Picking Specific Kind of Rental Car??
 

Has anyone reserved a specific type or model of rental car such as Mustang conv, or PT cruiser or Chrysler 300? If so, how did you do? Thru national office or local office? Did you have to pay more for specifying? Need car for Kauai and trying to see how to do this. Do I have to wait until I get there?
Thanks for help. Counting the days!!!!

Just call the rental companies and ask what they have...then SPECIFICALLY request what you want. I don't know if you're awars, but many rental companies are affiliated with a particular brand of car. For example, Hertz and Ford or Avis and GM. Dollar has alot of Chrysler. Sooooo....Hertz will have a Mustang, Dollar will have the Chrysler convertible. Dollar has the 300's in Kauai. They were everywhere!!

I first check the major rental agencies website to see what models they have. Like K2rider said, each rental agency is affiliated with a specific maker(s).

Not only should you check that an agency carries your car, but you should also check that the specific location that you want to pick up from stocks your car as well. Once I found an agency and location that had the model I was looking for, I called the local office and made the reservation over the phone (I'm sure I got routed to a national call center though). But I made a special request for make, model, and color (we rented a Jaguar for our wedding). They were great and had me list my 1, 2, and 3 color choices. I got the car I wanted with no problem.

Have fun!
Jane

I had a Hertz while in Idaho 2 weeks ago. It was a Toyota Camry. I liked it so much I bought one 24 hours after getting home. The others in our group had another Camry, an Altima, a convertible Mustang, a Pathfinder and a VW beetle. Unlimited miles too.

Admittedly none of my business (you can drive a purple yak for all I care) - just curious. Other than real special occasion (like the person above who wanted Jaguar for wedding), why do you care the specific car/color (beyond certain size or type)you get.

MY wife has been talking about buying a PT cruiser for a while and I thought it would be a good chance to rent one and surprise her when we get to Kauai. But so far, it looks like a lot of trouble and no guarantee. I know I can reserve something and look for one of these when I get there. Tried internet sites but they don't deal in specifics so back to phones.

My husband recently reserved an intermediate car. When he got to the rental counter, they were out, so they substituted a pick-up truck!

We rented a PT Cruiser when we visited Maui in 2001. It had an amazingly large turn radius! We enjoyed having it but would never buy one based on the difficulty we had maneuvering it. We had rented a mid-size and upgraded at the counter for a small daily increase in charge. They seemed to have plenty of them because everyone was doing it. Does anyone know if Volkswagon convertibles are available for rental yet on any of the islands?

You can request whatever kind of car you want - but unless you are reserving a specific high-priced luxury or specialty car (sports car etc) your chance of getting it is limited by how busy the office is. If it's high season - you'll get whatever they have.

One trick - after you've reserved through the national 800# - or the discounter - call the local office directly. They're the only ones who know what cars they actually have - and can give you a realistic idea of what you'll get.

I had to wait 30 minutes this weekend to get a car because I didn;t want an SUV - and that was the only car they had. I told the agent the 800# the night before had said I could have not only a small car- but specifically a Corolla - because they had plenty. The agent told me - "they're in Oklahoma and don;t know anything - we haven;t seen a Corolla in weeks". I was lucky to get any Intermediate - since three more SUVs came in while I was there and everybody else on line was stuck with them.

The agents were very frustrated because the home office was still sending them new SUVs - rather than small/intermediate cars - and no one wants them given the price of gas.