Car Rental Customers Offered Gas Guzzlers

June 28, 2008 -- There was a time when most rental car customers would have welcomed an upgrade to a midsize or sedan, a minivan or an SUV, but that was before gas was "upgraded" to $4 a gallon or more.

Now some customers say rental car companies increasingly try to pressure them to take the gas-guzzling bigger vehicles, even when they have reserved a compact. Car rental agencies apparently can't keep enough of the smaller, more fuel-efficient cars on lots to meet demand.

Aileen Goldstein, a marketer and frequent traveler, said she encountered pushy rental car customer service representatives on a recent trip to a trade show in Phoenix. They have "gotten a little harder" with their upgrade offers, she said.

"I try and watch whatever we spend," Goldstein said. "I still didn't know how much gas cost in Phoenix. I certainly didn't want a big gas-guzzler going short distances, and I didn't want to pay $80 when I could pay $40 to fill up a tank."

"They're lucky that people are renting cars in general," she added.

In response to skyrocketing gas costs, some frequent renters have updated their online rental profiles to say "No minivan or SUV." Others have waited in lengthy lines at customer service desks, enduring arguments with service representatives to switch to a compact car, they say.

However, industry insiders say the link between rental car customer service and rising gas prices is not completely clear.

To entice customers to take the bigger vehicles, renters say they have seen some rental car companies drop the prices of SUVs and large cars.

"It's kind of ironic, because usually the small cars are the cheapest," said frequent business traveler Michael Capel. "If the SUVs are sitting on the lots of the rental companies, they'll have to discount them."

Chris Brown, managing editor of Auto Rental News, called the increase in rates for compact and economy cars a "supply and demand issue."

He said, "It filters out to every other part of the auto industry. This is the environment we're living in right now — this is the reality we're living in right now."