Hertz President's Circle Status: My First Experience

Used to be Presidents Club for many years. I got tired of the indifferent to horrible customer service. I switched to National this year and while not perfect, it has been much better. The two programs are essentially the same otherwise.

Hmm....
"No additional driver fee for a spouse or domestic partner in the United Statues"

United *Statues*?

Looks like you got autocorrected.

I have had Hertz President's Circle status since 2015. I have NEVER received "Hertz valet" nor have I ever received "expedited vehicle pick-up." I'm not even sure what "expedited vehicle pick-up" is exactly.

I use Autoslash. I almost always book a full-size sedan, although sometimes a higher class or speciality class of rental car is cheaper. In that circumstance, I'll book the premium option. I almost always get a premium or luxury sedan; generally a Chrysler 300, which I really like. Increasingly, rental car branches don't have sedans because Ford, Chevrolet and Chrysler basically stopped making sedans in 2020 and 2021. Lately, I've been getting Ford Mustangs and Ford Edges since no sedans have been on the lot. I don't like getting Chevrolet or other General Motors cars because they typically don't have Apple CarPlay installed and there's no other navigation option.

My biggest complaint about Hertz besides worthless points and HORRIBLE customer service -- when I have a major issue I typically just email the CEO of Hertz and I get a telephone call from a regional VP or operations director within a day -- is SiriusXM satellite. Sometimes it is included free of charge on premium, luxury or speciality cars. Other times it isn't included. Yet other times you may the absurd daily fee for the SiriusXM option but the branch never properly activates it. I think it's outrageous that SiriusXM Satellite isn't included free of charge. After all, Hertz doesn't charge for regular radio or even air conditioning.

I've been President's Circle for several years. In my previous employment I had a Hertz outlet just around the corner from my office and used them regularly. They always treated me well. One thing they would do for me is to waive the drop fee if I was picking up downtown and dropping at the airport, or vice versa. The upshot was that it was almost always substantially cheaper to rent a car to get to the airport than to take a cab. A drop fee would have occasionally changed that. I would usually book the "Manager's Special" at the airport (no area to choose your own car at that particular location) and got some amazing vehicles, from a Prius, to a Volvo, to a Mustang.

I've had a variety of very nice cars from Hertz over the years, though I do find the selection at my new airport a little SUV heavy. They're usually more car than I need, and burn more gas than I'd prefer.

On the minus side, I find Hertz's app buggy and the website occasionally has problems

Hertz is SUV heavy in North America because US carmakers are no longer making sedans. They think Americans and Canadians only want to drive crossovers, SUVs and trucks. Meanwhile, foreign carmakers are still making and selling sedans.

You can also get the President Status by being a 1k on United.

Did you book through the portal (earning 10X) or directly with Hertz? And, presumably, you paid with the Venture X?

It worked well for me but my expectations are relative low. Never received "Hertz valet" nor have I ever received "expedited vehicle pick-up" either so not sure if its even available or how it works.
A lot of times Presidents Circle cars are not that much better compared to the regular cars. I do like the select your own car and once it really helped me save a lot of money but this was before covid (played the game and reserved only a regular car but wanted a Suburban).
For a 'free' status (I had it via United 1K) it is pretty good but nothing to write home about.

FYI you don’t need Presidents status to skip the counter. Just free Gold status.

More of the standard Emerald aisle experience

The point of the Board is to clarify who has a car. It is not a status trip. If your name is not on the Board, to the office for you. This is not a rare occurrence. Being a President’s Circle member does not mean you will always have immediate access to a car. Really depends more on whether other people actually return their car on time than anything Hertz controls. Ben is unlikely to ever use Hertz at MIA but the location is among the worst primarily due to ex US visitors that seem to have real difficulty returning their car at the right time (day).

I used you link Ben for the Cap X card. How long does it take to get Hertz President associated with one's account?

How I choose: In SoCal, always go for the convertible. After that, go for the least scuffed (look at the rims, front/rear bumper), best-equipped, highest brand. Best airports for choice: LAX, MIA. ONT is okay (booked Standard, got Mustang convertible, ideal for a PSP getaway). Remember: you can change cars later, for any reason, at any Hertz location. I often do, when I find flaws, or just don't like it.

