Enterprise fuel policy

[FailingEnterpriseAdmin]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

And another thing, how much money did this dullard lose out on? Seriously, a couple of bucks? I used to work for ERAC and I was a branch manager at one point. Because my cars were so shitty, I never charged gas. I even tried to give gas refunds if they brought it back with a little more (my ARM would tell me not to). But, I had to charge gas if they got the car full and returned it empty. Gas isn't free as you may have guessed. And because of some vo-tech graduates like the original poster of this thread, they would return the cars empty and because of the turnaround rate they would go out empty.

And I do get out often Admin, I don't sit behind a computer 24/7 monitoring this glorified hate site. Maybe you should go out and check out the price of gas before you start talking shit.

I'm not asking Enterprise to provide free gas. You already mark up for the "fuel purchase option" as well as the "refueling service". Here in the Bay Area, you add $1.00/gallon markup to gas. Yes, gas is expensive, and then you charge even more for the service.

Why can't you do like the other major chains and give a full tank and the two dreaded options, fuel purchase and refueling service, as well as the "just bring it back full" option.

The original poster is right that planning to bring it back with the same level you got it at is an invitation to either over fill, losing money, or underfill and getting way overcharged for gas.

Enterprise is optimizing here for their own benefit, and the customer gets screwed. Twice I rented from Enterprise and the tank was empty. I'm not asking for free gas, I'm asking for a car that works and a chance to avoid the gasoline refill rip-off.

Originally Posted by FailingEnterpriseAdmin

I'm not suggesting they have their own gas pumps, just that they always deliver a car with a full tank. I've had 45 rentals in a row from another nationwide chain and the tank's always been full. Isn't that standard at all the major except Enterprise?

And since Enterprise charges for "refueling service", why do they pocket this service charge and not actually provide the refueling service?

Once again, no. It is not the norm to fill the tanks prior to renting them out. I have always asked for a full tank wherever I have rented from and they always tell me the same thing, "we cannot guarantee a full tank". No ONE PLACE. And please read my other posts in regards to "refueling service" for your answers. I had mentioned that I rarely charged for gas because of CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Settle down people. I hate the company as much as anyone else, but Enterprise isnt making any money off gas..they are losing a few hundred per month per branch. Enterprise also has around 100-200 cars per location compared to a competitor's 25-70. It is a little more difficult to run that many cars to the gas station each day. In Enterprise's defense, the majority of the locations will not allow the company to place a fuel pump. The only exception should be the airports since alot of them allow fuel pumps onsite. I can see how sometimes it sucks, but they are only asking you to match it up, I dont see what is so incredibly difficult with that. If you go 100 miles, put around 4.5 to 5 gallons of gas in. What is the problem?

[FailingEnterpriseAdmin]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Settle down people. I hate the company as much as anyone else, but Enterprise isnt making any money off gas..they are losing a few hundred per month per branch. Enterprise also has around 100-200 cars per location compared to a competitor's 25-70. It is a little more difficult to run that many cars to the gas station each day. In Enterprise's defense, the majority of the locations will not allow the company to place a fuel pump. The only exception should be the airports since alot of them allow fuel pumps onsite. I can see how sometimes it sucks, but they are only asking you to match it up, I dont see what is so incredibly difficult with that. If you go 100 miles, put around 4.5 to 5 gallons of gas in. What is the problem?

The problem is that most people don't want to have to do that calculation, that most gas gauges are unreliable, and that they know that if they guess too high or too low they lose money, and then there's the fear of having to argue over the gas gauge when you get back. It's a huge pain.

The real motivation for this is that Enterprise can save labor costs by getting their customers to do the fueling for them.

As for the monthly gas losses at the branch, what would it look like if you weren't giving away gas to compensate customers because something else went wrong?

[defuelled]

'Unregistered' - #1 You said you were a branch manager. I get the distinct impression that I'm not the one who's high! #2 You're not paying attention - decent companies provide a car with a full tank; ERAC provided me with a car with a quarter full tank and then refused to reimburse me when I returned it with a three quarter full tank. You might call it highway robbery.

It's the same thing whether or not you return it full or at 1/4 of a tank. Either way you look at it, you have to fill the gas. Whether you fill it so that it's full again or you fill it upto a quarter, what's the big deal? I do agree that anything less than a half is pretty bad, but with a half tank +, you'll still be okay.

People make such a big deal about the smallest things.

Best way to gauge it is by filling it little-by-little at a time, say $10 and see where that gets you. For example, you get the car with 1/4 tank, put $10 in and keep driving. Before you return the car, just make sure its not too far from 1/4.
I agree that because they stock so many cars, it would make things much more difficult to keep the cars with a full tank. I think that keeping them on 1/4 is fine, really.
Also, on the contracts, it clearly says "NO GASOLINE REFUNDS." Thats the policy.

Originally Posted by defuelled

'Unregistered' - #1 You said you were a branch manager. I get the distinct impression that I'm not the one who's high! #2 You're not paying attention - decent companies provide a car with a full tank; ERAC provided me with a car with a quarter full tank and then refused to reimburse me when I returned it with a three quarter full tank. You might call it highway robbery.

