After arriving in Atlanta Airport, I took the train to the Rental Car Center, where I tried to pick up my Avis rental car…but apparently it was invisible or in a different dimension.
My Avis Invisible Car in Atlanta
Thanks to a partnership with United Airlines, I have Avis President’s Club status and as a result, I use Avis almost exclusively these days…about three weeks’ worth of rentals last year. It’s nice to bypass the counter, proceed directly to the garage, look up on the board, find your name, proceed to the car, and drive off…how I loathe waiting in any line.
I found my name on the board…KLINT, M…S21. Okay, S21. I looked around and saw I was in the A area.
A sign pointed toward rows H and U, then indicated that rows J-Q was further away.
But no S.
So I walked toward Q, thinking (logically?) that since Q precedes S, S would be there.
But it wasn’t. I reached the end of the garage and found no section S.
I found an Avis worker and asked him where S21 was and the reaction cracked me up.
Avis worker: S? We ain’t got no S.
Me: But take a look (I showed him the image above)
Avis worker: That’s jacked. You got some invisible car because we don’t have no S.
Me: I hope this invisible car can fly…
He went on to reassign me to a different car, which turned out to be a very nice Volkswagen Atlas.
If an invisible car is what is needed for an upgrade to a nice German SUV, I’ll take it!
Only German engineering on the Atlas –
Made in Chattanooga, TN.
German engineering is overrated and expensive .
Toyota or Jeep engineering are practical , long-lasting , and inexpensive .
I had this happen with Avis in ATL in October.
T and U are along the side of the garage (when you come into the garage across the walkway, turn left). The cars are parked with one end toward the rental car center. Oddly R and S are spaces along the opposite side of the lot… facing outward of the garage on the side furthest from the building. And not continuous.
At CLT lately I’ve had twice where I had a car assigned and did get to the space and no car was there… so had to join the ridiculously long line at the counter. At another airport, the car was locked, the keys were inside of it, and someone had written “DOORS LOCKED” in grease pencil on the window.
I had a VW Atlas this weekend from National/Enterprise which was shocking as I had a one-way from a medium sized airport to a one-flight-a-day airport over 100 miles away. I’ve had them before… was a very nice ride!
National for domestic rentals and Sixt for international. That’s the only way for me.
@Santastico … National Airlines was good .
I have been renting from National for over 20 years and never had an issue. Have Executive membership from a credit card and never have to talk to anyone or worry about inspecting the car for damages. Pick any car available on the Executive aisle and drive off. Return it and done. No hassle, no trying to upsell anything, no extra insurance needed, nothing. Now, for international, I always get full insurance. Not cheap but a total peace of mind to avoid scam. I have been pleased with Sixt for many years.
I unfortunately travel a lot of places where there is only one option. Thankfully it’s either National/Enterprise or Avis (though Harrison, AR was Hertz or nothing). Heck, 30% of my flights last year were on planes that didn’t even have First Class.
National/Enterprise for being one company took long enough to do it but they’ve gotten leaps and bounds better at playing together and being more seamless especially for Executives. Mostly. I still had one location which was handled by Enterprise and they insisted to come out and walk around the car with me and hard sell the insurance…. I’m like I rented 40 cars last year from your company.. I don’t need this and as my profile says, I’m definitely not buying what you’re selling. And no, I don’t want to shake your hand. At all.
Shhhh, Stop telling people about National or everyone will rent there and ruin it 🙂
Notwithstanding the fact the problem was corrected once Avis was notified, a preponderance of evidence would indicate that if the Avis worker had spoken proper english, this article would not have been published.
Not true at all. The Avis worker was great. A very kind man. The issue was the invisible car.
I am also President’s Club member. However my experience in LA was so bad that I don’t use Avis in US anymore. In nutshell first car I got had broken door (didn’t open from inside), second was not in the space it was supposed to be, third was smelly with huge mileage and service requirement. I finally took 4th one to see one day later it also required maintenance. And only when asked I got upgrade.
I complained to Avis. Response was I could have one free day if I rent a car at certain unspecified rates (I.e. high). I didn’t accept it and made credit card transaction dispute. Avis ignored it so I had free rental at the end.
@Fil .., Sounds like the LA vibe , which also applies to everything else in LA .
All of the major rental brands suck at LAX. I’ve chalked most of the worst issues (run down lots, broken equipment, clapped out shuttles) up to the impending move to the new centralized rental car facility
Of them, Avis are pretty consistently the worst. Sixt are, inexplicably, usually the best.
Does the ‘pick up the hire car without stopping at the counter’ system work everywhere, or is it a US-only thing? I’ve been Sixt Platinum (via airline status) since about the Bronze Age but don’t think I have encountered such a set up anywhere.
@PM … He who provides a generous tip will get the super-dooper service .
In the US, if you have the right status with the car rental you skip the counter.
That explains it, I’ve only rented a car there once and went with the absolute cheapest option (Hertz but sold as ‘Dollar’) because everything was insanely expensive- Sixt wanted over $150 per day for a Camry, and we were renting for a full week. Had to queue for well over an hour at the counter too.
In general – joining one of the companies “clubs” gets the skip the line treatment
Or minimally gets you in the shorter line to collect a car instead of dealing with the “Agent”
At least they attempted to assign you a car. I got the dreaded “See Office” that night.
I want to switch to Avis having previously been a loyal Hertz customer. How does one get their name on the board, like Matthew. Is Avis Preferred all that is needed (next level is Preferred Plus and the next level is President’s Club).
Hertz used to be a premium company but now it’s a joke. I left them as the pandemic started.
I’m disappointed. You missed a golden opportunity to recreate the rental car counter scene from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
@Mean … +1 . Please explain what happened in the movie in more detail , for those us us who have forgotten . Thank you .
Without giving too much away, after the train breaks down in the middle of nowhere, Steve Martin tries to rent a car, from an agency that looked a lot like a parody of Avis ironically enough. There’s no car in the spot he’s directed to, so he ends up throwing a big tantrum at the counter, after which he’s forced to hitch a ride with John Candy back to Chicago.
May I ask why you use Avis? You mentioned the status match from United, but does Avis let you rent a midsize and pick any car in the designated aisle? If not, why do you use Avis over Hertz or National, both of which let you select your own car?
Just trying to understand and see if there’s something I’m missing.