Its really hit or miss. in SFO the best available vehicle just after the 4th of july was a Hyundai Venue. Last week in TPA was an Infiniti qx50 (I think, it's their smaller SUV). Generally speaking it's what you see. I still like the convenience of the program and that alone makes it worthwhile.

I’ve actually gotten the valet once at MCO. Not a big deal, but it was cool. The guy said leave your bags in the vehicle and he checked me out and drove us to the gate. Saved a couple minutes. Apparently it happens although it was before Covid.

after a week of my status not updating I reached out to hertz directly and they updating my status.

@ CK -- Thanks for the support! For me it posted within one day of registering. I shared my experience in this post:
https://onemileatatime.com/guides/capital-one-venture-x-hertz/

I've always used the National Emerald Aisle at ABQ and had a great choice of vehicles (pre-COVID). Hertz rental prices always have been higher so I have never tried the President's Circle. Given the Amex Platinum benefit, I'll try it next time and see what happens.....

That would be a huge benefit at Denver and even Detroit and Sam Francisco. Not worth anything at airports with attached car rental facilities.

Not anymore.

I am sure many know this, however it is worth noting that most rental car companies do status match. So if you get Hertz Presidents Circle with VentureX or Delta status, you should be able to then use that to gain elite status at Avis, Enterprise, etc.

I would say that Hertz doesn't do a good job differentiating President's Circle from lower Gold elite statuses. Sometimes, the cars in the President's Circle section are lower quality. Most Hertz employees seem to treat all Gold customers the same, when President's Circle should be elevated.

A little confused how this is different from Gold, where I also skip the line and go directly to my car. Is it because the of the ability to choose from an assortment of cars? Personally, I don't care that much, since I'm usually happy with what I booked. I guess the upgrade is nice.

Avis doesn't match to its top tier.

Yeah, Hertz doesn't do a good job differentiating President's Circle from lower Gold elite statuses. But, in my experience, I have found that I always have a car as a President's Circle customer even at branches out of cars from everyone else. I also always pre-pay. Those two things make a big difference.

Ben,

Been PC for about three years, status matched over and have since earned the hard way. PC was pretty good pre-pandemic, better selection of cars. Then Hertz went bankrupt and sold off a huge chunk of their fleet AND they merged with Thrifty/Dollar. Since then, it's been kind of a disaster.

God help you if you decide to rent at LAX. While the Gold counter staff is generally helpful, I have experienced issues like:
1.) Lost reservations
2.) Name not appearing on the board
3.) Far fewer frequency of shuttles to the facility
4.) A shuttle driver picked me and a few others up at Terminal 7 and then announced he had to go around again because some passengers didn't hear him announce terminals. No option to get off and wait for the next one, just started driving.
5.) The wait to exit the facility once you've selected your car often exceeds 30 minutes.

I've written to Hertz PC customer service for each of these issues and have yet to hear a response regarding any of them. It used to be that you'd get a response in 24 hours.

Long story short: Hertz no longer has its act together. Time to switch to someone else.

Ben, I'd like to hear more regarding "I’m starting to hate renting cars less than I used to". I'm likely to try Turo for my next trip because of consistently bad experiences with car rental companies, but still have an open mind.

Ben, if this matters to you at all, try to choose a car next time that has the radar at the top of the rear view mirror. You can see it at the top of the windshield in the center in a sort of triangle shape facing the front of the car. That means the car has crucial safety features like automatic braking, lane keep assist, and potentially adaptive cruise control. Looks like your Chevy had none of those, but lots of the other options did! Just something to consider to make sure you're as safe as possible on the road.

I’ve been Presidents Circle for years now. Have been driven back to the airport many times by Hertz rapid return agent. Did you know if your Presidents
Circle and don’t see a car in the Presidents isle that you like you can pick a car from ANY of the Gold Isles also? I found this out in PDX once. They had a mad rush of President Circle members arrive at the same time and couldn’t fill the President Isle fast enough. Agent said if your Presidents Circle you can wait for us to bring up more cars or just grab one from the other Gold isles. On a future visit their wasn’t a car that I liked and asked the agent if I could pick a car from the Gold isle and he said if your presidents circle you can chose from any isle not just Presidents.

