A ‘praise for avis’ thread

[RickT]

Originally Posted by Tracy34

Yes...you get the extra driver free... they won't ask to see the other drivers licence either...which is quite bizarre..but it's their way of doing things.
You need to show yours and your credit card.

Have appeared a fab holiday...

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Its the responsibility of the main driver to provide the permission to the spouse / family member for the additional free driver. In the event the other driver is not licence, any fees come off your credit card and any damage to the car is the lead drivers responsibility in the event of incorrect driving licence permission.

[Persnicketty]

Originally Posted by Doonhamer08

Another question in case anyone has a good experience. My booking is BA paid for by avios (so it’s not a fly drive). As exec club members it says we get extra driver free. Anyone done this successfully with Avis? I know I’m probably worrying g about nothing, but tbh I find the car hire experience by far the most stressful part of any holiday!

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Same here. We depend on some good luck at pickup to get the right cargo space for 6 people's luggage, so its always a slight worry.

The 2nd driver thing is rarely a problem as Tracey34 says. In our case at Tampa end of June, my adult son was the "free" 2nd driver and Avis provided a a permission/declaration form to be signed, but that aspect was hassle free.

Mr TM and mick say it best. Every firm has its incidents. We were livid with Avis this year, but its been hassle free on many other occasions.

Secret is to not lose your cool when mishaps occur at pickup, which can be difficult after a long journey and adapting to the heat.

I should take my own advice next time

[Doonhamer08]

Thanks! Feel a bit panicky, so used to going to Orlando, am not good at going new places!

[sandshal]

Just want to add to this, that Avis have been great the last two times we've rented from them, last year from Tampa airport and this year from the Hard Rock Hotel.

Guy at the Hard Rock couldn't have been more helpful, outstanding service. We even ended up with a $50 credit on our final account (no idea why) which was refunded by BA.

Understand why people get miffed with the upselling and unexpected charges, which can happen with most rental companies, but I also think there's a degree of "high expectation" on here. So long as you get the car category you've paid for without incurring unforeseen charges, it's clean and in good mechanical health then that's all you should expect, anything extra's a bonus.

[Mickeyspals]

Originally Posted by °o°-Hannah-°o°

I see so many negative car hire posts and wanted to give credit where credit is due. We’ve used avis via BA for a few years now and can not fault them. When we have had an issue with a car we’ve gone straight to a hire desk and had it changed (only once have they sent us to the airport because they had nothing). This trip has been no except, when we left Miami there were 2 stone chips in the windscreen and yesterday one of them began spreading so we called in at the hard rock (HRH, RPR, PR all have avis desks) and they changed out the car no problems at all

If you have a problem with any car regardless of the company, don’t waste time emailing, calling and using social media - just go to a desk and tell them the issue and they will help you

Previously we’ve had a slow puncture and an ant infestation after we must have parked on a nest and have sorted it the same way

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Thank you sharing. It's really good to hear good feedback and reassuring that you can get issues sorted so quickly. Would not have thought of calling at the desks in the hotels. Do you have to be guests at the hotel to do this?

[Mjspin]

This year will be my first year with Avis as burning some Avios on a free hire. So I understand correctly that I need to ask for a declaration form for the free additional driver?

[Persnicketty]

Originally Posted by Mjspin

This year will be my first year with Avis as burning some Avios on a free hire. So I understand correctly that I need to ask for a declaration form for the free additional driver?

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Yep. The form was freely offered to us in June as soon as we mentioned our 2nd driver was not the main driver's spouse.

And Avis emphasised the spouse could drive too... but did not provide a form for that.

[MOONCHESTER]

If you can put up with the miserable unhelpful staff at Mia, then AVIS are great, flying on the BA deal there are no extras to pay and they don't try to sell extras either, it's just that they are so grumpy !

[Neilyboy]

You have to look at the motivations of people in writing comments. I'm sure Avis are not the worst (or best) hire car company and all have their faults and limitations. Things go wrong, sometimes majorly, but these are fortunately few and far between. For every problem that is written about on these, and other forums, there will be tens or hundreds of other 'hires' that went perfectly acceptably and the hirer had no reason to write a 'review' of the hire company.

That said, if my next hire is now cursed by this post I reserve the right to come back and complain most vociferously

[mick]

Originally Posted by MOONCHESTER

If you can put up with the miserable unhelpful staff at Mia, then AVIS are great, flying on the BA deal there are no extras to pay and they don't try to sell extras either, it's just that they are so grumpy !

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Only used them once as I say earlier but the miserable guy at the garage at MCO must have been on loan from MIA.

Not as miserable as us having just walkd all the way along the monorail path with our luggage because the terminal was in lock down after an explosion. Only about three people in the queue when we got there. Walked up to the allocated car. Not too bad a low mileage Mazda 6 but I did turn round to see where the swap line was and about a hundred in the queue. Guess they must have released everyone trapped in the terminal at once.

Mick