Considering working for Hertz

Alright, now I'll continue what I was writing from my previous post. Basically after you get into a branch you get promoted to Management Trainee. It's true you do make commission. You make a commission based on how many optional services you sell. Services such as coverage, sirius radio, neverlost, and fuel purchase options. For my branch I was lucky to have one where we had a contract with a car wash nearby so we didn't have to wash our own cars. Of course that's not always the case.

Now to get promoted you basically have to sell and hit a goal of a certain amount per day of service revenue. You have to do this for two months straight then you can go and take a test to get promoted. Usually the branch manager will give you the copy of the test so you know what's coming and after that you get another dollar raise and a chance at being promoted an assistant branch manager.

That's where I am right now. You still do have to learn a lot of backoffice stuff but it's not too hard. It can be very damn time consuming though and depending on which branch you may be staying after hours if you are a branch manager. Hertz does only restrict anybody lower than a branch manager to 55 hours. If they work more than 55 hours upper management will give a warning to the branch manager.

Now I'll tell you after you get promoted to assistant branch manager you get a 50 cent raise and you get a quarterly bonus. You get half of the bonus that a branch manager makes and I believe they cap it at 5,000 dollars. Branch managers can make 11,000 dollars per quarter. I'm not really sure how the bonus is calculated so I can't really explain it.

Now for branch manager I don't think it's all that great. For branch manager they have three levels of salary. If your branch makes a profit of over 100,000 per month you get 38,000 a year. If the branch you are managing is over 50,000 per month you make 34,000 a year. If it's less than 50,000 per month you make a measly 30,000 a year. Also of course no overtime, you may be in the office overtime and especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays when reports are due the next day you may be there after hours for awhile. Of course again this is depending on what branch. Also when you become branch manager you don't make the monthly commission checks.

So, that's basically what I know of the positions so far. I feel assistant branch manager is mostly the best position. You only work a certain amount of hours, you earn a quarterly bonus, and of course you earn revenue from optional services.

I'm going to be honest, some of the things that I've seen complaints about on this board of Enterprise. I'm not sure if this is just restricted to a couple branches at Enterprise but I haven't really seen this at my Hertz location. For one thing we make sure cars are properly maintained. If a car does not do a oil change the system will not allow us to rent a car. I know from personal experience I've had to make people wait a possible 30 to 45 minutes to get a car oil changed but I feel this is what you have to do. Of course customers complain but I'd rather have the renter be able to travel safely in our car than having problems with it.

Second thing is that with vehicle inspection reports we don't care about little scratches or door dings. We don't examine every little thing. Of course there are times when there is pretty well noticeable body damage that we have to report. Other than that, we're pretty lenient with customers. I know I've let a few customers go with little damage to cars.

The above post is 100% accurrate. I do think getting promoted from MA to ABM, and above is very competitive. There's alot of politics that goes on at Hertz, just like every company. The job gets alot more STRESSFUL as you move up, and with alot more responsibility. Ask yourself. Are you willing to Sacrifice your Time and Life for this???

****I do think anyone who can do something beside car rental, should do that something else.*****

Now in conclusion from my personal experience at Hertz for the four months that I've been here that it seems a little better than what some people here are saying about Enterprise. Of course I have heard some of the same complaints at other branches that are similar to things that I have faced. Things such as customer complaints, running out of cars, and just basically doing retail.
With customer complaints I'm just going to say that after my training course and I got into the job I really REALLY started hating people. I mean not all people in general but I knew I couldn't really keep that "customer first" mentality that I learned in training. Some customers you just want to strangle because nothing can make them happy. I remember my first week my branch manager got yelled at because a woman had claim she got a quote for a midsize for 25 dollars without tax and on our reservation screen it said that she was responsible for the tax(AAA insurant). She yelled for twenty minutes in front of four customers. This made me really think if I could put up with crap from these customers. I get annoyed when that happens and it happens frequently.
Now with running out of cars that has only happened recently the past month. Before the past month we mainly would have ten to fifteen retail reservations a week. When July started we got about twenty five to thirty retail reservations a week. When it gets busy though we just go to the Los Angeles airport which is the main distribution center for cars and pick up some cars. This can be time consuming but if you have a good branch manager he'll be able to plan it so you'll be fine with the amount of cars.
Finally my last complaint I guess is just that this is a retail business. I mean this is really customer service. Also we're running around, getting cars to the wash, picking up customers, trying to sell...etc. I think to myself some days that this is brainless stuff and it gets me annoyed. Lately in the past two weeks I've really gotten sick of selling. I know this is mainly a sales job but I'm jsut getting so sick of it to a point where some days I just want to quit.
I know that in this job the upper management wants all the MTs to land a branch manager's job but after seeing what branch managers have to go through with such little compensation it makes me really discouraged. I mean of course they do get that possible 11k bonus a quarter but how do I know I can even do it? From what I've seen is that you have to really have a good hard working self motivated staff to keep a branch running good. If you don't, you might as well find another job because this job will definitely not be worth it. Of course by the time you are branch manager hopefully you have enough awards and achievements to put on your resume to get a better job.