Agreed about the board kind of being a relic. However, the board originally was to show what spot your car was in. This was before you had the ability to pick whatever was in the President's area or the Gold area or whatever. Also before the days of an app to tell you where your car is located if you want to take whatever they've assigned you (can't remember if Hertz does this or not, I switched to Avis a couple years ago and that's what Avis does).

So you used to get into the rental area, find your name on the board, and found out where you needed to go to pick up your car. Less useful these days, but people are used to the board being there, so I guess it stays.

Has anyone figured out how to successfully opt-in to President's Circle via their Delta Medallion Status? I like the accounts, but it never shows that I'm President's Circle.

All my PC experiences have been train wrecks, varying from my name not being on the board, or on the board with a "go to the counter" message, to not having the car class I reserved available. Given up and using National or Avis Preferred.

Eek. I like the adaptive cruise control out of sheer laziness on unbusy- monotonous roads with the occasional car in front of me, If someone has (needs) to have the car keep in land and stop for them as part of their vehicle choice, that sounds like someone with poor driving skills who I hope isn't on the same road with myself.

I don't see what the deal with President's Circle status. I'm Hertz Gold and rent only a couple of times a year. In recent years I've been able to select my own car and once at PHL I was "chauffeured" to the terminal. So I'm having trouble seeing what the additional benefits of being PC.
Also in terms of car selection, I want a smaller car with higher gas mileage and easier to park. I'm happy with a Corrola or a Camry and don't want to be upgraded to some larger sedan/SUV.

My biggest issue with Hertz is the high percentage of cloth vs leatherette seating in vehicles. I can't stand cloth seats given the smells they retain and how dirty they get. Avis is much better in this regard and I rarely ever get a cloth seat.

And cleaning of interiors with any of the companies is a complete joke. It's actually gotten worse since Covid and verging on disgusting. Dog hair, kids messes, food...I doubt they even do a basic wipe down inside nowadays.

"Am I the only one who struggles with picking cars in this situation? I love having the choice, but I also suffer from horrible indecision in situations like this, when there’s not a clear best option."

I mean the clear and obvious best choice is whatever vehicle has the highest MPG rating.

Whatever happened to your carbon offset initiative btw? Seems like its never a factor for you. Ever.

@XPL and others beware renting from Turo.

I wanted to try Turo for my previous rental and even had a car picked out. Then I had a thought, does my personal car insurance protect me for this? The answer is "No". So, if you want to be safe you'll have to upgrade the Turo insurance which added 40%-100% of the cost of the rental depending on how much coverage you want! Chase Sapphire doesn't cover Turo person-to-person rentals either. I chose Avis instead.

YMMV

Perhaps YMMV but yes most personal car insurance do cover Turo.

for only 2 day rental I picked a premium car with discount (president = discount rate) Don't expect a clean car though. I never ever had a clean car with Hertz. the explorer looked nice.

At least you haven't been arrested, thanks to Hertz filing false police reports. View from the Wing has the latest.

I've done that at the airports in Fort Myers and St. Louis.

I don't know about "most" personal insurance covering peer-to-peer car rentals, but each renter should check with their insurer and not assume they are covered. Also, even if you are covered for your 12 year old Corolla (for example), the coverage limit won't cover you when you total a Tesla (for example).

Been this level of Hertz or higher for 25 years. Never rent w them. Worst major car rental agency especially given all the police reports for people that rent their cars which are ALL due to Hertz IT issues.

Give me National Executive Emerald Club any day over Hertz ( been that level around 25 years as well)

Just make sure to check your card for the actual charges compared to your reservation. In this contactless pick - drive - return - walk away system Hertz charged me over $850 on a $165 reservation. I only found out when I received my card statement. When asked about this multiple times Hertz says "read the rental terms". Basically they reserve the right to charge whatever they please without notification. Very bad.

My challenge is that I'm afraid to just pick a car and go. With my most recent experience in Tampa last month I even asked a Hertz employee who was directing people who entered the garage and after identifying myself as a President's Circle member she told me to go to line for the Gold counter anyway. It would be nice if they both honored the benefit and encouraged people to use it.

Make sure they don't accuse you of stealing the car!

I've been Delta Platinum or Diamond for years and I've never been able to get President's Circle. Delta says they tell Hertz, Hertz says contact Delta. On the other hand, I try to avoid Hertz (I think National is much better) so perhaps it's just as well.

