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Bret
Yoda
Offline
Ok it’s time for another one of my simi-weekly Rental Car reviews.
This’ll be a bit of a different review this time because the focus of this review isn’t with the vehicle so much as with the services rendered by the Rental Car company.
Anyway this week went with Enterprise like I do about half the time because I often need their “Pick you UP” service. Well this week I had to drop off a vehicle at a shop in another part of town – so I went with a different local Enterprise location and was a bit concerned because I’ve had issues with their service in the past. But I sucked it up and went with them because of the fact that that location (unlike the one I normally use) doesn’t have fee for dropping off the vehicle at the airport as I’m fly’n back to Boston on Thursday. Well things didn’t start out all that great.
I had a 10am reservation and called for a pick up at 9:45. Well I knew the place was about a 10 minute drive from the shop I was using and because it was Monday (always crazy) I went out of my way to arrange for a late morning reservation. Well a half hour passed after my call and nobody showed up, so I called again & was told that the guy had another pickup and that he’d be right over. Well I waited another 15 minutes and still no ride – so I called again. This time it was a different story – but was assured that someone was on the way. Another 20 minutes passed and still nobody shows. I called yet again and this time I gave the manager an ear full and he too assured me that he was sending someone over to pick me up right then. Well this time the a driver finally shows up.
Arriving back at the Rental counter the agent tries to give me a Ford Edge even though I had a reservation for an SUV (Chevy Trailblazer, Nissan Pathfinder or similar). Already in a sour mood – I told the poor guy that that wasn’t an SUV (Crossover maybe - but NOT an SUV) like I had reserved. Then the guy tried to tell me it was an SUV - quote: “But Sir, it has a V6 and seats five” To wit I asked “So is that your definition of an SUV? Anyway I wouldn’t budge & continued to say NO to the vehicle and insisted that they give me what I reserved. He then tried to give me a couple of “smaller” SUVs (Ford Escape & Dodge Nitro – I don’t think so!) then the manager got involved and upgraded me to a really nice Expedition XL.
While I love the Expeditions – the XL version seats eight & is about 3 ft longer than the regular version. And with all the tools & test equipment I haul around with me I figured it’d work better than anything they’d offered thus far. So I finally relented mainly because I was running way too late & my day was half blown by this point already. But with fuel approaching $4/gal out here I was grateful that I wasn’t paying for the gas.
Ok Rant over – now for my thoughts on the vehicle.
All & all the Expedition XL is a pretty nice vehicle – comfy leather trim & extremely well appointed. While I must say I would never own one myself – I actually kind of liked it but I prefer the regular Expedition and make mine a 4x4 please. Anyway lots of power (just ignore the fuel gauge dropping) tow package and despite the long body, I really thought it drove pretty good and never felt overly awkward. Short of a diesel engine – this truck (there I said it – it’s a TRUCK) with it’s 5.4L V8 could probably handle most loads and would make a great toy hauler for weekend warriors. But like most behemoths I’d dread driving it in town with any sort of regularity. Nope this big monster belongs out in the wide open spaces.
Well there ya go - thus far my biggest grip – seems to be with that particular local Enterprise Rental location not so much with the vehicle.
This’ll be a bit of a different review this time because the focus of this review isn’t with the vehicle so much as with the services rendered by the Rental Car company.
Anyway this week went with Enterprise like I do about half the time because I often need their “Pick you UP” service. Well this week I had to drop off a vehicle at a shop in another part of town – so I went with a different local Enterprise location and was a bit concerned because I’ve had issues with their service in the past. But I sucked it up and went with them because of the fact that that location (unlike the one I normally use) doesn’t have fee for dropping off the vehicle at the airport as I’m fly’n back to Boston on Thursday. Well things didn’t start out all that great.
I had a 10am reservation and called for a pick up at 9:45. Well I knew the place was about a 10 minute drive from the shop I was using and because it was Monday (always crazy) I went out of my way to arrange for a late morning reservation. Well a half hour passed after my call and nobody showed up, so I called again & was told that the guy had another pickup and that he’d be right over. Well I waited another 15 minutes and still no ride – so I called again. This time it was a different story – but was assured that someone was on the way. Another 20 minutes passed and still nobody shows. I called yet again and this time I gave the manager an ear full and he too assured me that he was sending someone over to pick me up right then. Well this time the a driver finally shows up.
Arriving back at the Rental counter the agent tries to give me a Ford Edge even though I had a reservation for an SUV (Chevy Trailblazer, Nissan Pathfinder or similar). Already in a sour mood – I told the poor guy that that wasn’t an SUV (Crossover maybe - but NOT an SUV) like I had reserved. Then the guy tried to tell me it was an SUV - quote: “But Sir, it has a V6 and seats five” To wit I asked “So is that your definition of an SUV? Anyway I wouldn’t budge & continued to say NO to the vehicle and insisted that they give me what I reserved. He then tried to give me a couple of “smaller” SUVs (Ford Escape & Dodge Nitro – I don’t think so!) then the manager got involved and upgraded me to a really nice Expedition XL.
While I love the Expeditions – the XL version seats eight & is about 3 ft longer than the regular version. And with all the tools & test equipment I haul around with me I figured it’d work better than anything they’d offered thus far. So I finally relented mainly because I was running way too late & my day was half blown by this point already. But with fuel approaching $4/gal out here I was grateful that I wasn’t paying for the gas.
Ok Rant over – now for my thoughts on the vehicle.
All & all the Expedition XL is a pretty nice vehicle – comfy leather trim & extremely well appointed. While I must say I would never own one myself – I actually kind of liked it but I prefer the regular Expedition and make mine a 4x4 please. Anyway lots of power (just ignore the fuel gauge dropping) tow package and despite the long body, I really thought it drove pretty good and never felt overly awkward. Short of a diesel engine – this truck (there I said it – it’s a TRUCK) with it’s 5.4L V8 could probably handle most loads and would make a great toy hauler for weekend warriors. But like most behemoths I’d dread driving it in town with any sort of regularity. Nope this big monster belongs out in the wide open spaces.
Well there ya go - thus far my biggest grip – seems to be with that particular local Enterprise Rental location not so much with the vehicle.
