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| - Sixt in Las Vegas delivers an okay experience: nothing great but no horror stories to tell either.
One thing to note first: it was not easy to waive their insurance. The coverage from the credit card is not sufficient, according to the agent. They would not let me have the car until I either bought liability insurance, or convinced them I have alternate insurance that covers third party liability. Fortunately I have comprehensive insurance through work and it was, after some discussion, accepted.
Lesson 1 for Sixt: tell people about this in advance.
The first car had a bad 12v accessory circuit, I found that out immediately and asked for a replacement. The replacement car arrived after 40 minutes, and it's not like the location was too busy. I was given an estimate of 10 minutes by the agent. However, it was an extreme heat day, so I'll cut the team some slack.
Lesson 2 for Sixt: give accurate estimates.
Lesson 3 for Sixt: check your cars before handing them out.
Lesson 4 for Sixt: if you're marooning a customer for an hour due to your fault, at least pretend to care that you're taking away their vacation time. Offer them a snack, a gift card, do something nice.
The second car was less fancy, which I didn't mind. For the first two days, it gave me a "low battery" warning when starting up. I didn't want to go back to Vegas, and Sixt is sparsely present in that area of the country (the other location is in Phoenix...) so I hoped for the best, and the battery eventually charged up.
Lesson 5 for Sixt: maintain your cars, so that customers won't be stressed out.
Lesson 6 for Sixt: you're at a competitive disadvantage in the US due to how sparse your locations are. Offer free roadside assistance to even it out, don't make it a paid extra. If it was Budget, for example, I'd try to swing to another nearby location & get the car replaced. On a long road trip to remote areas, it's best to not have any potential car issues.
On return, I pointed out a chip on the windshield that was not mentioned in the check-out documents and told them I have photos of the damage at check-out (I always take pictures for this reason). I was not charged.
Overall Sixt met my expectations but have a long way to go before getting more stars from me. Will I go back? Only if they are the cheapest, which for this trip they were.
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