As I gaze out the window at about 45cm of snow, and see my car far in the distance, buried in at least 60cm....

How is your experience with Hertz in snow areas in terms of providing needed equipment? Last week I cleared off my car using an old Starbucks cup; today it is about -20C so that will not work.

Of course there is no snowbrush, no scraper, etc in the car. I have had this in winter in many heavy snow destinations in past, like DEN, COS, YEG, YYZ, etc. (I know, I should plan for this in advance and bring my own snow removal equipment)

Colleagues have experienced the same, and I was wondering if this was a trend or just bad luck on my part? If renting in December-March in a heavy snow location I would assume that a snowbrush at least would be standard?

 

If in snowy weather, either already or just a possibility for the week - i check the car before i leave the lot. And I make sure it has a snow brush, and windsheild washer fluid.

 

I rented an Expedition from Utica, NY a few Februarys ago in the middle of a typical snow storm; the agent handed me a brush and scraper along with the keys. I had no idea what they were for; it was the first time I had ever seen snow.

 

When I've rented from snowy places (and I live in one) I have always found a scraper in the glove box and the snowbrush either on the floor of the passenger front seat or in the trunk.

 

Last April I had a B-class reservation with Hertz. I was given a Hyundai Elantra, and when I asked if they had a Honda Civic available, I was told they did, but I couldn't have it because the Civic was a C-class. When I tried explaining that both cars are the exact same size and direct competitors, she still robotoically refused, even quipping "Well, maybe next time we'll have more cars."

I did get a snowbrush, didn't check for an extension cord as I was parking outside. But my big beef was the fact that the Elantra didn't have ABS. That made for a messy drive in the snowstorm we had the next morning.

My winter tip to those who are less comfortable driving in the winter is to book C or higher. The smallest car you'll get on a C is a Civic or Corolla, both of which now have ABS standard across the board.

 

Had a nasty experience last week, picked up my car from the lot, been lovingly cleared by the nice chaps from Hertz of snow, but it was still below 0 outside. It felt good they'd made the effort, so I started down the motorway...
needed to wipe my windows as they were getting dirty.... wipers on... dirty wipers, now I can't see out of window, lets have some spray.... SPray... SPRAY...SPRAY!!!...nooooooo SPRAY.....

They had basically filled up the windscreen cleaning water with something that would appear to be water - so it froze. Very dangerous to find that out on the motorway when I could barely see through my front window - I had to pull into a filling station and purchase some concentrate that worked below 0 and splash some over the window/put in the tank later that day. Wasn't too impressed, especially as the car had 37k miles on it - it wouldn't have been a problem if the wipers weren't so dirty (they made the window worse than not using)

This was in the UK, MAN airport to be exact.

For the UK in general I find Hertz is bad for the equipment, they don't provide snow clearing equipment or antifreeze - in a morning I just have to sit with the engine, fan and heated windows on for 5-10mins until it clears! Then again, we rarely get snow, we just sometimes have cold times, especially if you leave early in the morning before it has started to warm up.

 

Myk and I think alike. I check the car before leaving lot and if there is no brush/scraper I get one from the Gold desk before leaving. Never had a problem in getting on and always had an apology (and sometimes a discount coupon) for the inconvenience.

 

Thanks for the replies - it sounds like it may be my usual Hertz bad luck rather than a trend.

The car remains snowed in - I did venture outside but lasted only a few minutes. The doorman kindly offered to come dig me out and scrape it clean but with a strong windchill I didn't want to take him up on his kind offer.

Hopefully tomorrow will be slightly warmer, and I can dig it out then!

 

I know a great place you can vacation. I have always had great luck with having a scraper in the car when renting from Hertz.

 

-25C plus windchill today - I may need an icepick to get the car out.... No, this is definitely not Florida

 

I've had good luck with proper snow equipment setup for rentals at Hertz in Duluth, Minnesota. In fact one time I arrived for Christmas and had to ask what the plug was for hanging out of the hood. We are cold in IN but don't need to plug our cars (yet?).

 

Better than some of the folk from down south who think we Albertans all drive electric cars

 

HEY! I rented from YEG before and never had a plug in car. In fact, I had to abandon the car and let a colleague return it days later as I couldn't get it out of the snow (no brush/scraper again from Hertz)

The good news: the car has been rescued from under a mound of snow and ice which built up over the last week

The bad news: another storm expected tonight and I am to be on the road tomorrow....

 

If travelling to a snowy location I have always rented cars with a "snow package" which is either all weather tyres or snow tyres, ice scraper and a snow brush.

I am curious if during Winter in DEN, SLC and the like if any cars actually don't have either all weather tyres or snow tyres ??

The main gripe I have with Hertz is when driving to California ski resorts, is that you cannot book a "Snow package" out of LAX, LAS or SFO, and you're not allowed to fit chains to a Hertz rental. So I end up making a few reservations for various SUV's and then finding the one with snow tyres or all weather tyres and cancelling the the other bookings when I am there.

I was glad the Audi Q7 was the pick last time ^

exbayern: Where are you located at the moment that is getting all this snow ?

 

I keed, I keed.

Whereabouts are you right now? I'm heading to YYZ on Thursday and hoping I don't get whatever you've got...