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Avis Rental Car Warning

I have been always renting car from Enterprise without any problem.
This was the first time I booked a car from Avis and I was shocked when I went for pickup as they said they don't rent car to driver with class 7 license!
I searched their website, didn't find anything like that.
Have anyone faced such nuisance?

[I had no option left but to take my 1.8L 2010 Honda Civic on a road trip to Yellowstone, Wyoming and just put a 5k on it :( ]

If you never had a problem with Enterprise.......

different places have different policies...

maybe try to tweet/fb them?

Quote:

Originally Posted by riasat.abir (Post 8769012)

I wouldn't recommend Avis as well. Made a online reservation with Avis @ LAX. Took about 2 hours to get a car on the day of pickup

So when are you going to get your class 5?

I had a problem with Avis once, when I went to Singapore, my online reservation said I had full coverage insurance, at the airport he tried to get me to sign for $3k coverage only, so I argued for a bit, showed him the web ad, but in the end I just took a taxi everywhere

https://www.avis.com/car-rental/html...R1_4.20.16.pdf

It says right on their terms of service that the as the driver:

Quote:

You represent that you are a capable and validly licensed driver. You agree that we have the right to verify that your license has been validly issued and is in good standing; and that we may in our sole discretion refuse to rent to you if your license
has been suspended, revoked, otherwise restricted in any way. We reserve the right to deny rentals based upon information about your license status or driving record provided by the Motor Vehicle Department of the jurisdiction that issued your license or any other reliable source in the business of validating an identity.

Mybe they don't consider an "N" or "L" as validly licensed.

also further down they state:

Quote:

b) a surcharge for drivers under the age of 25;

Not sure, but I'm guessing that you are also under 25? so had you had your full license you still would have been charged a surcharge. No issue there though, enterprise does the same thing.

Not advocating Avis, Enterprise is certainly better, but I can't blame the company, if something happens to their car and they rented it to someone against their own terms of use, then their insurance could get out of paying.

Surprised they outright refused you, and didn't just tack on a surcharge for a Class 7. It's just risk management for them afterall, same thing they do for the under 25 drivers.

Having said that, I don't think 5K km on your 2010 civic is going to really hurt the car, or the resale value.

I've never rented a car in Canada before, however from what I understand and have been told from the rental companies (Budget, Avis, Hertz), you must have a full class 5 license in order to rent a vehicle. However, in the US that's not a problem, you can be 18 and rent a car, albeit the younger you are the higher the age surcharge is.

I'm also a bit confused by the OP, if Avis declined you when you went to pick up the car, what stopped you from trying another rental agency?

Assuming you were at the airport or whatever, why didn't you just walk to the enterprise booth and rent a car through them as you have previously done?

There may be a logical explanation as to why you gave up after only trying Avis and just hopped in your car and drove to wyoming, but right now I don't understand.

Enterprise is, hands down, the best shop to rent from. Because of their business model (renting as replacement vehicles) they have to be more customer friendly than the other shops. (I worked there as a co-op student back in the 90's).

Kudos also go to their subsidiary, National Car Rental. I signed up for their Emerald membership and renting is a breeze now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by riasat.abir (Post 8769012)

[I had no option left but to take my 1.8L 2010 Honda Civic on a road trip to Yellowstone, Wyoming and just put a 5k on it :( ]

Why are you worried about putting 5k on your car? There's no way the slightly increased wear and mileage are going to cost you more than renting a car would.

Quote:

Originally Posted by underscore (Post 8769186)

Why are you worried about putting 5k on your car? There's no way the slightly increased wear and mileage are going to cost you more than renting a car would.

It's like avoiding banging your girlfriend for the next dude she dates.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dvst8 (Post 8769046)

I wouldn't recommend Avis as well. Made a online reservation with Avis @ LAX. Took about 2 hours to get a car on the day of pickup

So when are you going to get your class 5?

thats not an avis problem, it's more of an LAX problem.

i've rented from avis a few times in the past and never had an issue. maybe its cause i have my class 5?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pidish (Post 8769207)

thats not an avis problem, it's more of an LAX problem.

i've rented from avis a few times in the past and never had an issue. maybe its cause i have my class 5?

