Rental car Experience in TV

[Bobcuse]

I reserved a Minivan for March 26-Apr 2 from Hertz (great AAA discount) for my grand kids who were flying for the Easter week visit. Received my confirmation earlier in March and even called the Villages Hertz office to confirm and inquire about picking me up to get the vehicle from the Main St location. The day before my family was arriving (March 25) I received a call from Hertz informing me that they could not get my van because they were overbooked, but they could get me two full sized cars (grand kids don't drive so didn't help). So basically we were out of luck as I already knew all area car rental companies had been booked solid for Minivans that week, not just in TV but the surrounding cities of Leesburg, Ocala, etc. I will NEVER use Hertz again.

I started calling around and found that Enterprise in The Villages was now saying they could get Minivans that week after showing no vans were available for the previous several weeks on their website. Their website price was $399/wk for Easter week when I kept checking in the weeks prior to see if they had gotten any vans in. On March 25, they said they could get me a Minivan but the price was now $649/wk! I told them the price shown on the website was $399 and the agent said "the price is now $649 and Hertz is sending their customers to us because they can't get minivans". Obviously they are in business to make money and the law of supply and demand dictates price, but this is obscene. Both companies with offices here should be ashamed! It's disgusting.

[buggyone]

So what did you do? They had the mini-van and their price. Did you take the deal or not?

[Bobcuse]

So what did you do? They had the mini-van and their price. Did you take the deal or not?

Did not take the deal from Enterprise. We ended up borrowing the neighbor's van when needed. Another example of the friendly folks here who really do make up the vast majority of villagers.

[buggyone]

Excellent solution. Yes, Villagers are generally happy to lend a helping hand whenever possible. Hope you and your family had a great time.

[asianthree]

i have had the same experience with both, when renting a car for a few days...to drive over to disney...wanted to give us a car two grades down for the same amount..when we said no called us day before the rental and offered us a deal on mid size car for $100 more...told them no, they could not believe we were not going to take the car...yep trying to make more money

[gingersnap]

Oh dear...we too had a van rented from Hertz for Mar 28-Apr 2 because our son and family were coming from up north. I rented the van on Jan 3rd via the web site. My biggest fear was that when we got there to pick up the van, they would not have one. I too checked periodically to be sure it was still reserved. We even drove through the parking lot the night before, trying to figure out if the van was there. When we got there to pick it up, the desk clerk said they had to send two guys to Gainesville to get the van and they should be back shortly. We had to wait a bit, and when it finally got there they had to clean it up a bit. We were about 45 min late getting the van, but at least we got it. Our son and family had landed while we were en route to Sanford Airport, but by the time they got their luggage and got on the curb we did a "drive by" and they jumped in. I am so sorry to learn of your problem with Hertz. The guys there are always so nice. We have used them several times.

On another note, the people in TV are wonderful! Seems that there is always someone out there willing to lend helping hand...EVEN TO LEND OUT A VAN!

[REDCART]

We have no experience renting a minivan but have found from recent personal experience that Enterprise charges more for a car in TV than other Enterprise locations in Leesburg or Ocala. Their logic must be pretty simple, "people in TV have deep pockets." So I wouldn't be surprised if their pricing policy logic also applies to minivans. I understand different markets with salary and operating expenses may warrant different prices, but Ocala, TV, and Leesburg should all have similar operating costs, and for all intents and purposes should be considered the same market. So what else can you think?