I worked for Hertz for 1 year and it was the worst year of my life. They call you a "Manager Trainee" A.K.A the Branch Managers b*tch. We would do all the work. Rent the cars, clean the cars, pick the cars up and on top of that still making managment decisions. We were doing the jobs of five people and getting paid $9.09 an hour. And you have to have a college degree for this crap??? My branch was horrible. I worked at 3 hotels and often times I would be the only one there to work all three. Lets start off from the beginning. At the end of the day I would have reservations for the next day. I would call and order my cars to be delivered overnight. I got there the next day and what do you know...they weren't there. Then reservations would show up and I don't have their car. Even worse, the reservation hotline would book SUV's and Specialty vehicles that we couldn't get even if we wanted to. I would get yelled at because their car wasn't there. This was an ongoing proccess. Everyday.... day after day. Then I would be the only one there. How can you shuttle cars from one location to another with one person??? You can't. I would have to put poeple in a car and drive them to the other hotel to rent a car to them. That's if we even had one to begin with. Now lets get into cleaning cars. Would you believe that the hotels that I worked at didn't have a vacuum? How did I clean the cars you ask? Well, by picking out dirt with my fingernails and shaking the matts. And then people have the nerve to complain that their cars aren't clean enough. Humm...I was ready to kill someone after months of that. Then all the overtime I had to do. OMG I worked about 55-60 hours a week and still barely cleared $400. I had no social life because I was always working or tired. And weekends.....I had forgotten what they were working at my location because we were open 7 days a week. I hate this company and everything they are about. The don't care about their employees, and they definately don't care about their customers. What kind of company is that? Hertz is no different than ERAC and don't let anyone tell you different. the only difference is that HERTZ pays you less. $9.09 an hour and the bonuses are very small compared to ERAC. Take my advice and don't work for a rental car agency. Get a real job that you are proud of. One that you wake up in the morning happy to do. One that you can tell people about without being embarassed. I left Hertz after one year and started cocktail waitressing because I had to get away. You can't find another job when you work in the rental car idustry because you can't get away for an interview. Once I was waitressing, I had time during the day to really search for something I liked. Now I am in Pharmaceutical Sales and I love it. I am making very good money and I am very happy.

I live in Orlando and I worked for Hertz. I was dating a guy that worked for ERAC. Our Christmas party was at the Olive Garden and you couldn't bring a date......ERAC's Christmas party was at the Ritz Carlton Hotel and was formal and catered. It was beautiful and ERAC went out of their way to make the Christmas party special. I am not saying this makes ERAC better because they both suck, but I think they care about their employees a little more.

I currently work for Hertz and I am very close to quitting. First of all, Hertz is really good at lying to you about the job desciption. Before working there, I thought that this wouldn't be a bad job. I was wrong!

The branch that I work at, the Assistant Branch Manager is very unprofessional, and so is the branch manager. I had to wait three months to go to a formal training class. It's kind of a learn as you go kind of thing. You have to work 50 + hours for just 10 an hour. They blatently teach you how to cheat the customer so you can have a big bonus check.

After a month, I wasn't sure if I wanted to still work for Hertz. It's a horrible company to work for because there is no structure. They don't care about you as an employee...they care about the numbers. They even have a list of where you place in the state for selling (which is sent to every single branch).

Also, if you like being ordered around like a child, then Hertz is right for you. Also, if you are a female...HLE is not a place for you...working for Hertz, you will experience sexism at its worst.

I really wish I had seen this message board before I considered working for any rental car companies...I just hope I can help turn an unsuspecting person away from working at Hertz or ERAC.

Don't fool yourself...most folks who work at HLE are former ERAC people who left for more money or a better title and they are not easy going...belive me I have worked for both companies and I have been at LEAST a branch manger at both companies. If any of you have any questions about either company I will be glad to talk to you about it.

What can you tell me about the job as Station Manager with Hertz?

If you work for any of those companies, you're going out. Standing there all day like some sucker ass getting paid 9 an hour? Shit, I'd rather cut off my penis and put it in the manager's butthole.

[Buttered Hard Roll]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Shit, I'd rather cut off my penis and put it in the manager's butthole.

I'd rather leave my penis intact to do that.