my own car for my out of town business at work, but a couple of changes of policy recently have driven me to renting instead.

Back to the topic at hand, when I was deciding on where to rent last week, I noticed that some companies were indeed listing cars like the Cavalier as a "midsize". I noted that with interest, because a midsize to me was always larger. There certainly has been some size "deflation" in rentals over the years, but to see a car like a Dodge Stratus considered a "standard" just didn't make sense. The one time I actually spec'd a standard for rent several years ago it was the notably larer Dodge Intrepid that we got. And in the listing it seemed that most companies at least at PIT still used that larger sized car as standard.

So my guess is that it isn't uniform. Hertz for PIT says Mazda 6 or similar for midsize, and when I picked up my rental Sunday night reserved for midsize I got a Hyundai Sonata. (Not bad, but I think I'd rather have the 6 and will try for it next time.) There was a Camry returned behind me today; not sure what they consider that one. When I picked up the car I had to walk down the row a ways (no Gold for me, at least not yet), and I was rather surprised at the large variety of cars there. I guess the days are gone when there are so many of the same ones? I saw an Infiniti G35 4-door. What class do I need to get that one?

 

Discovered this thread after checking my upcoming reservation in Hawaii in a couple of weeks. Have a confirmed mid-size reservation showing Mazda 626 or similar, but now the web site shows the mid-sizes to be Classics or Corollas. (Ain't no way the latter is a mid-size.) The 626 doesn't even show up anywhere. Do you think I can get them to honor something better than a Classic/Corolla?

 

Same thing for my upcoming Intermediate / Mid-size reservation, and I would *much* prefer a Mazda 6 or Altima to either of those, especially the Classic!

They also seem to have changed the Standard / Sporty 2-Door class from "Mustang or Similar" to "Grand Am or Alero or similar." Neither the Grand Am nor the Alero are even produced anymore, so I'm not sure why they'd be listed, unless Hertz bought up a huge lot of them at the end of the run.

 

This past weekend at DTW, on a compact booking, I received a Grand Prix. I believe that's in the midsize or standard category - definitely significantly smaller than a Taurus but a smidge bigger than the old Grand Am. Not as big as the older Grand Prix, which was borderline full-size.

It was kind of tricked out - sunroof, leather trim. Sorta sporty. I'm not a huge fan of GM cars, but for a rental car it wasn't bad at all.

 

The Grand Prix is a YF - Specialty Full-Size.

While I agree it's a tricked-out ride, that darn roofline is so low I about snap my back getting in and out of the driver or passenger seat, and you need the front seats so steeply reclined for headroom that the rear seat pax think they are in Economy.

I much prefer the Impala LS. Same engine, same leather, sunroof, and audio, and a lot more headroom / legroom in front and back.

 

If the locations you're renting from allow you to reserve a specific model then you can choose the Mazda 6. This is supposed to be guaranteed, so you can avoid the Corrolla/Classic. Usually it's the same rate, but recently when booking a car for SEA I couldn't use a coupon for a Mazda 6, only for a mid-size.

And I agree on the Corrolla; I once sat around for 15 minutes waiting for a Mazda when I found a Corrolla in my slot.