Rental car shortages in Europe may spoil your summer plans

by Scott Carmichael on

How typical – the poor economy has forced rental car firms in Europe to scale back their operations, and to delay purchasing new vehicles. This was all fine and dandy during the low season, when their business was hurting, but now summer is on the way, they are in trouble.

European car rental firms are warning summer tourists that they need to reserve their desired vehicle as soon as possible, as they anticipate many large location running out of rentals.

The situation is apparently so messed up, that some European roadside assistance firms have started to transport second hand vehicles to countries where they expect their customers to break down. Normally, those customers would be told to rent a vehicle, but the expected shortage is going to ruin that plan.

So, if you are heading to Europe this summer, reserve as soon as possible, and if you can, call the rental location the day before you arrive to double check they will be able to honor your reservation. The last thing you want is to show up at the airport with all your bags, and not have any way to get to your hotel.

Stand your ground on hybrid car rentals

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Hybrid cars aren’t as hard to rent as you may think. Enterprise, the largest rental car agency in the United States, has 7,000 in its fleet. Sure, it’s only 1 percent of all the wheels they make available, but it’s a hell of a start. If you want to put yourself in the driver’s seat on your next trip, plan ahead.

First, you have to do some hunting. Cruise the rental car agency websites for green listings. Or, you can head over to Kayak, which has the largest listing of hybrid cars on the web. Don’t give up. Remember, you’re looking for 1 percent of the rental cars out there (maybe less).

Next, be ready to get tough. If you get to the counter and are told that there aren’t any more in stock, you have options. Ask for another vehicle – temporarily – until the next hybrid comes in. Get specific: demand a date. Make it clear that you won’t back down. If the desk agent won’t be able to deliver the hybrid you reserved, make sure you’re given a coupon for a future rental or some other form of compensation. Most of the rental car agencies make promises. It’s your job, unfortunately, to hold them accountable.

Finally, screw the rental car agencies. You have options! Head over to the local Toyota dealership. You can rent a hybrid starting at $50 a day, and you may actually get better service (such as free shuttle service from the airport).

Advantage Rent A Car is the next victim of the crappy economy

by Scott Carmichael on

The doom and gloom stories about our economy going down the toilet are starting to depress me.

The news from Advantage Rent A Car is no different – not only have people stopped buying cars, they obviously no longer rent them either.

The chain has 49 stores in the United States, and well over 100 overseas but the decline in rentals and the lack of available credit has forced them into Chapter 11.

The press release does not mention what the fate is of their international locations, but the Advantage.com website won’t let you reserve a car at any of their locations.

Customers with a rental car reservation will be assisted by Hertz who will honor “nearly all” the pending reservations. The Advantage locations at the following airport locations will remain open for normal business: Austin, Chicago Midway, Colorado Springs, Denver, El Paso, Houston, Orlando, Phoenix and Salt Lake City.

If you have an existing reservation with Advantage then you are advised to call 800-777-5500 or 80-777-5524 to be advised of the status of your reservation. Advantage does remind people currently using one of their rental cars that they will want them back as scheduled. The “consolidation” will affect 440 Advantage employees, I wish them the best of luck in finding a new job.

Affordable phone rentals in China with Yoyoor

by Scott Carmichael on

If you are planning to travel to China, then this new service from mobile company Yoyoor sounds like it is worth checking out.

Yoyoor provides rental phone services, and while they are certainly not alone in that segment, their product is quite different from most others.

For just $3.99 a day, you get a GPS enabled Nokia 6110 smartphone with English language maps of China, live personal assistance, emergency support, real time text messaging help from Yoyoor staff and unlimited email/Internet access.

The per-minute calling rate of the phone makes the package even better; calls from China to the US are just $0.60 per minute, with free incoming calls and $0.20 local calls. This rate is a whopping 5 times cheaper than AT&T or T-mobile. Text messages cost $0.20 to send and $0.02 to receive. The free Internet access service will save you even more as AT&T normally charge $19.50 per MB in China.

The English speaking concierge service is preprogrammed on the phone and can provide restaurant recommendations, help with transportation questions and provide language assistance. Calls to the Yoyoor concierge service cost $1 per call plus the airtime charge ($0.20 per minute).

The phone can be reserved online, at one of the Yoyoor aiport desks or through the Yoyoor call center. Yoyoor have rental desks at Beijing and Shanghai international airports.

When you make a reservation, Yoyoor will authorize your credit card for $500, which is the average amount for mobile phone rentals. Once the phone has been returned, that amount will be released back to you.

Returning the phone is easy and can be done at the airport desks, through a courier service in China or by sending it back to their US offices once you get home.

With thousands of US tourists traveling to China for the Olympics, I’m sure Yoyoor will appeal to many people who have never been there, and who could do with a little extra help from the maps and concierge service.

British driver wrecks a $650,000 Mercedes

by Iva Skoch on

I always wondered if those valet parking guys ever crash people’s cars. They must, right? Kind of like this poor guy…

According to the Daily Mail, A British delivery driver for a car rental company wrecked a rare Mercedes-Benz worth more than $650,000 on Friday. He was driving the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren to a London drop-off when an 18-wheel truck ripped off the front end of the car. He says he was “creeping along in this very narrow lane and the power steering was very hard at such low speed and he couldn’t turn.”

The driver said he was only two minutes from his destination when the accident took place and estimates repairs could cost about $100,000. The Mercedes is the most notable car the rental company offers and was being repaired by engineers at the McLaren workshop in Weybridge, England.

The driver says he feels awful. I bet.

[via UPI]