It possibly is a LAX problem but not fully. AVIS shouldn't have taken my paid reservation if they couldn't provide me a car at scheduled time. It defeats the purpose of a reservation system.

Enterprise has been good overall.

worried about 5k on a civic? :/ ... let the 1.8 breathe a little!

i put nearly 5k on my da this month.. bitch has 466k now and the gfs crx has 530k... its a honda! embrace the km!

also, i have heard of a few rental companies denying a class 7.. not exactly a surprise

I rent often from Avis in dt Vancouver.

Even after declining their coverage and getting a huge bolder in the windshield, they handled the claim with my CC company and I wasnt' charged a thing.

I will continue to do business with them...

...then again, I have my class 5, and 6

Quote:

Originally Posted by fliptuner (Post 8769014)

If you never had a problem with Enterprise.......

I got $245/week from avis where enterprise were 600$/week, so i booked from avis...

Quote:

Originally Posted by FerrariEnzo (Post 8769039)

different places have different policies...
maybe try to tweet/fb them?

Good Idea, I will do, thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dvst8 (Post 8769046)

I wouldn't recommend Avis as well. Made a online reservation with Avis @ LAX. Took about 2 hours to get a car on the day of pickup

So when are you going to get your class 5?

Next year, by this time, I will continue with Enterprise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by meme405 (Post 8769073)

https://www.avis.com/car-rental/html...R1_4.20.16.pdf

It says right on their terms of service that the as the driver:

Mybe they don't consider an "N" or "L" as validly licensed.

also further down they state:

Not sure, but I'm guessing that you are also under 25? so had you had your full license you still would have been charged a surcharge. No issue there though, enterprise does the same thing.

Not advocating Avis, Enterprise is certainly better, but I can't blame the company, if something happens to their car and they rented it to someone against their own terms of use, then their insurance could get out of paying.

I am over 25 years old, and yes N is a valid license!

Quote:

Originally Posted by heleu (Post 8769085)

I bought a second hand car which already has 150k on it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by meme405 (Post 8769133)

I booked car 3 months ago and it was 245/week where on the same day they were asking about $300/day!

Quote:

Originally Posted by underscore (Post 8769186)

Why are you worried about putting 5k on your car? There's no way the slightly increased wear and mileage are going to cost you more than renting a car would.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Porsche957 (Post 8769225)

worried about 5k on a civic? :/ ... let the 1.8 breathe a little!

Quote:

Originally Posted by snails (Post 8769228)

i put nearly 5k on my da this month.. bitch has 466k now and the gfs crx has 530k... its a honda! embrace the km!
also, i have heard of a few rental companies denying a class 7.. not exactly a surprise

As I said earlier, I have a second/third had car which already have lots of mileage on it. And my 1.8L engine was crying when I was driving in the uphills in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho!

Quote:

Originally Posted by dvst8 (Post 8769046)

I wouldn't recommend Avis as well. Made a online reservation with Avis @ LAX. Took about 2 hours to get a car on the day of pickup

So when are you going to get your class 5?

speaking of LAX, rented a car from FOX car rental.. it was weird at first..
they let you go into the lot and you can pick whatever car within the section that you order online... had a choice between some jeep, rav4 and crv.. really wanted to try the jeep... but ended up with the 2015 rav4.. was a good drive..

I just called Alamo and Budget, both said they will not rent to a driver who does not have a class 5.

I asked if this was in their policy somewhere, and both had no response. I really didn't want to speak to a manager about it. So I left it there.

I guess the real warning here: make sure to confirm with the rental agency if you have concerns or oddities like this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FerrariEnzo (Post 8769473)

Generally most companies let you pick cars within the same category and/or price, so you can really go into the lot and pick

the places I go, they just give you a car... first time for me to walk into their lot and drive it off.. I was so confused when I first got there.. haha...