But in your prior posts, you said that the car was given to you with a full tank of gas. Stop contradicting yourself.

And be careful who you knock in regards to employment. I admit working for ERAC was not the best decision, but I was proud of what I did. Not many people can say that. What do you do for a living? You probably get a decent wage from testing that sofa all day long don't you?

Originally Posted by FailingEnterpriseAdmin

The problem is that most people don't want to have to do that calculation, that most gas gauges are unreliable, and that they know that if they guess too high or too low they lose money, and then there's the fear of having to argue over the gas gauge when you get back. It's a huge pain.

But customers ALWAYS argue. It never fails. "I brought it back with an ounce of gas more". I'm sorry, I can't refund you $2.65. "I'm completely dissatisfied!" The only fear is on the employees behalf when we have to walk on eggshells for moron customers who feel yelling at someone who makes less than minimum wage is acceptable.

Originally Posted by FailingEnterpriseAdmin

The real motivation for this is that Enterprise can save labor costs by getting their customers to do the fueling for them.

As for the monthly gas losses at the branch, what would it look like if you weren't giving away gas to compensate customers because something else went wrong?

Admin- you are dead on accurate about a lot of things with ERAC, but this one you are not correct. The reason ERAC doesn't fill it up each time is because they would lose their shirts. What no one is mentioning is the replacement customer (insurance & dealership). You have to remember the big mistake ERAC makes is they are trying to be all things to all people. They want the airport customer, the retail customer for weekends, the corporate customer and the insurance replacement customer. The inherent problem with their current business model is they cannot be all things to all customers, and it leads to big problems like gas, and not having enough cars, and poorly staffed offices, and every other major problem routinely discussed on your site.

Anyway, the insurance replacement customer (in most cases) does not have to leave a deposit on the rental because the bill is going to a 3rd party in full. Therefore, the people that negotiate the national insurance deals tell the insurance companies their customer does not need a deposit. So you are giving a customer a vehicle who has no financial tie to you. Well, as you can imagine the customer would get a full tank and return it empty in many, if not all, cases (trust me on that admin, most people don't have the sense of community you clearly do. MOST people in the general public do not follow 'the golden rule' and would screw one another every chance they get.) Of course ERAC is not going to pursue $50 from a customer for gas. And if they did, they wouldn't get it anyway. And if the customer complained to the insurance company, ERAC would fold like a cheap tent and not pursue the customer for the cost of the gas at the risk of upsetting the referral source.

With that being established, let's look at the ripple effect of the replacement customer. You have learned so much about ERAC that you know pretty much the rest. Cars are shared so freely amongst branches that even if one branch tried to fill every tank, they wouldn't get cars added from other branches at full tanks, so they would constantly be filling cars and having them return empty. It's a perpetual cycle that cannot be broken.

I worked at a branch that was in charge of a local FBO (Fixed Based Operations) airport. We had an exclusive agreement with the FBO that we would get all their business because we would come through for them on every request, and each car would be delivered clean and full of gas. It was a nightmare (for many reasons, but mainly gas). Our gas bill each month was through the roof and directly ate into our profit margins. It drove us crazy trying to find a solution, but we never could because the other branches would give us cars not full. It wasn't the branches fault, because ERAC doesn't enforce the gas policy.

And let's not forget the end all, be all of existence at Enterprise -- the real four letter word for employees there -- ESQi!!!! The most screwed up system customer service measurement you have ever heard of, and the thing that is held over the heads of their employees right up there with profit. I won't go into the dissertation about how wrong the ESQi system is, but suffice it to say that employees are so afraid of the ESQi survey and getting a bad one, that they will do whatever they have to do in order to get the 'completely satisfied' answer that corporate demands. So when employees actually tried to pursue a customer for gas, they give up with any push back at all from the customer. SCENARIO: the customer legitimately owes about $20 for a half tank of gas. ERAC, "Hey, it looks like you didn't get a chance to fill up before you brought it back. We're supposed to collect for things like that. What do say you tell me what you think half a tank would be and we'll stick to that?" CUSTOMER, "I got it that way (or any other of an endless number of responses from the infamous, "F*#K you." to "Oh, I'll go put some more in it. I'm not overpaying for gas with you." -- you know the ERAC employee is trained not to give the keys back to the customer -- BAM! Wreck on the way to the gas station -- seen it happen.) ERAC: "Oh, don't worry about it. Gas is so subjective anyway. We want you to be completely satisfied with your rental." Then the customer thinks you just tried to screw them for twenty bucks and you have undone all the good ESQi you have built. So the path of least resistance sets in, and the gas is never even mentioned.

I've actually seen regions run gas collections contests just to try and break even on the amount of gas spent refueling cars. Whole regions of 4,000+ cars. And to no avail. The employees don't care and don't think it impacts their job, so they don't approach customers about it.

It all goes back to the replacement (insurance & dealership) customer, and the core of the problem with the current business model trying to be too many things to too many people. And of course the constant threat of ESQi and the damage it will do to careers if their number (however false it may be) happens to go down. Sorry this is such a long post, but there is no easy answer to the gas problem for ERAC, and like everything else, it isn't going to change because they are making money with the way things currently are.