Executive Travel : What to Do if Reserved Rental Car Is No-Show

What redress can the business traveler expect from a rental car company when the reserved car is a no-show and another suitable vehicle is not available?

A man on the East Coast reports that he showed up at a Hertz in-town office to pick up a minivan for which he had a confirmed reservation. The van was not there, and another could not be readily obtained.

He turned down the agency’s offer for cab fare or a car to take him and his party to another branch where a van was available because of the amount of time it would take on top of what had already been wasted.

The man decided to postpone his trip. He was given a $25 credit for his next van rental--which he used when his trip was rescheduled.

In most cases involving no-show cars, another model or a competing agency would be the answer. But this man’s case shows that when specialized vehicles such as minivans are involved, a substitute is not the answer.

A Hertz spokeswoman said this man’s experience is typical for such situations: that is, the company will try to find a substitute, or it will pay cab fare to get the customer to a meeting or other place and send the vehicle along later. If none of that will work, credits of $25 to $50 are usual, with $25 being “more typical,” she said.

There are a few situations in which the credit might be larger. These usually involve specialized vehicles at peak times--four-wheel-drive vehicles at the Denver airport during skiing season, for example, or minivans and convertibles in Florida during the most popular vacation periods.

For those places and those vehicles, Hertz will offer guaranteed availability, provided the rental is charged to the customer’s credit card at the time the reservation is made. In those circumstances, if Hertz can’t produce the promised vehicle, the customer will receive a $100 credit toward another rental.

The downside of that arrangement is that if the renter’s plans change and the reservation is not canceled within 24 hours, the customer will be hit with a cancellation fee.

On a related matter, National Car Rental is experimenting with a different kind of guarantee program. In it, a customer can reserve a car from two weeks to a year in advance, at rates that are 15% to 20% lower than usual, a company spokeswoman said. Once the reservation is made, though, you will be charged a cancellation fee if you back out.