usrentacar.co.uk ® Car Hire USA Blog

Hi all,

Apologies for the lack of posts recently. I’ve been taking advantage of some holiday time owed by snowboarding in Austria and soaking up the sun in Orlando. Yep life’s been tough…. any way I’m back now and have a lot of posts to come, mostly regarding our eminent launch of the new look usrentacar website, fingers crossed Wednesday could be the launch date.

Back to the subject of today’s post, Grrr stop waking me up usrentacar.co.uk!! An interesting title perhaps but something that’s been bugging a few people who use our award nominated iPhone app.

One of the push notifications the app provides is to ask users to rate the app so others can get a good idea of how it works and if its useful.

Now when we programmed this particular notification we assumed people
would want to review the app while on holiday so we set the notification to activate at 8 am U.S. time. This however was a mistake as if you’re in the UK the notification would hit at around 3 am!!!!

I can confirm today we have fixed this error and would like to apologise to anyone that was rudely awoken by us asking for a review. I know how much I value my own sleep so the new time is now 17:00 UK time.

I hope this now fixes the issue and people can continue to use the app without losing sleep.

regards,

James

Hi all,

With the price of petrol sky rocketing suppliers in the USA are seeing an adverse effect in their bottom line to tackle this one supplier has purchased its 2012 Fleet with this firmly in mind.

Dollar Rent  A Car and Thrifty Rent A Car who have recently updated their Fleet revealed that 67% of the vehicles purchased have a highway fuel-efficiency rating of 30 miles per gallon (mpg) or better. Additionally, 98% of Dollar Thrifty’s general car models achieve 28 highway mpg or better.

Based on the average mileage driven by Dollar Thrifty customers the fuel efficient vehicles will save an estimated $24 Million compared to the 2011 fleet, which in this day and age is pretty impressive.

Scott Thompson, President and CEO of Dollar Thrifty said

With escalating gas prices and the increasing burden on travelers, Dollar Thrifty maintains its commitment to delivering value by continuing to purchase vehicles with improved fuel efficiencies. Our diversified fleet of 2012 models not only aligns with our fiduciary duties as an environmental steward, it significantly enhances our value offering to our customers

Among the environmentally-friendly and fuel-efficient vehicles in Dollar Thrifty’s 2012 fleet purchase is the Kia Rio which has a highway mpg rating of 40 and received the U.S. EPA SmartWay Certification Mark for its low greenhouse gas emissions and minimal air pollution. Also prominent in the fleet are the popular Ford Focus Sedan and Hatchback, both of which achieve 38 highway mpg, and the Nissan Versa which also receives 38 highway mpg.

Are the miles per gallon a concern for you when booking your USA Car Hire?

regards,

James

Hi all,

Fresh data out today provided from The National Canstar Blue survey, states that 1 in 5 people upgrade their vehicle upon arrival to take advantage of driving a vehicle they would never normally be able to afford.

The survey goes on to state that Men are more likely to upgrade than Women and that drivers classed as generation Y renters are even more likely to upgrade then previous generations.

Rebecca Logan, a manager at Canstar Blue stated

These results show that a sizeable group of car hire customers are happy to invest a bit extra for the luxurious experience of driving and being seen in a car beyond their means in everyday life. This isn’t surprising, given many travellers adopt a more lax mindset when enjoying themselves away from home.

Interesting point, I’m sure we all are little more generous and perhaps even lax with our budgeting when on holiday however  the amazing part about upgrading locally to me, is that in most cases the cost to upgrade is more expensive than it would have been to pre-pay for the vehicle in the UK, in some cases as much as 50% more!

I posted back in April 2011 regarding the choice to upgrade locally or upgrade before you go, I had no idea that so many opted to do this in the U.S.

Remember if you upgrade locally your contract is with the supplier and not usrentacar, we cannot obtain refunds for customers if they have signed locally agreeing to the local terms. Please read everything carefully before signing.

What’s your opinion on upgrading locally?

regards,

James

Hi all,

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts here at usrentacar we are in the process of redesigning our website, the last redesign took place in November 2009 so a fresh look is slightly overdue.

I managed to grab a couple of minutes with usrentacar.co.uk CTO, Karl Hendrie to ask him about the challenges of redesigning the site.

James: Hi Karl, you’ve been talking about redesigning the site for quite a while , can you tell me why its taken so long?

Karl: We aren’t in the habit of rushing in to major re-designs or changing things for the sake of change, in the past year we have quietly tried out different systems and layouts to find something we are not only happy with but also raises the bar.

J: What kind of research did you do when deciding on the way the redesign would go?

