weiweishen Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 I travel a fair amount for business, and whenever I rent a car anymore, I can't seem to get a Ford. Even if the company has them, they never seem to be available. The last time I was able to get one (a Fusion) was in August at PHL. Otherwise I get stuck with either a GM/Chrysler product of some sort, or a Toyota. Anyone else having the same experience? My wife and I went to Vegas and tried to rent a car for traveling to surrounding National park. No any midsize Ford Sedan was available. My wife insisted to rent a Ford car. So I paid 5$ more per day for a Mustang. It was a great experience to drive a Mustang in Navada at 90miles per hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 (edited) My family ended up with a Traverse rental (from Hertz too!) for our Thanksgiving trip. None of us (or the family we were visiting) were impressed with it at all. Just thought I'd add that when I looked at the Avis rental lot, I counted at least 7 Camaros sitting there waiting to be rented.... Edited November 29, 2009 by rmc523 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
navlys32 Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 I am an employee of the company that owns Avis/Budget. I do have an involvement with them as part of my job but I do not have any involvement with the decision making as to what they buy. However I will say that right now we are buying Hyundais and Kias bigtime. I do not like it mainly because back when the big 3 were selling to daily rentals, all we heard was it drives the resale value down. It's a bad business model, blah blah blah. Now that the Big 3 - 2 ? don't sell in mass to them I see it's the Asians that stepped in and sell to them. WTF? Now you don't hear about it in a bad light. I will mention that Honda turns us down more than any Asian make. They still care about the resale issue apparently. The Koreans however will whore out there crap to anyone with a checkbook. Toyota is pretty bad too, more so lately. I usually rent with Budget. The last 3 times I rented, I ended up with a sonata twice and an eclipse once since I didnt want another sonata. Each time I requested a fusion or the taurus/500, they never have any available at the time I rent. I even asked for the new malibu which they didn't have. Since my family is mostly an import family, besides me and my bro., I can easily say the sonota is the worst car all around between the camry, accord, and altima. Might have to use someone else other than Budget next time, I' m sick of Hyndais, unless I can get a genesis (so i can test it out )over the sonata without paying more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BORG Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 My employer goes through Budget for their cars and I haven't had a Ford since a Freestyle maybe 3 years ago. Most of the time I end up with Chyrslers or Hyundais. I gave up requesting Fords sometime ago, they only have Ford trucks for hauling. The GM vehicles are evaporating as well, I've had many Impalas, Grand Prixs, and LeSabres (GOD I hate those LeSabres). The Impala is the official Taurus fleet successor, they are almost identical. Chrysler makes some real crap, it just amazes me what terrible stuff I've driven from them. I should say I'm very nice to my rentals . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark B. Morrow Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 My last rental was a Chevy HHR LS from Avis in Sun Valley, ID dropped off at the Boise Airport. The trip is about 2+ hours through the mountains. The HHR isn't a vehicle I would ever own but it wasn't terrible to drive. The pick-up was underwhelming especially on long hills. The interior was cheap looking, even for a rental. Since Avis was the only choice, I didn't even ask about a Ford Product even though I would have loved to have had an Edge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tico Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 I had to rent a car last spring after and accedent and I had a hard time getting ANY car from GM, Ford or Mopar. When I told them I wanted an american car I had to wait a few hours for a call back. They told me the best they could do was a Pontiac vibe. I hatted it! But it was better then driving an Asian car for two weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theoldwizard Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 To answer the question, "Why can't I rent a Ford ?" The answer is simple. Because Ford stopped giving big discounts to fleet buyers (read that car rental companies). And yes, it is helping to keep the resale value up on Focus, Fusion and Taurus ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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