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| - I booked a car the night before a drive to Bakersfield through my travel card rewards point redemption site. I was a bit nervous given the short notice and was also apprehensive about having to stop by in the morning, stand in a tragically long line, and pay a bunch of money before heading on the road.
To my surprise, when I arrived in the morning, not only was there no line, there was no wait. I walked through the rope and stanchion and was immediately greeted by two people waiting and ready to help. I approached the nearest counter and was checked in by Hem. He was pleasant and fast. What stood out to me was that he knew the details of my reservation so much that he even knew that I didn't need the LDW coverage because my credit card covered it. In less than 5 minutes, I was on my way to selecting a car.
When I entered the garage, there were several employees waiting for customers to help. I approached a person and found that they had me checked in on a tablet. I was immediately escorted to the car selection area by Al, who was very helpful and clear. The selection I had was overwhelming. I'm used to walking out and having to choose between three Sentras (or a Sentra and a Mazda). The variety at hand threw me off guard. In a good way,
Seriously, I can't even describe how "in and out" the experience was. My last rental experience out of the McCarran rent-a-car compound was through Dollar AND IT WAS HORRIBLE. It was so bad and so slow that I arrived 30 minutes early for this car rental. That, along with the selection, makes it worth the extra cost to not settle for standing in line for hours on end.
Unfortunately, I ended up having to return the car and switch it out before taking off on the road. The Dodge Camaro I selected smelled of smoke; something that because increasingly worst as I drove home to pick up my husband and our luggage. To my relief, Chris at Enterprise, was extremely helpful. I pulled into the car return lot, said I had a problem with the car I just picked, and - just like that - Chris walked me over to the cars, helped me pick one, and sent me on my way in less than five minutes. I spent the weekend in an Infiniti Q50 that smelled of nothing but new car. The ride was fantastic; so much so that my husband and I are having withdrawals.
My perspective on car rentals is forever changed.
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