Rental Car Reviews
I’ve Changed My Mind About Enterprise Rental Cars
Seven years ago I quit renting cars from Enterprise after one final bad experience in a string of irritating experiences. I vowed never to use them again.
Well this weekend I got off my high horse and tried out the Portland, Oregon location. The prices at Avis, Hertz, National, etc were all coming in at $150+ for the weekend and Enterprise was half that. So was Payless. And not even AutoSlash.com could help me find me a better deal.
In the past I would have sucked it up, paid the extra, and enjoyed the elite status perks from Avis or National. But there were no great promos to justify it and since I’ve recently struck out on my own professionally I’m more cost conscious.
My experience was great! They now have check in kiosks so I skipped the line of 10 people and was headed out to the garage with a reservation slip in less than 5 minutes. I was greeted by a friendly guy who gave me the option of several intermediate sedans or a cute little Buick Enco SUV that was spotless.
There was the usual walk around the car, but he didn’t belabor the point. And when it came to asking if I wanted extra coverage, it was condensed into “Do you want to run through your extra coverage options or are you already covered with a credit card.”
Wow! Instead we chatted for a few minutes about recommendations for Portland and the right way to pronounce Willamette Valley (“will-lamb-et”).
When I returned the car I had equally friendly, agreeable service with no painstaking walkaround to see if I’d incurred any minute scuffs. It’s possible it’s just this location that’s so awesome, but it was a great enough experience for price and feeling like a valued customer (and without elite status), that I’ll be willing to try them again next time they’re the cheapest price.
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