I’m president’s circle through United 1K (not sure if they’re doing that any more). I rent quite often at LAX for business trips. The cars are almost always a yawn, but often there is one mustang GT or a BMW X1 which you can nab if you run in front of everyone else off the bus.

This Hertz location is notorious for charging for fuel even when you decline and return the car full. I know rental companies do this all the time, but man, it’s really bad at Hertz LAX. I explicitly decline fuel verbally to the agent at the exit, but of course Hertz doesn’t document this choice anywhere. I always fill up and show the receipt when I can but more than half the time I find a $20 charge for 1-2 gallons of gas when I get home. I have to remember to take a photo of the dashboard and scan in my gas receipt, then email Hertz to have the charge removed. I have filed a complaint with the California Attorney General’s office, which I’m sure landed on deaf ears.

Anyway sorry to rant, but Hertz is a pretty mediocre to poor rental car company, and President’s circle is barely worth choosing them over Avis Wizard or National Emerald. Meh.

At 15000 miles, a rental car is actually close to being phased out.
In Germany, around 20k km is the cap. Then the rental companies sell the car back to the manufacturer or do so themselves.

Anyone have experience with Hertz PC in Europe? Are you able to pick an automatic from the lot even if you rented a manual?

Absolutely not in the US and definitely not with Hertz. I was given a Nissan when 47,000 miles in MIA just last week. I’ve had a super old Impala with over 60,000 too. That said *most* of the time at airport locations they tend to be newer with less miles at least in PC aisles.

I BEEN A HERTZ PRESIDENT CIRCLE MEMBER FOR ALMOST A YEAR NOW, AS LOCAL LOYAL WEEKEND RENTER IN MY HOMETOWN AIRPORT. THERE'S TIMES I WOULD HAVE TO GIVE FEEDBACK TO THE EXECUTIVE CARE DEPT, ABOUT VERY LIMITED ULTIMATE CHOICE SELECTION THAT DON'T SATIFIED ME SOMETIMES, CAUSE OF THE AMOUNT OF CARS THAT HERTZ HAD TO SELL OFF DURING THE SO-CALLED PANDEMIC, THAT CAUSE HERTZ TO BUY HIGH MILEAGE & OLDER CARS & SUV'S @ THE PUBLIC CAR AUCTIONS TO REPLACE IN THEIR FLEETS. NOW HERTZ FOCUSING ON GETTING MORE TESLA ELECTRIC CARS INTO THEIR FLEETS, WHICH I EXPLAINED TO HERTZ GLOBAL, THEY NEED TO GET MORE BETTER LATEST MODEL OF DIFFERENT MIDSIZE, & STANDARDS SIZE SUV'S WITH MUCH LOWER MILEAGE, SO INDIVIDUALS & FAMILY CAN HAVE MORE STORAGE SPACE & ROOM.

And a new story was released on CBSMornings just today.

As a President's Circle member this happened to me too. Here's my story as reported by CBSMornings https://twitter.com/CBSMornings/status/1456258931190222853?s=20

Most Airport sites don't allow you too rent right now online within 24 hours you have to call. So that's why your same day search was empty. I don't know why this occurs probably because they run out of cars so often?

I have found President's Circle incredibly useful. The choice of cars can sometime be blah, but it depends on the airport and the time. I have selected full size new extended cab pickups, high end SUVs, sports cars, etc.

Were you able to pick any car you wanted including something much more expensive than you had previously booked?

Do you have to reserve a certain class of car to entitley you to choose from the President Circle lot, or can you reserve the cheapest subcompact available, and still have access to all the cars in the President Circle lot?

I have had the same issue. I used the hertz contact page on their website to send an email saying I had platinum status with delta and it was not matching in hertz. It was fixed within 48 hours.

I apparently was upgraded to the Hertz President's Circle in time for my most recent rental (early March).

All went well with pick up and drop off until a week afterwards I got not one but two calls from Hertz Vehicle Control. They wanted to know when I'd be returning the rental ...the one I returned the week before. They had the attitude of debt collectors with the assumption I was the guilty party. Even though my receipt from the Hertz website showed I had returned the vehicle on time. And they were charging my credit card additional days!!! Lesson.....get a printed receipt when you drop off your car.

