Oh National... It Hertz, Doesn't It?

So a couple weeks ago I railed against National rental cars and their insistence that I pay them $50 over what I had already been shelling out to them, so they could come jump-start the car in a situation where I had nothing to do with causing a dead battery.  For this second trip to Houston, I asked the company travel agent for an alternative, which turned out to be Hertz car rentals.  Having not used them before, I could only hope that they were better than my experience with National.  Boy, have they impressed me!

• Check-in time was about the same.  Hertz and National took the same amount of time to process my reservation, charge my credit card, etc.  No difference here, and the two lots were right next to each other, so no time lost on either case getting to my car.

• In terms of price, Hertz is a lot cheaper.  National charged me ~$450 for 4 days of driving.  Hertz has estimated that 5 days will be ~$300, including all the "hidden fees" that they load on your rental bill.  National didn't let me know of these charges until I returned the car; instead they only quoted their daily rate when I rented the car from them.

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  In terms of car quality, I received a much better car from Hertz.  My National car was a Pontiac G6 with the bare minimum of features (I believe it had power windows/locks, and that was about it for "special touches").  On the other hand, my Hertz car is a Mazda 6 with lots of extras, including a Bose sound system, retractable sunroof, power seats, heated seats (not that these are useful in Houston in the summer!), and of course the uber-cool flip-key that Volkswagen started to popularize a few years back.

• In terms of service, I cannot yet compare, as I have not had to call Hertz about a dead battery.  Not having to call customer service is a benefit in itself, however.

So which of these two companies will I be renting from in the future?  Hertz, hands down.  National had their chance to keep me as a customer before I even ventured to another company, and they lost it quibbling over a service fee.  From the talk I've been spreading around the office, I might not be the only customer National will be losing from our company...