K: Our research never really stops, we are always gathering design and tech features. With this redesign we asked existing customers their opinion of any features they would like to see and importantly the features they use already, we are actually bringing back one feature that our customer’s stated they missed.

J: Can you tell me about some of the challenges you have faced with the redesign?

K: The most challenging part for me was deciding what stayed and what didn’t. We had to really sit down and think about what worked on the site and what was really just for show. Some of the tech I was most proud of in the last redesign is being completely removed.

J: What part are you most happy with?

K: I’m very happy with the look of the new site, its a lot cleaner than previous incarnations and has a modern feel. I’m also excited about the potential of embedding a social culture within the site.

J: Thanks for your time Karl, when can we expect to see the new site rolled out.

K: No problem James, I think the new site could be on course for a roll out in the week commencing the 26/03/12.

So some time this week you can expect to see a new style usrentacar site, as always our friends on facebook will be the first to see it (www.facebook.com/usrentacar.co.uk).

regards,

James,

Hi all,

Please excuse today’s slightly self indulgent post but I thought it was a nice story to end the week on, that perhaps some of you might be interested in.

Rebecca  Sloane rented a vehicle with us back in January 2012  for her dream holiday driving around California before heading down route 66, as Rebecca described it.

it was a once in a life time holiday.

All went well with the car rental and she had a lovely holiday. However upon her return to the UK she unpacked her suitcases and searched her belongings to discover she didn’t have her camera!

After retracing her steps mentally she realised she’d probably left it in the rental car. So she gave us a call for some advice.

We advised the following:

1. Contact the supplier’s customer services team.
2. Try to contact the location you dropped the vehicle off at.
3. All else fails give us a call back and we’ll see what we can do…

Generally points 1 or 2 are enough to get to the bottom of the missing item however on rare occasion number 3 is used.

In this case, Rebecca called us back, she wasn’t having any luck with the numbers we’d provided or the numbers she got online. So we decided to give it a go and we sent in our top detectives….;-)

To cut a longish story short, it turned out that the problem was that Rebecca wasn’t the lead driver of the vehicle, her boyfriend was! So when Rebecca called to chase her lost item the supplier was searching under her name and not the driver.

So once this confusion was cleared up, the supplier located her camera and sent it back to her free of charge. So a good result for everyone…

Here is the email Rebecca sent us,

Dear Kelly,

Firstly thank you so much for all your help. Today I received a knock on the door from a UPS man, the package, as I’m sure you know was my camera, in perfect working order.

You can’t put a price on all those memories, so please pass on this email to your manager to express how happy I am with the service you have personally given me, you could of very easily just given me the telephone numbers and left me to it but you didn’t.

Once again thank you very much and I will definitely recommend your company in the future.

Yours sincerely.

Rebecca Sloane

A great result for Rebecca and not a bad one for usrentacar.co.uk Good work Kelly.

regards,

James

Hi all,

The annual Car Rental Show hosted in Las Vegas has just finished, for those of you unfamiliar with The Car Rental Show (CRS), it offers the opportunity for the industry to come together and learn from each other and help provide a closer working relationship between the usually segregated industry.

Unfortunately like you, I was unable to attend this year event, however I was able to follow parts of it via twitter, so I thought I’d show below some of the more interesting tweets I noticed.

Ful Cygler says Florida is best market for newest vehicles#carrentalshow

NB: Our own statistic’s support this as well, with California a close second.

At the marketing table: everyone here agrees that Google is the most important search engine to b aware of #carrentalshow

NB: Not exactly ground breaking news, perhaps show’s how behind car rental is.

more dealers are going to enter the market, Kushner says#carrentalshow

NB: Great for the consumer, at present approximately 4 car rental suppliers own the market, more competitors = better rates.

Chris Brown: It’s not about the rental car, its about the car rental process #carrentalshow

NB: Customer services is your best USP?

Mark Frissora, Hertz CEO: “customers are smarter than they ever have been” #carrentalshow

NB: Suggesting that customers were stupid before

Frissora says int’l travel is expected to double to $2T in 2020#carrentalshow

NB: $2 trillion!!! Wowsers…

He says that off-airport rental is a fast-growing source for leisure and business rentals #carrentalshow

NB: I believe this aimed at U.S. travellers not European

Technology is ‘Putting the power of companies in the hands of consumers’ – Mark Frissora Hertz #carrentalshow

NB: Positive or a negative?

Freeman: “we’ve only skimmed the surface of what this industry can do.” #carrentalshow

NB: Very true.

