The process of renting a car is more than a skill - it’s an art. Many people believe they get the best deals simply because they’ve rented cars many times before. However, very few car rental consumers are actually aware of all the tips and tricks needed to get the savviest deal. Today, we hope this article will be a catalyst of change.

Upgrades are a great example. When renting a car of a specific class (such as economy, midsize, etc) on a particular date, you are actually just renting any old car - and the class doesn’t matter. This applies unless the car in question is a specialty car. Allow me to explain: 
Rent-a-car companies spend a pretty penny studying the minds of consumers and the way they work. They hope to predict what their clients will want to do at any given time. This is in hopes that they can maximize the return on their car investments. These studies have indicated that the common consumer is forever in search of a bargain - at least, what they perceive to be a bargain. It’s a science. Yet, not all of the rental agency agents know the game quite so well as their computers do.

One basic thing to remember: Agents at a car rental agency work on commission. They make their living through an hourly wage that is combined with commission. This commission is earned through sales, but most important is the “upsell” of product from the rental company. This measurement (known as a metric in the industry) is given in a number form: dollars/rental day. For example - a ten day car rental with an upsell (say, compact to full-size) of an additional ten dollars per day would net the agent a metric (dollars/day) of $10.00. All agents must maintain a specific dollar amount of upsells to avoid problems or sanctions, however, this limit is often set quite low. Most agents are, in fact, driven by their own greed: the more upsells (upgrades sold to you), the more money they make. Often, they can reach benchmarks and receive “multipliers”. For example, an agent averaging $5/rental day may make 1.25 times the normal commission.

Now you know how the car rental agents on the other side of the counter are paid. How can this knowledge be an advantage to you? These agents want to upgrade the most customers possible to a higher class car. Another thing to note: the small cars are the easiest auto rental, and thus agents usually try to reserve these for another type of customer, the “walk-up”. This nets them a different type of commission, which will be discussed later.

Almost any agent will try to offer you a car rental upgrade from $10-$25 dollars extra per day. These upgrades may come from all car classes, to any class above it. One might upgrade from a subcompact to any other option - it doesn’t matter to them, and they usually will give the same price quote. Be sure to watch the rental market when you rent. If you have your heart set on a convertible, but they cost $35 more than a subcompact, that convertible upgrade at $10/day sounds like a great deal! And it is - on paper.

Most rental customers don’t know that the $10-$25 car rental upgrade is made up. All the rental company cares about is getting that convertible car off the lot - it’s making them more money that way than if it were sitting out in the lot waiting for an adequate price. In fact, for each idle car in the lot, the company loses about $15 per day. The subcompact you booked is most likely a quick sell to another customer (they actually overbook, intentionally, to take advantage of this), so they will usually take just about any amount per day to rent that car.

Of course, many rental agents won’t want to give you that car at such a low rate - it will hurt their commission. However, the low rate is a possibility. It works best towards the end of a month - one can often find an agent floating just below their threshold to receive a multiplier for the month. They are usually more willing to give up their average per day to achieve the volume that could increase their commission.

One more thing you should know: any and every agent there can give you any car rental upgrade they have available - without penalty or risk. A gutsy consumer might try sweet-talking an agent, or bribing them with a much-appreciated gratuity or gift to get into an expensive car much cheaper than one could have imagined. You’ll have even better luck if you rent regularly from the company. Agents often keep “naughty and nice” lists. If you can make the nice list - your future just might contain some sweet, cheap car rentals.

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