Enterprise fuel policy

Originally Posted by Unregistered

but can you pull cars from the airport like hertz can for its local editions?? Hertz has the most diverse fleet among any of the car rental companies, at any given time, I can go to my airport, and get a new tahoe, cadillac dts, infiniti G35, Lincoln Navigator, Ford Expedtion (eddie bauer), etc etc. No fleet is as diverse as hertz is and thats why they are #1. They honor a reservation as well! So in other words, enterprise doesnt have the car size that any given hertz local edition does, because we are allowed to pull from the airport whereas enterprise is not. Thats why Enterprise never has cars from tues until late thurs afternoon.

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT...WE PULL CARS FROM THE AIRPORT EVERYDAY!
The airport is just like any other branch.We swap cars with them and they swap cars with us...Not sure where you got your facts from but your wrong....and I fucking hate Enterprise by the way so dont start talking shit!

[FailingEnterpriseAdmin]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

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!

This is an easy way to set yourself on fire and is probably illegal everywhere. Gasoline refueling fires are horrific. Turn the car all the way off.

[C9Kid]

Only been with ERAC for a couple weeks, some here may call me naive, but I think they are a fantastic company. I'm in C9 (maritimes) and the branches in my city kick ass. The people are fun as hell, the work is engaging and meaningful and with obvious potential. That said, the fuel policy as listed here makes me scratch my head.

At our branch, ALL of our cars go out with a full tank. We actually _have_ to drive to the gas station and fill them up if they're not full. If the customer doesn't bring it back full (as is explained to them every rental at the trunk to trunk) they will pay for the fillup. Customers know exactly what they're getting into when they rent cars, and should have a damn good idea what it will cost to fill them up. If you rent that little kia, you'll have a better time than with the big Hemi Ram you decided to rent to look like a big man.

Maybe the branches you guys rent from are different, or maybe my manager kicks ass...but I've definitely never heard tell of what you guys are claiming.

[DCanada]

How much money do people lose out on because they take the car marked 'FULL', although it's probably been driven 30k and used up $2 fuel at least, only to end up having to replace that fuel that they didn't use.

With that said, I can't understand people complaining about fuel when it's within 1/8 tank. it may be $5 at most. you probably already spend 35-55 PER DAY. and that $5 probably works out to 1.75/day. Whether you, a shop or insurance is paying your rental, how can you not afford 1.75 per day.

You keep saying all these other "great" rental companies have a full tank of gas in their cars. My question to you is how is that working out for their profits? A full tank is expected only at Airports locations with ERAC not neighborhood branches. This is one of several reasons the other companies are bought and sold so frequently because they splurge money on senseless things i.e. a full tank of gas.

[2_years_in_the_tuck]

Originally Posted by z28black98

Please dont tell me that enterprise keeps 100-200 cars at their locations, thats absurb.

No one said they keep 100-200 cars AT their locations, they said they have that many in fleet. But since most branches are running around 95-97% occupancy the majority of the week, you'll only see about 5-6 cars sitting on the lot at those times.

[KidOfPonyMaker]

FYI.. people were sneaking in a stealing the gas out of the cars when I was with FORD. They had an Enterprise there.... so I wouldn't even suggest keeping a full tank... they just filled it when someone came to Rent it... FYI...

Cars are being dropped from location to location. Unless all braches filled all their cars at the same time it would make no sense for one individual branch to fill up their cars. They would drop a full tanked car to one location and get an empty from another. A branches fuel expense would go through the roof and would have nothing to show for it.

I would hope people who think like you would use our competition and make our jobs at Enterprise easier. Obvioulosy, Enterprise will continue to prosper regardless-how, why-because our ways of doing business obviously work better than any other business in the last 50 years. It amazes me how much time people spend fighting useless things like this. My time is more valuable to me. I would rather rent 5 cars in an hour to sensible customers than to spend an hour explaining gas mileage. Gas is expensive. We all use it. We all have to use it. Get over it.

I have corporate customers who strongly desire full tanks...the ones who do a lot of business with my branch, we will fill the tank. But to those doing 1 day trips for $40 or less...I'm not filling a half empty car up...there's no profit there. Sue me if you don't like it, but that's that. We are not trying to run our business like everyone else, our market is different...yes we are getting into other markets, and at times people don't like our guidlines...however, we are not stringent on them and you'll find most branches are very flexible.

I have one customer who swears up and down there's no way she can figure out how to match gas if it's not full...I have since rounded down where the gas is when she picks it up (by almost a 1/4 of a tank). She perfectly matches where I write it as being...never a hair higher even though she got it higher. She also demands a foreign mid size car...absolutely hates GM, Ford, and Dodge...we actually come through on the car type, which she appreciates...but rarely a full tank...and I gaurantee you she is completely satisfied. At first she hated us...literally, argued with us each time...now, she loves us.

While I think providing half a tank should be the min standard, it just isn't feesible at times when you have renters ghetto dropping a car on E and their cc is already maxed out and there's someone there to rent it RIGHT NOW.

It's pretty easy to match a gas tank...you can leave the key turned forward and watch the gauge...also, most people own more than one car...if you are familiar with your own car, you can typically come close to guessing how much gas it takes to replace in our cars. The difference in size of tank between a mid size and full size isn't much...most of those tanks are between 14-16 gallons. Minivans, usually 18-20 gallons.

Even so, I have people who barely bring in more gas than what I gave them originally...and they treat it like theivery. By the time I give them their ride home and back I've used up the "extra" gas.

On top of all this...when people over fill...we typically cave and write off a part of their rental...and further, when we are shorted on gas, if we charge for gas, it's typically market rate or less. We simply try to reduce our exposure on gas, never make money. None of my branches have made money on gas, though we did nearly break even many times...and that's with hardly charging anyone for fuel.