Barton: “be a fire prevention officer not a fire fighter” #carrentalshow

NB: Interesting buzz phrase.

Schalberg: keep the rental car counter free of clutter, separate back office papers from front counter papers #carrentalshow

46% of Facebook users say their travel destination was affected by what their Facebook community says #carrentalshow

NB: Does this ring true to you?

Some interesting things coming out of The Car Rental Show, although for me I’m still amazed at how slow the car rental industry moves to adopt new technology.

What do you think?

Regards,

James

Hi all,

Firstly WELL DONE!!!, the original Dollar Rent A Car sale proved to be a massive hit

It was such a hit that Dollar have agreed to extend the 10% discount offer until the 31/03/12.

Here are the details

What?

Dollar Rent A Car are exclusively offering usrentacar.co.uk customers a massive 10% discount off our already low fully inclusive car hire USA rates for all new rentals.

Where?

The offer covers Dollar car hire locations (excluding San Francisco) in America including popular locations like Orlando, Sanford, Miami, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

When?

The offer starts from today (13/03/12) and will expire on the 31 March 2012, it will cover any new pick ups between and including 16th April 2012 – 13th Decemeber 2012.

Which?

The offer covers all vehicles excluding the Economy and Compact range.

How?

• Visit www.usrentacar.co.uk and enter your car rental details.
• Select the vehicle you are interested in, anything from the Intermediate upwards.
• The 10% discount has already been applied to the rates for your convenience.
• Follow the on screen instructions to complete your rental, remember you can secure any vehicle with a £50 deposit with the balance due 8 weeks prior to departure.

regards,

James

Hi all,

Yesterday I reported on Scott Thompson’s interview regarding Hertz’s imminent attempt at a hostile takeover of Dollar Rent A Car. One of the interesting parts of the interview was Dollar’s statement regarding plans for their future.

Scott Thompson was keen to point out that Dollar don’t have to sell and will only do so if the price is right for share holders. He also mentioned that Dollar will continue to pursue its stand alone plan for 2012 which includes a $20 million capital investment budget. Last year, the company invested $17 million in its capital projects.

Investments proposed by the company this year include new rental car locations, a new facility near Los Angeles International Airport, a new used car retail operation in Florida and long-term investments in IT.

Thompson added

“We’re looking at new (rental car) stores after a number of years of contraction. Clearly, we have a standalone plan, we have some good things going on. We are running fast, and we will see if they can catch us.”

Some nice positive plans from Dollar Rent A Car and we look forward to keeping you up to date as their 2012 plan takes shape.

regards,

James

Hi all,

News from Tulsa, Dollar’s headquarters in the U.S. is that they are expecting an imminent hostile takeover attempt from Hertz! 

The who will purchase Dollar Rent A Car saga dominated last years car hire USA news, as firstly Budget Rent A Car then more prominently Hertz tried to secure FTC approval for a potential buyout.

Well yesterday in an interview with Tulsa World Dollar Thrifty CEO Scott L Thompson said

Hertz is going to try again. We are calling it ‘H3. The truth is, over the last five years I can’t really tell when one attempt ended and another began.

He also added

Look, Hertz is getting close, and I’m certain that they will get regulatory approval at some time. The FTC does not care that we are not for sale. It is ready to get the regulatory process over. The issue that will decide if there will ever be a transaction is price. If Hertz is willing to pay a price that is in our shareholders’ best interest, then something will eventually happen. If not, it will just be more noise.

In a note to employee’s Thompson also stated

“The good news is that we have continued to perform very well, and that sets the bar high. As I have always told you, performance is our best defense. And performance has worked for five years.”

Sounds like Hertz must be very close to receiving FTC approval, which has cost them a pretty penny to achieve, cash that cannot be easily be written off.

I can see Hertz coming back with a strong offer that may test Dollar’s plans for 2012.

As always I will keep you updated.

regards,

James,

Hi all,

On the 1st Match Alamo Rent A Car announced the opening of a new car rental office  in Waikiki, Hawaii.

The new Waikiki Kaiulani branch can be found in downtown Waikiki.

To help with the influx of foreign visitors Alamo have hired bilingual rental  staff, and will offer  GPS devices set to communicate in multiple languages. The office will house a full range of vehicles including convertibles and SUVs in addition to electric vehicles and charging stations.

Paul Kopel, Vice Presiden and General Manager for Alamo said:

“We are pleased to be expanding in Waikiki and to offer Alamo’s low rental rates and convenient services to travelers visiting this beautiful destination from all over the world,”

The office should be available to book on usrentacar.co.uk shortly.

regards,

James,