As if I needed another reason not to rent from Enterprise (besides the fact that their paperwork always takes longer to fill out, and the annoying walk around the car looking for dents and scratches in a lame attempt to sell extra insurance), via Upgrade: Travel Better apparently Enterprise managed to save $175 per vehicle on the 66,000 Chevy Impalas they ordered by buying them without side curtain airbags, a standard safety feature.
I’ll stick to my elite benefits with a proper rental chain that doesn’t squeeze me looking for dents and dings when I return the car, and offers me a decent points-return to boot, thank you very much…
Gary,
If you don’t mind my asking, what’s your rental program of choice?
I need to rent a car soon and I’m not part of any chain’s programs, so I’ve been trying to figure out which is the best.
Thanks!
Who the hell is advising Enterprise on risk management? Sometime soon a client is going to be in a fatal accident in one of their Impalas. A good plaintiff’s attorney will manage to convince a jury that the client would have survived relatively unharmed with if a curtain airbag had deployed.
@Tim Weston – based primarily on my status I use Avis, I double dip with free rental days from their corporate awards program, and earn 1k Virgin miles even on a 1-day rental.
If Enterprise does not prominently disclose this deficiency in the car relative to every other Impala, the lawyers will have an easy time winning much more money on one case than Enterprise saved on 66,000 cars. Enterprise can’t even SELL these cars off without prominent disclosure of the hidden deficiency. What morons.
Gary,
How many rentals does it take to earn free rental days with Avis corporate awards program? Also, did you get the email from Virgin Atlantic indicating that they are offering triple miles with Avis through Dec 15. Details are sketchy (no minimum rental) so YMMV.