Another fail on trying to rent a Chevy Volt or other PHEV

This time in anticipation of traveling to Miami I tried to get a concierge service to find one for me, so I could not waste 2-3 hours. They came back with the same answer I told them we'd get - no dice.

I'll try to give more notice next time I guess, this time was only one or two days, though I'm not going to hold my breath for success. Outside of a few cities which I don't regularly travel to, there hasn't been a single PHEV realistically available for me to rent, ever.

I've tried talking to the various activists and advocates and others about this, but nobody seems to be able to do anything.

I think there is a possible business opportunity for the PHEV manufacturers to expand sales into rental fleets instead of allowing their product to be marginalized into various "test project" fleet deployments in "select cities".

Also, perhaps there would be a business opportunity for the credit card companies and associated concierge services to start getting aggressive about partnering with PHEV manufacturers to bring PHEVs for rent to those who want them.

I believe Hertz in San Fran & Los Angeles now has the Model S for rent. Spoke with Enterprise on Monday, no one carries an EV or Hybrid.


Fred

Budget rental at SMF (Sacramento) has a bunch of hybrids. I got a C Max Hybrid for a weekend for not much more than what I was looking at to rent. Enterprise has a leaf (or two?) there as well.

I rent regularly from Hertz in SFO for work. With the corporate "discount" a Volt/LEAF/Spark comes in at $153/day + tax, versus $50/day + tax for an intermediate car. I'd be a perfect LEAF renter as I know the car well, my total distance over 3-4 days is within the range of a single LEAF charge, and the office complex I work at in the bay area has a few dozen chargers. But I'm not paying a $103/day premium to do so.

These rates are adjusted automatically based on demand, so I have to assume that quite a few people are renting these cars at these prices. Or maybe they just list it for "green" cred, but don't actually rent any. I know they also price hybrids at $154/day but in practice you can get them as a normal rental from time-to-time - I don't think that would work for BEVs.

If anyone visits Quebec, Entreprise rental offers a limited number of Volts and C-Max Energis at select locations.

Additionally, the car-sharing service, Communauto, has about 25 MY11 LEAFs that rent by the hour ($8/h with mileage included, I think) in the Plateau neighborhood of Montreal. They also have a few FFE in Montreal that go for ~$2.50/hr + $0.40/km. In Quebec City they offer one LEAF and one FFE. The reason I mention it is that if you're a member of another car-sharing service you may be eligible to use a Communauto car. I know they have such an agreement with Eastern-Ontario based VRTCAR.

My last experience trying to rent a plug-in vehicle was in November in Las Vegas. I struck-out with eight to ten airport-based rental agencies, 2-3 hotel ones, and with several hotel concierges. The last agent I spoke to asked me what I meant by an electric car. "Do you mean some special equipment in the vehicle like an enhanced stereo?" I replied no, "I am looking for a car that runs on electricity instead of on gas." After a distinct pause, she replied, "No sir, we don't offer that," in a tone of astonishment, as if I had requested an amphibious car that could function as a helicopter in a pinch.

Edit: MY11 for MY13.

Berlino said:

If anyone visits Quebec, Entreprise rental offers a limited number of Volts and C-Max Energis at select locations.

Additionally, the car-sharing service, Communauto, has about 25 MY13 LEAFs that rent by the hour ($8/h with mileage included, I think) in the Plateau neighborhood of Montreal. They also have a few FFE in Montreal that go for ~$2.50/hr + $0.40/km. In Quebec City they offer one LEAF and one FFE. The reason I mention it is that if you're a member of another car-sharing service you may be eligible to use a Communauto car. I know they have such an agreement with Eastern-Ontario based VRTCAR.

My last experience trying to rent a plug-in vehicle was in November in Las Vegas. I struck-out with eight to ten airport-based rental agencies, 2-3 hotel ones, and with several hotel concierges. The last agent I spoke to asked me what I meant by an electric car. "Do you mean some special equipment in the vehicle like an enhanced stereo?" I replied no, "I am looking for a car that runs on electricity instead of on gas." After a distinct pause, she replied, "No sir, we don't offer that," in a tone of astonishment, as if I had requested an amphibious car that could function as a helicopter in a pinch.

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Thanks for the various helpful responses.

I don't get the sense yet that we are getting any real traction on mainstreaming PHEV rentals, instead of the present situation which is marginalizing PHEV rentals as different, special and only for some areas. However, when we finally do break through the barriers, I think we will be able to look back and say that it was helpful to compare notes as we are doing.

I wonder what the sales folks at GM and Ford are thinking on this matter. When I have pushed hard with the local Enterprise folks in Arizona, one of the main responses I get is that they are subject to the issuance of vehicles by the car companies. Is it possibly true that the car companies are not putting a good foot forward and making PHEVs widely available to the large rental agencies? I don't know. Perhaps there is some middle ground and subtlety there in terms of how the auto manufacturers and the rental agencies interact with each other. I guess I'd like to see some folks at the manufacturer level recognize and break through any barriers to higher-volume deployment with the rental agencies, and just get it done.

If, and to the extent that, the rental agencies are treating PHEVs as suitable only for "special" projects (ie marginalizing the PHEVs as non-mainstream vehicles not suitable for high-volume deployment), I'd like to see auto manufacturers sit down with them and get that incorrect approach straightened out, ASAP.