Discussion: Experiences Renting a Tesla Model 3 / Y from various companies

I have just come back from Florida where I rented a Model Y from AVIS from Orlando Airport. Here's what I thought about it all... I have a MY at home.

To start, I was surprised they were doing Teslas at all - I know Hertz do, but now AVIS as well it seems. I saw several MY's there and maybe a M3 too. The car had 92 miles when I picked it up, and I did around 700 miles during my stay.

All did not go well - although that is the subject of another post later on.

But in general:

You get one card-key in a relatively big clear plastic case. I did not get access through a phone and I could not assign my phone to be a key, so I was stuck with the card-key.

This means.... No walk-away locking, no auto-unlock, no pre-cool on climate, have to use the card-key every time to 'start' the card. Most annoying, but no different to a gas car I guess. How spoiled we are.

Supercharging was great... I guess Avis will bill me for it eventually!

Popped into Disney Springs one night, overjoyed to see some ChargePoint chargers... but they were CCS, so no joy there :-(

Avis do not have Premium connectivity, so no Satellite view, no streaming. Gah! And yes, I did connect to my phone as a hotspot to get around that, see my other posting in a few days.

Given that these cars are new, there are no ultrasonice sensors, which I found annoying, as I have them on my 2022 MY. It did have the trunk cover to keep things a bit more hidden and cool, so that was good.

Car came with the standard J1772 adaptor. No FSD obviously, and AutoSteer was disabled to start with.

Overall..... Good to drive 'the same' car as I own.....but annoyed to be back to 'basic' and having to set the car up as I wanted it.

So... thinking outside the box.... What does this look like for AVIS and Tesla? I think that Tesla and Avis need to do something about this 'basic' level of support and no App-access. It turns the Tesla from a tech-leader to an annoying expeience, which might put off future buyers. Avis probably don't want us using our phones as we can't then un-associate the phone, which is a security risk, but maybe Tesla needs to do something in this area for rentals?

There was (obvuously) no manual there - yes - I know why ! Not a problem for me as I have a MY... but what's a first-time Tesla renter supposed to do? It's not really a good experience, and that can hurt both Tesla and Avis. For the newbies, maybe a slip of paper saying 'Press here and here to see the manual'. If you know... you know.... if you don't... it's well hidden.

I don't know what Hertz do that's different, as I am Avis President's Club and so brand loyalty and all that.

Would I rent a MY or M3 from Avis again - yes! Great to get into a car that's almost identical to your own and drive through the night after a long journey. Discuss ;-)

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[FultonMDUSA]

This isn't good. What Avis level are you at? Pref, Pref Plus, President? They definately need to know this is happening. I can only guess that the people on the counter were trying to get through the line quickest and giving people anything that was washed and ready. :-(

I’m President’s. But I had no interaction with a person because the lines were so long. My name and assigned car location are just posted on a board or in the app.

 

[Y_tho]

I haven’t rented a car in a very long time. How do rental car companies handle flat tires today? Do they include spares? Or is it the driver’s problem to solve like for their personal vehicles?

There are no spare tires in Teslas. If you have a flat, you contact the rental car company's roadside assistance (if you added it to your reservation) or call your own (aaa, insurance company, etc). Some states require flat-fix kits to be included with any vehicle without a spare (such as Maryland), but I'm unsure if there's a requirement to include such a kit with a rental.

 

[Hiline]

Car came with the standard J1772 adaptor. No FSD obviously, and AutoSteer was disabled to start with.




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Are you saying that the car had only cruise control without Autosteer? This would severely handicap Autopilot. I don't understand why or how Avis would do this ...

 

[Y_tho]

Are you saying that the car had only cruise control without Autosteer? This would severely handicap Autopilot. I don't understand why or how Avis would do this ...

Some of their Teslas (at least the ones I've rented) have Autosteer disabled by default, but it's not blocked and can be selected via the menu (and you see the normal warning screen and need to confirm enabling). Probably makes sense to have this be an explicit opt-in, so that the driver has to agree to the risks and responsibility of using it.

 

[gt2690b]

Rented a bolt from hertz it was pretty boring no bells or whistles but got the job done.. bonus it had XM radio.. would have liked to try one with super cruise

It had carplay but not wireless royal PITA to plug the phone in everytime I got in the car

 

[Richster64]

Are you saying that the car had only cruise control without Autosteer? This would severely handicap Autopilot. I don't understand why or how Avis would do this ...

No, as @Y_tho said - it's just disabled from the menus to start with. It was like that on the MY I rented from Avis and more recently on a M3 I rented from Hertz in the UK.

It's just annoying because you drive out of the airport and the first time you notice is on the highway where you can't stop to turn it on again for a while!

 

[murphpl]

Oddly, I recently rented an ICE car in Idaho from Budget (much cheaper, online), and when I returned it, I asked the rental clerk if they had any EVs and how much they would have charged me. She told me they might have rented one for little or nothing, as they needed to get them driven and nobody wanted to rent them!! They had one Tesla and 3 other brands just sitting around in the lot.