Exactly......I have called to extend rentals and told everything was ok only to receive threatening phone calls and letters from Loss Control,

the valet service is the best (and I use it every time - just drive to lot and tell them you are presidents) They will then drop you off at the gate and help you with your luggage

Midsize or better based on terms.

I had the same experience with Medallion Platinum status and Hertz President's Circle. On delta.com they now have added links which help you set up this benefit. My President's Circle status showed up on Hertz.com 2 days later.

They say that they have a dedicated phone line but they don't tell you what it is and good luck trying to find it anywhere on their website!

hmmm, they gave it to me when I earned Pres Circle a number of years ago and I stored it in my phone. You can always call the Gold line and ask them for it.

I just status matched to Avis presidents club with ease.

I’ve never had a bad experience and I would tell you to get to get a medium or small size vehicle at the cheapest price, because they’re going to upgrade you automatically. You get to save money and get upgraded. To me you’re getting the best of both worlds.

I am still on hold for 2+ hours now, trying to finally speak to an agent about how Hertz continues to rip off its President's Circle Members. This is the third straight time this has happened-- Hertz, when you log in to your account on the website or app, will quote you the "best" rate or your chosen car, which is 100% of the time more than 2x higher than what they would charge a nobody trying to rent the same car, during the same time, with the same parameters. Hertz refuses to address this. Its straight up cheating and stealing. From its best customers.

It’s on this page
https://offer.hertz.com/offers/index.jsp?targetPage=TierStatusMatch.jsp&ID=36284

The indecision is awful .... I thought it was just me. The agony of possibly not picking the best available car and then the worst of human nature surfaces when someone else starts considering the cars and The fear they might get the best one... all good fun I guess.

If you want to actually reduce your carbon footprint then don't travel. By posting here you probably like to travel so it's not that important to you. Saving a couple miles on mpg is really not going to change anything.

I last used my Prez Circle a couple of weeks ago (also via VX) in Nashville and scored a Mustang convertible. Love the program—sometimes!

How did you manage the status match?

i earn mine from AA plat pro status

I had the same HORRIBLE experience at MIA Airport, even with my GOLD PLUS REWARDS PRESIDENT CIRCLE STATUS. First, my name was never on the board despite paying weeks in advanced and confirming everything was correct. Then, after finding an employee was nearly impossible. Either you are met with a Hertz Miami Aiport employee who is downright rude, or they run away from you not to help anyone, or unless you speak Spanish (which I don't) no one is willing to help you, let alone , when they do its another 30 minute wait with attitude. One of the worst car rental experiences in my life after renting cars nationwide for 30 years. This place has failed Management Supervision and honestly is such a black eye for HERTZ company. Even with my Status, doesn't mean a damn thing, took me more than 2 hours to get a car, which was well less that what I reserved, with attitude, on top of being tired from a 5 hour flight. Shame on MIA Aiport Hertz. Sadly, my worst rental experience in my life, and I've had some bad ones, this was the worst of the worse.

A really significant advantage that other rental companies (Avis, National, Sixt) don't offer is the possibility of returning for an additional 4 hours without any return fees. Another experience, I didn't like anything in the President Circle row, I went to pick up a car at random that I liked, I expected a refusal or a supplement, I got nothing. Good point.

I concur with John, the MIA Airport Hertz is the worst Hertz location on the planet and they ended my 20+ year loyalty to Hertz with the worst car rental experience of all time. My name was on the board and I went to President's Circle... no cars. Platinum no cars... Gold... no cars. The only cars they had were premium upgrades. I rented a full size (and usually pick an SUV when available) and the guy in front of me reserved a Mid-size SUV but none available. They said he could upgrade to the Cadillac Escalade for only $220...... PER DAY!! Over $1,500 for a week! He argued and argued and they gave him a minivan, an "upgrade" at no charge they called it. After waiting over 1 hour at the Gold desk.... I tried the nice approach... I also got a minivan, a white one which I hate and with 40k+ miles, plus scratches and missing paint on every side. This is the last car I would ever have selected to rent. I exited thorough an AI automated damage scan and a 30+ minute wait at the exit gate. And this was the better half of the experience.