Over the Halloween weekend, my wife and I traveled North to Upstate New York to attend the wedding of a close friend, grab a much-needed dose of Fall weather, and catch up with a host of school friends and former colleagues. You never know when or where you might find appropriate material for an automotive blog, and I had pretty much decided to write a short piece about Web logs when I found myself at the Hertz rental car counter at Syracuse International Airport.
Now, I am by no means a seasoned business traveler who knows which specific airplane seats to ask for, nor do I profess to have a profound knowledge of the best ways to negotiate my way into the "Sky Club" without an actual membership. I do, however, know how to rent a car, and would like to offer a couple of quick tips that I have employed over the years with great success.
First off, it's a good idea to check with your credit card company or insurance carrier regarding whether or not you will be insured when you rent. The reason is twofold. Rental agencies make a killing by describing the terrible scenario in which your car is liberated by a band of ruthless, rural car-jackers (or, in this area of the country, attacked by a drunken moose), thereby persuading you to opt for additional – and in many cases, redundant – insurance. Most people will find that their current insurance company or credit card providers will cover you in the event of a rental car mishap.
Also, many credit card companies have agreements with one or more major car rental chains and offer a discount when you paying with their card.
Another small trick I have found to be invaluable over the last few rentals is reserving the absolute cheapest, econo-lunchbox-on-wheels model available. Not that we would actually drive one of these things, but this approach locks you into the cheapest rate. When we turn up at the rental counter to pick up our vehicle, we often find that they are all out of the "spec-car" and forced to give us a free upgrade. The last couple of times, I've been able to skip right over the Taurus to get the SUV (which doesn't necessarily help control the petrol expenses but is generally much more appropriate when hauling around golf clubs, wedding presents, suitcases, incapacitated revelers, and so on).
This past weekend we were given the choice between the mid-size or SUV. The SUV was a "Ford Escape or equivalent." We rolled the dice and went for the equivalent and ended up with a Hyundai Santa Fe.
I must say we were quite impressed with this small, yet very drivable entry SUV. Funny, but when you are driving a certain car along the Thruway, you start to notice others as well. I noticed more of these Santa Fe's over the weekend than any other make. They were everywhere.
And for good reason. After a quick glance through the local paper, I saw that you can have one of these babies with a V6, four-wheel drive and an industry leading 10 year/100,000 mile warranty (powertrain) for under twenty grand. At the end of the day you are driving something that came from a country whose chief exports to the US have been historically limited to whoopee cushions and plastic dog sh#^$*, but hey, at least you're driving. Such sentiment has obviously caught the attention of many a North American driver. Nearly nine thousand (8,946) of these cars found homes last month alone, helping to bring Hyundai's October total to 33,111 and year-to-date total to 351,785 units.
So the next time you find yourself in baggage claim looking to rent a car, don't think of it as a burden but rather an opportunity for an extended test-drive. You might just be pleasantly surprised.
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