 

[Hiline]

My group reserved a Model Y at Avis Orlando Airport. When we picked up they didn’t have one on the lot. They made us wait almost an hour before we gave up. I had booked way in advance and even provided our flight itinerary. So disappointed.

 

[israndy]

Like in that Seinfeld episode

You know how to take the reservation, but you don't know how to hold the reservation, and that's really the most important part

 

[Hiline]

Like in that Seinfeld episode

You know how to take the reservation, but you don't know how to hold the reservation, and that's really the most important part

Thanks for linking that Seinfeld episode. It's been a while since I saw it, and it's one of my favorite episodes!

 

[GoldenBoy]

Got a 3 from Avis at Vancouver YVR last week. CCS and J adapters were in the frunk, along with a mobile charger. Pickup was super easy, return was instant right in the garage by an attendant who just checked the adapters were all still in the frunk.
The contrast to renting from Hertz is night and day. Hertz is just pure pain; long waits, system always down, puts in the wrong return date, and more.
I'm using Avis from now on.

 

[Haemmer]

I rented a Model Y through Turo recently - had all the same limitations mentioned in the OP, but I still really enjoyed driving it.

I agree that a cheat sheet or something would be helpful for first-time Tesla drivers.

I rented a M3 through Hertz in May with a pickup at Newark airport, drop off at Boston Logan, and no drop off charge. It came with a "cheat sheet" that was very useful. It was supposed to have a J1772 adapter but did not which I didn't find out until later when I was going to do some L2 charging. I'd suggest checking before leaving the rental location or bring your own. Otherwise the experience went very well and, because there was no drop off charge, my actual cost was comparable to an ICE midsize rental.

 

[EL CapiTRAN]

Has anyone seen this in action yet? QR CODE scan and you get your profile and app access?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1686769099357949953

 

[randompixel]

Has anyone seen this in action yet? QR CODE scan and you get your profile and app access?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1686769099357949953

I'm currently renting a Tesla from Hertz. I can see the QR code every time I start the car with the card, but it doesn't work yet.

 

[EL CapiTRAN]

I'm currently renting a Tesla from Hertz. I can see the QR code every time I start the car with the card, but it doesn't work yet.

View attachment 967461

Hmm. Is your profile on your car synced with your cloud profile yet? For my wife I noticed there were two profiles on the car. I had to sync them together. Not sure if that is the issue but it's something I noticed

 

[caSimon]

I just returned a 23 Tesla Model 3 RWD that was rented through Tesla Insurance/Hertz in Newport Beach, CA. I wish I read this post, I would've scanned the QR code on the keycard to test it out... I accidentally left the keycard in the car a few times without thinking.

They signed me in and pointed towards the car then gave me the car at 90% battery and expected it back that way. People treat these cars horribly. With only 12k miles, it had so many scratches all around and the passenger-side seat controls were broken. The car came filthy, fingerprints on windows and I found an empty seltzer can in the center console cubby. Worst part was the way it shook/vibrated at highway speeds. Maybe it was just this particular location but not a great experience for me.

 

[CFinVancouver]

Trouble finding if this was discussed previously here...does the rental Y in Canada come as CCS charging enabled? Debating whether to bring my ccs adapter from home to Toronto to increase my charging options.

 

[gt2690b]

Trouble finding if this was discussed previously here...does the rental Y in Canada come as CCS charging enabled? Debating whether to bring my ccs adapter from home to Toronto to increase my charging options.

dunno about canada but i just rented a model 3 in arizona and it was ccs enabled.. id suggest checking it at pickup to verify but bringing your adapter

i didnt try the driver profile qr code thing but i used a qr code to enable spotify and it worked flawlessly which was great for my long commutes everyday in arizona

this model 3 had a drivers side door sealant damage that made the door whistle at high speeds.. i was able to push and pull on the window to make it seal a little better but then i just turned the radio up

i also had a semi go by on a not so great road at 60mph and throw up rocks on the windshield.. it made two large cracks immediately and hertz took care of everything i didnt get charged a dime

i have a model y for almost 3 years now and havent had a rock hit my window yet (knock on wood) so its crazy it happened in 2 days in arizona.. i guess the car does ride lower though

 

[terraform]

Hmm. Is your profile on your car synced with your cloud profile yet? For my wife I noticed there were two profiles on the car. I had to sync them together. Not sure if that is the issue but it's something I noticed

Can you explain what you mean by cloud profile? It’s that like a Hertz account profile or something?

 

[EL CapiTRAN]

Can you explain what you mean by cloud profile? It’s that like a Hertz account profile or something?

Tesla has profiles that upload up the cloud. If you haven't synced the local profile just stays on the car. I noticed that my wife's profile that she created before Tesla started the cloud profile wasn't synced so you could actually see two profiles. I had to copy her local to her cloud on the car settings.