who do you think is the best and why? Hertz, Budget, National, Avis, Enterprise, etc

Whoever is cheapest. Priceline is good for rental cars.

A car is a car.

I shop price first and close second is location.

Rarely use Enterprise because of location (more often off airport property) and for some reason they seem to take forever to do the paperwork. Have used them for insurance claim rentals, but that again is for location - they have an office a few miles from my house.

I don't notice any difference in any rental company.

I use Hertz because of the service I have received from them in the past. Now that I'm a #1 Club Gold member the service has been even better.

However, I have rented from all those lsited except Enterprise and had fairly decent service.

Although i somewhat disagree that "a car is a car" that all depends on the circumstances and one's needs...I would go for price and location otherwise.

I love National because I can pick just about any car on the lot when I arrive.
So much easier!!!

Dollar has become my agency of choice, mainly because I invariably get great prices from them -- last time they were nearly half the price of all the other major ones when booking over a month ahead. Sure enough their prices went up to match the others as time drew closer, but I'm good at planning.
And since I joined Dollar Express, I can usually go right to my car marked in the lot and avoid any checking in -- depending on the location -- or at least move to the Express Lane of check in.

We use Avis -
While in Cancun, we were in a wreck (not our fault). We were very nervous since we were in Mexico and thought "oh great, there goes the whole day". They were very friendly and quickly gave us keys to another car.
I also love that you don't have to wait in any lines. Once off the plane we go straight to the shuttle and they drop us off at our car. In Vegas, they even had the trunk open and the car running for us! This was very nice as it was really hot that day.

They seem about the same to me. I shop the deal. That said, there are a couple I don't really like.

If price is the same I'd rather not go with Thrifty (here in San Diego) they have been a little aggressive about trying to sell extra insurance. Saying no once should be enough. Once I rented from Dollar and the car was dirty. So they are off my list.

If I'm renting one way, I'm always careful to check those one way fees. So far, Budget never, ever has them. If I need a car close to home, I choose Budget because they are fairly handy

It's hard to judge "the best" without knowing what criteria you are using to judge "the best". Is it cost? Cars? Customer Service? Some of that depends upon the city. Do you plan to rent in just one city or many cities? Are you renting for yourself or a company?

The times I've rented from Budget near my home for trips to LAX, the cars have always been clean, nice and the customer service excellent. Once you get to LAX that falls apart.

Now, last month in Germany, AVIS was king. We rented a compact through Auto Europe and they gave us an Audi 4Turbo Diesel. I was extremely happy to have that car on the Autobahn. There’s nothing like a fast car and a road to use it. This was unusual as normally we have been given an Opel in that car class.

Like Dukey, I prefer Hertz. They usually give me a good deal with my AAA discount, and I get excellent service as a member of the #1 Gold Club.

However, I am not using Hertz on an upcoming trip to Hawaii. We will not be driving long distances, and we got an air-car package deal from Hawaiian Airlines that was too good to pass up.

Not National - if you don't do the express check-in and have to wait on line, good luck. Their reservation system is antiquated. I feel like I'm applying for a mortgage while the agent types in my info. I've waited up to 45 minutes just to get to an agent. One person told me he waited more than an hour.

Hertz and Avis aren't as bad.

You pay more with Hertz, but they get you out the door quicker.

I've always had really good service at Enterprise. Otherwise, I shop the prices at my destination.

One company I won't use again is Fox. I'd reserved it through Priceline in August. We picked up and returned our car at LAX. It was the slowest process I've ever seen. We waited an hour for the couple ahead of us to finish.

The lines for walk-ups are the same as for reserved customers, and the walk-up (non-reserved) couple was taking forever negotiating prices and cars. Also, there were only two people working at the counter, while two others were at their computers at the counter, not helping people while a long line formed. these two didn't look so busy and certainly could have helped. It was really frustrating.

To top it all off, when we returned the car, they pointed out a small hole on a taillight, which we had to pay for. I'm thinking it was there when we rented the car, probably. But it was so hard to see, that it didn't even show up in the close-up photo I took of it upon discovering it. So we paid to replace it.

Finally, the shuttle from the location to and from LAX was very inconsistent. Another long line formed of people waiting for the shuttle.

All in all, Fox at LAX was a disorganized mess!
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Hertz

I've traveled a LOT on business and rented cars from a bunch of agencies (usually picked by the corporate travel office).

To date I have not had a serious problem with Hertz.

But have had with every other one I've used, including Avis. Problems ranged from no cars at all, to cars with mechanical problems, to cars with body damage they tried to charge me for - even though I had the agent I rented from mark it on the contract, to trying to force me to take all sorts of extra insurance I didn't need, to offering me a "free" upgrade since they didn't have the type I rented - and trying to charge me more when I turned it in. Enterprise even once gave me a car with no passenger side mirror (late at night, last car and no other rental places nearby - so I had to take it).

I know they charge more - but I don;t care - the lack of hassle is worth a few $.

A one-way rental from Budget saved me in an emergency a few years ago, so I'll put that out there.

On the weekends, I rent from the Enterprise across from my apartment. They have an ongoing half-price weekend rate that keeps costs low.

We use National in the USA because we can pick out our smoke-free car.

Overseas, we use Hertz or Europcar. Mostly, we do long term rentals. Usually about four weeks each. I've researched lease programs but have never found them competitive.

So far, we had pretty good luck.