Enterprise fuel policy

Originally Posted by Surly Pete

True, the time it takes to fill up the tank is the same on either end of the rental and I tried to use that argument back when I first worked there. Then I got a brain. That argument is an ERAC-centric view. (No pun intended). The customer-centric view is quite different:

There is a greater sense of urgency at the beginning of the rental than at the end of the rental... ESPECIALLY in the schedule-driven road warrior market. They're not scheduling to pick up the car, fill it up, then go. It may take only an extra moment and will save them time at the end of the rental but they have less time at the beginning of the rental than at the end... and it's an additional hassle for them to think about it at the beginning. (And some are afraid that if they fill up the tank and don't use the gas, they'll get hosed at the end of the rental on any gas credit).

Most airport locations have caught onto this and are prefilling tanks, but local market branches who think they can straddle the fence between replacement and "road warrior" renters have to figure something else out..

I guess some road warriors are just losers then (like the founder of this site) After I'm out on the road, I just wanna get home to my family. But i guess it doesn't matter if you are a big loser who spends all his time developing a hate site. You really don't have much reason to rush home... OK.. cue the "well you are posting on this site" comment... (posting vs actually running a site... HUGE difference)

yeah but hes actually doing something constructive...whereas you...well you already know how pathetic you are!

The point is that the ccustomers are asking for a service which ERAC cant or wont supply...hertz needs to exploit this weakness now!

It sounds like there are a lot of disgruntled customers on this site and we must be talking about a truly evil corporation. What I want to know, is their a web site or a publication or anything that would tell me of another rental car company with higher customer service scores than ERAC. Or how about a rental car company that has experienced more growth than ERAC. The apparent success of this web site is a testament to how many people have been touched by this company. In my time at ERAC I have seen many changes, not all of which I agree with but it shows we are not a static company. We are always trying to improve. And sorry about not always having the tanks full, but we do pick people up, take them home, on occasion deliver cars and unlike HLE we are looking to be profitable. The majority of Hertz' profits come from a great used car market and not their rental opperations. ERAC will continue to take market share at the airports. The only thing that will save the Big airport rental companies is a federal bailout along the line of what has happened with the airlines.

[GP51 Weidner's Bitch]

I cannot disagree with everybody that says the tank should be full. However, with the current business model the way it is, it's damn near impossible to have a full tank on every rental, except for the airport locations with a gas tank on hand. It's not the fault of the employees or the managers of the individual locations, they're just doing the best with the tools that are given to them.

So, we're left with the original point of this entire site - the business model itself needs to change in order for a lot of improvements to take place. I'm not against change, and I'll gladly wait for the day when upper management starts implementing new ideas. Unfortunately, I'm certain they will maintain the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality. As long as the boys up top keep bathing in the $millions, nothing will change.

Ah yes, the good old gas dispute. I can tell you why at my branch we don't rent cars that are full when customers pick them up. I currently work at a Enterprise situated at a car dealership, as a result most of our customers are just using the car for short term vehicle replacement (drive to work than back in one day). Giving a car out at a full tank would be a disaster. I could just see it now, give the customer a car completely topped off with gas, customer returns after driving 40 miles without filling up the tank and the fuel needle is barely touching full. Then customer argues in the office how they shouldn't have to pay for gas charges since the car was returned questionably full. Since the ERAC employee is a an ESQI bitch, the employee just lets the customer go without charging for gas. After cleaning the car customer #2 gets in and drives off with a "full tank". When the customer returns another dispute occurs at the office in which the customer argues that Enterprise purposely pulled a "shady fill-up" since they drove off the lot and after 2 miles the gas needle finally fell below full. The customer is upset now that they had to put an extra gallon in the tank to compensate for customer #1 just being lazy and not filling up the gas. Once again, since the employee is just a ESQI whore a free upgrade coupon or some gas is compted for a future rental is given to the customer. The cycle will just repeat itself at that point.

Now Admin, I know that you feel Enterprise has a fuel money making scheme just to "stick it" to the customer. I hate to be the one to break it to you but its not. Right now in my area we are losing $30 dollars a car in gas, with 400 cars that comes out to $1,200 a month that we piss away from our profit. If we filled up the gas everytime it would be an even bigger number.

What I love about the gas is that customers have such a hard time returning the vehicle to the same level like 1/2 and bitch and complain, yet have no problem going through the necessary steps to pull a shady fill up by: 1) checking the gas gauge 2) squeeze some gas into the tank 3) check the gas gauge again to see if the level is barely touching full 4) repeat if necessary. This done all to save a gallon or two.

In the past I tried to explain to customers that they should reset the trip meter to record the number of miles they drove, and take that number divided by a close estimation of the MPG the vehicle gets ( and I would give them a close estimation of the MPG the vehicle got) to come to the appropriate amount of gas that should be put back in to the car. Often times though I would get a customer looking back as if I am explaining calculus. I quit doing that after a while and let people just figure it out for themselves.

The only possible solution to the problem is to have a vehicle with a highly sensitve full gague that goes below full after enough gas is used to go 5 or 10 miles. I know that for my car (2005 Altima) the fuel gauge is sensitive in that after a complete fill up with a little topping off I can only go 30 miles max until the needle drops below full. Then I would have no problem filling it up to full. But as long as car companies produce cars that still show a full tank after driving long distances (e.g. a pontiac grand am I rented went 120 miles before the needle finally dropped below full) then unforunately this is how its gonna be.

The easiest way to fill is to turn the car off, but leave the key in the 'on' position. You can watch the gas gauge rise as the tank fills and stop pumping when needed...it's not rocket science!

FYI.

Every gas tank gauge is designed to function in a way to trick the driver. A car that is just filled will not have the needle move for a while by design (customers will not be happy if they just fill a tank and the gauge starts moving).

Then during the 3/4 to 1/4 range the needle moves a lot faster until you drop below a 1/4 tank. This is done so you do not run out of gas as you expect the gauge to continue the same movement.

[FailingEnterpriseAdmin]

Originally Posted by 17dd boy

FYI.

Every gas tank gauge is designed to function in a way to trick the driver. A car that is just filled will not have the needle move for a while by design (customers will not be happy if they just fill a tank and the gauge starts moving).

Then during the 3/4 to 1/4 range the needle moves a lot faster until you drop below a 1/4 tank. This is done so you do not run out of gas as you expect the gauge to continue the same movement.

If this is really an official policy of carmakers, what evidence do you have for this? It sounds plausible, and perhaps even reasonable, but how do you know this is true?

I took my car back to the manufacturer and had them reprogram the fuel gauge to go fast to 1/4 tank, then hold there for a long time. Wow, it is amazing how far I can get on a 1/4 tank of gas!

[Tim O' Tei]

Originally Posted by 17dd boy

FYI.

Every gas tank gauge is designed to function in a way to trick the driver. A car that is just filled will not have the needle move for a while by design (customers will not be happy if they just fill a tank and the gauge starts moving).

Then during the 3/4 to 1/4 range the needle moves a lot faster until you drop below a 1/4 tank. This is done so you do not run out of gas as you expect the gauge to continue the same movement.

Is this true?

I always thought the slow movement to begin with was because the gauge only measures the tank - not the fuel in the pipe leading to the tank itself, which is approx an extra 20% of the tank capacity.