Avis - price discrimination and worse customer service?

[vik]

I was about to book an 8 day avis rental in tasmania starting on the 16th Dec. After clicking on an offer from TripIt (which i use) the default country was left as USA.

Using the same AWD and coupon code (for a double upgrade i had from elsewhere) the price was significantly cheaper than when the country was set as Australia.

I called Avis to find out why this was the case. Understandably i would not be inclined to provide any business to a company which practices price discrimination. Instead of answering the question the CSR was rude and simply hung up on me.

Why should i as an Australian should pay a premium compared to an overseas visitor for the exact same service in Australia?

Also their customer service thus far has been atrocious. I'd rather pay more to another company than be insulted by employees of a company i'm about to give business to. I've emailed them ... we'll see what their response is like...

anyone else have experiences/insights?

[AdMEL]

Different prices for residents of different countries happens all the time with rental companies. It works both ways though - Hertz provide Aussies with rates inclusive of all insurances that are often lower than the rates they offer US residents without any insurance! This kind of pricing happens in facets of our lives - it's a fact of life.

My experience with Avis (and Hertz) has generally been good. My experience with Europcar and Thrifty has sometimes been good. At various times, I have had bad experiences with all of the companies, including Avis (and Hertz). Mostly, this is a reflection of an individual person, rather than the company as a whole, as it is when dealing with all large organisations.

My last bad experience with Avis was a couple of months ago, when attempting to rent a 4WD from DRW, to be driven to Litchfield and Kakadu for 4 days. I wanted to take the 4WD to Jim Jim Falls, which Avis does not specifically prohibit, but Hertz does. I made a reservation with Avis and called Avis DRW to clarify, only to be told they don't allow it. I asked to speak to the manager and was given the number of Avis Darwin city. When I called and asked the mgr for clarification, he advised driving to Jim Jim was not allowed and he would cancel my reservation if I liked! Talk about rude and arrogant! I said there was no need to be rude, as I was only seeking clarification. I advised that the t & c's did not prohibit it - he said they did. I asked where - he said crossing rivers was prohibited, to which I replied as far as I was aware, no rivers required to be crossed! He said he hadn't actually driven on the road, so didn't know, but the rental agreement would be stamped with a stamp prohibiting it. He also mentioned they had written three cars off this year. All in all, a rude, arrogant person.

Following the altercation with the DRW Avis manager, I sent an e-mail seeking clarification to the Avis customer care address on their website and received an automated response saying they would get back to me, but I received no further response. Suffice to say, I did not hire from Avis, but Europcar instead, after speaking to the Darwin City manager, who knew their policy and was very polite to deal with. I subsequently had a problem with Europcar overcharging me and found their customer service to be appalling!

Given my experience with Avis is generally good, I will use them again (however, not at DRW). If I was to no longer use a rental car company based on a bad experience, I would be out of companies to use!

[JohnK]

Has anyone tried booking a car and stating that one is a resident of the USA to get cheaper quote but then providing local address details where required. Would the booking system be smart enough to pick it up?

[Sprucegoose]

Alot of hire car outlets are fanchisees and it often gets down to the local management team to determine the experience of customers.

Ray Kroc sadly never got to this industry.

[GeeZed]

Has anyone tried booking a car and stating that one is a resident of the USA to get cheaper quote but then providing local address details where required. Would the booking system be smart enough to pick it up?

In my experience the system is unlikely to pick this, I think it would most likely require human eyes spotting the anomaly. The Avis conditions of contract state that they reserve the right to cancel or amend the charge if you have made false statement as to residency or other material facts. It seems much more slips through without question in the smaller stations rather than in capital city airports. And for my money Avis remains the hire company I prefer to deal with here in Australia. As with any situation taking an aggressive or extreme stance is the action least likely to produce a favourable outcome, quiet negotiation expressing some empathy for the position of other person is a preferable tactic.

[cjd600]

In my experience the system is unlikely to pick this, I think it would most likely require human eyes spotting the anomaly. The Avis conditions of contract state that they reserve the right to cancel or amend the charge if you have made false statement as to residency or other material facts. It seems much more slips through without question in the smaller stations rather than in capital city airports. And for my money Avis remains the hire company I prefer to deal with here in Australia. As with any situation taking an aggressive or extreme stance is the action least likely to produce a favourable outcome, quiet negotiation expressing some empathy for the position of other person is a preferable tactic.

If you try to do this,and pre-pay on Hertz, e.g. change country to UK for cheaper rate, the payment screen automatically populates the billing country as UK and this cannot be changed.if paying at counter,assume it will only be picked up if the human notices it.
Note - its not a statement of residency though,but where you are located when making the booking....so if you are an Aussie visiting UK and making a future rental booking in USA,you can do so from the UK site (with UK prices),but if challenged will need hotel bill,air tickets or somethign to prove you were in that location at the time of booking......

[dajop]

Any booking from the country in which you are not a resident must be made with care, and insurances carefully examined.

Often (particularly for bookings within the US), collision insurance (CDW or LDW - collision damage waiver) is an optional extra as many US domestic car insurance policies will cover rental vehicles, and thus many US residents do not take out this extra cover. If you want this it can double the booking price. However booking in the US as an Australian resident, CDW is often included and not at double the price either. Not sure if this carries forward to US residents booking cars in other countries, but certainly is something to be very wary of (and note CDW is different to excess reduction).

[drron]

I've just had 2 Avis rentals in the USA booked through Avis UK and had no problems.I put in my Avis Preferred number which outs me as an Aussie.The only differende between these 2 rentals and the one booked through the Australian site was because they were prepaid my name was not up on the Preferred board whilst with the Aussie booking it was.