20.00 car rental upgrade ?

last time in las vegas we got a free upgrade to a nissan altima because all the smaller cars were already gone .....so has anyone ever tried the 20.00 trick with the car porters out on the lot to get a bigger car even though the small ones were still in stock ?
the lady at the counter did her hardest upsale to get us to pay for a upgrade , but we said no
she knew all the small cars were gone and she new we would get upgraded for nothing
we will arrive at 4pm so i am hoping all the small cars we be all gone again :evillaugh
but if not i am more than willing to spend a little cash to get a better/bigger ride

 

I have never paid for an upgrade on a rental car. If they start giving me the hard sell about paying just X amount I can can get upgraded...I politely decline. One time I had the rental clerk knock down the price of the upgrade three times before I got him to admit to me that he was out of full sized cars and upgraded me to a SUV for free..weasels. I rented a full sized car from Enterprise last September when I was out in Vegas. When the agent was showing me my options for cars I held a $20 in my hand so that he could see it, and asked him if I could upgrade to the Lincoln MKZ sitting at the end of the row. The agent said "sure"...handed him the twenty and I was in business. I tried this manuver again this past December, the attendant agreed to take the $20 for the free upgrade, but it turned out the MKZ was being held for someone else. I ended up with a Chysler 300 instead,and I got to keep the $20. Hey, the worst that can happen is that they say no....worth a shot.

 

Hey, never thought about that. While I doubt it would be easy to get an upgrade from the desk clerks it may be easier to get an upgrade from the attendants out in the parking lot. A number of times with the national chains the attendant allowed me to choose from the next sized cars because cars in my size weren't available.

 

The reason they gove you the hard sell is because of the way they are paid.

I knew a guy that worked here at one. he said the way they pay you is based on the extra stuff you sell someone and then how many days they get the extra stuff.

So if you are from out of town and rent a car for 1 week and get no extras, the worker is - 7. That means he needs to sell 7 upgrades to to get back to even.

So what happens with this stupid structuce is business people who rent cars once a month dont get waitind on because they know them already and if they rent them a car they will be negative. People will be fawning over the out of touwners because yhey could easily rent them a car, get 3 upgrades per day for 7 days and by +21.

Stupid pay system if you ask me but it is what it is so thats why they try to get you on things. they arent being weasles and jerks, they are just trying to keep their head above water.

The guy who pulls your car around cant upgrade it because you have to sign for it. If he gives you the wrong car by default he will have to give someone else the wrong car as well. Would you do that for $20?

 

This seems a little contrary. If you paid $20 for the MKZ upgrade, you paid for an upgrade, so how can you say you never paid for an upgrade?:confused2:
Paying or tipping, it's the same thing.

 

Best upgrade in Laughlin (on a free flight package)

Rented - smallest car as we wanted somethign cheap on gas so we could drive to the Grand Canyon and Vegas.

Received - 'Would you be interested in a complimentary upgrade?' 'What do you have I responded' , and said to my wife 'It depends what they offer we really want to keep the gas cost down'.

Offered - 'We have a Camero convertible if you woudl desire.'

Response - 'I think we'll take it!'

 

I worked the counter, guess what- the $20 trick can work inside as well. :wink

I had been tipped as much as a $50 for a nice upgrade.

We got commision on insurance (coverage), upgrades, pre paid fuel (but not customers that returned less than full and were charged a fee) and walk ups (someone with no reservations)

 

with the bad economy many people like to rent the smaller cars and so the smaller and intermediate cars may sometimes run out. I was given a convertible car in vegas (thrifty) by the attendant because they ran out of economy and compact cars. This was during the winter so they had a big surplus of convertibles. The attendant just looked around and asked if I wanted a larger car and said that I could take the convertible or wait for my size car to come in. I chose the convertible but never took the top down since it was cold.

I have also gotten upgrades from the outside attendants at Alamo and advantage.

zamboni, thanks for the info about the $20 trick with the counter clerks, never knew that. I always thought that they worked on commission and so pushed the extras. maybe eddie's pay system is for a particular rental agency, eddie, what agency is your pay system from?

I have had some obnoxious sales clerks before. I rented from dollar a few years ago, the clerk asked me for my insurance coverages and deductibles when I declined the extra insurance and extra stuff. he actually had the audacity to tell me how I should do my car insurance. He spent 45 minutes trying to tell me how to do my insurance and trying to get me to purchase extras, what a total waste of time as I had no intention of getting extras. After that whenever I rented from dollar I would let others go before me so I wouldn't get the guy again. In turn I was out the door before they were finished with the guy.

 

We almost always rent from Alamo and always get an upgrade just for the asking. Always rent a compact and upgrade to intermediate. We never asked for anything larger because we travel a lot and don't want a gas guzzler. A couple of years ago in Reno we rented a compact and were given a huge SUV b/c that's all they had available. Took it back the next day and exchanges it for an intermediate. That rental cost a whopping total of $43 for a week. We'll never see that price again.

 

I try this every time I rent in Las Vegas and never have been shot down. $20 is too high, it works perfectly with a $5 or $10. I always rent the cheapest car from Alamo and offer the lot attendant the cash. I try for a premium / luxury but have always gotten at least a full size.

 

that is the answer i was looking for ...thanks

 

$20 trick renting a car

Got a midsize with Hertz in a few weeks, was wondering if the $20 trick would work to get a much better car. I know to tip the attendant instead of the clerk in this situation, any luck with this for anyone?