Getting rid of my car and using public transportation!

[manlymatt83]

This thread could probably be posted in general discussion, but many of my questions relate to AGR only.

I'm thinking of getting rid of my car and only using public transportation. I already travel on Amtrak quite often (earned 5000 rail points so far this year already, and I'm writing this from a first class car on Acela, so I'll be earning another 750 today!).

The few questions I have:

1) I have been using hertz a lot. Is it better to use the Amtrak CDP number and give them my guest rewards number, or is it better to sign up for Hertz #1 club and choose Guest Rewards Points as my method of earning?

2) I want to earn select plus membership. If I get 10,000 points by December 31st, 2009, will my benefits expire in February of 2010 (only two months later?)? Or February 2011? Also, if I earn the 10,000 points sooner than that, say by September, 2009, will the select plus benefits kick in immediately, or will they only begin February 31st, 2010?

Has anyone ever done something like this before? Basically gotten around solely with Amtrak, renting cars from Hertz, and public transportation like the subway (I live in Boston). Should be interesting...

 

[Upstate]

Yes, sign up for Hertz #1 club. More specifically you should sign up for Hertz #1 Gold that is comped from having AGR Select. If you are renting as much as you say then you shouldn't have much trouble getting higher status that gets you free upgrades. As far as rates and points go the only difference in joining or not is that your CDP and AGR number are saved to your account so you don't have to go digging for them every time.

Select Plus will kick in immediately after you post 10000 rail points.

 

[Ispolkom]

You might also look into a car-sharing company like Zipcar (more AGR points!) I think that they are a little thicker on the ground in Boston, and hourly rental might make more sense in some situations than a daily rental.

 

[jis]

2) I want to earn select plus membership. If I get 10,000 points by December 31st, 2009, will my benefits expire in February of 2010 (only two months later?)? Or February 2011? Also, if I earn the 10,000 points sooner than that, say by September, 2009, will the select plus benefits kick in immediately, or will they only begin February 31st, 2010?

The benefits will kick in as soon as you complete 10000 points and will continue to Feb 2011

 

[transit54]

Has anyone ever done something like this before? Basically gotten around solely with Amtrak, renting cars from Hertz, and public transportation like the subway (I live in Boston). Should be interesting...

Welcome to my life! I love it and I don't even live in a major metro area. I grew up in a place where you needed a car and wouldn't ever go back to that lifestyle again. I estimate I save $2,000-$3,000 a year, a large portion of which I make my yearly travel budget (the rest goes to carsharing fees).

I do strongly second the recommendation for Zipcar. We have Carshare Vermont up in Burlington, which is effectively the same thing, and that for me is the difference between owning a car and not owning one. Every so often you just need (or want) to drive for some reason (moving a lot of stuff, somewhere there's no transit, etc) and that's when being a carshare member really comes in handy. For instance, two weeks ago I wanted to drive to Montreal to pick up some furniture at IKEA (not easy to take back on a bus). So I just grabbed a carshare car and off I went. Plus you'll get a lot of AGR points for signing up with Zipcar.

I work for the transit agency up here, so that provides an added incentive (I ride for free), but I did this even when I worked for the airlines. I bike commute most days of the week but take the bus when it's raining/I'm tired/etc. Longer trips I take Amtrak, fly, or (if I really have to) take Greyhound. I'll take a carshare car from time to time on a longer trip, but I really find highway driving to be mind numbing and avoid it whenever possible.

For me, it's somewhat of an adventure. Outside of the fact that I save tons of money, I think its a lot more fun. Driving everywhere just gets boring, and working out what connecting trains/buses I need is something I really enjoy. Plus the cycling keeps in excellent shape. I really doubt I'll ever want to buy a car again.

 

[the_traveler]

1) I have been using hertz a lot. Is it better to use the Amtrak CDP number and give them my guest rewards number, or is it better to sign up for Hertz #1 club and choose Guest Rewards Points as my method of earning?
2) I want to earn select plus membership. If I get 10,000 points by December 31st, 2009, will my benefits expire in February of 2010 (only two months later?)? Or February 2011? Also, if I earn the 10,000 points sooner than that, say by September, 2009, will the select plus benefits kick in immediately, or will they only begin February 31st, 2010?

I would compare the rates both ways and chose that rate and then chose AGR points.

As an example, I am a former Government worker, and qualified for the Government rate at hotels - which could be like 30-40% lower than the rack rate. But the Government rate was the same 7 days a week. On weekends, I sometimes found the AAA rate to be lower, so I used the AAA for those times!

Your Select benefits begin once you reach the threshold, continue for that year (actually until February 28 of the following year) AND for 1 more year! So a Select status reached on July 15, 2009 would expire on February 28, 2011! (And your Select benefits start once you reach the threshold! Even if it's mid trip! If train #1 pushes you over, train #2 will include thee benefits!)

 

[jackal]

1) I have been using hertz a lot. Is it better to use the Amtrak CDP number and give them my guest rewards number, or is it better to sign up for Hertz #1 club and choose Guest Rewards Points as my method of earning?

You can have both! By doing the second one--signing up for #1 Club Gold and saving your Amtrak CDP and AGR numbers in your #1CG profile, you're basically doing the same thing as the first one but with the added benefit of #1CG status!

One small note, though--even with every CDP discount code checked that I could possibly qualify for, I still have found Hertz to be ridiculously expensive. For example, if I were to rent a car next November (WELL into the slow season here in ANC), with no discount, Hertz wants over $100 per day (plus 30% tax!) for the cheapest car. The best CDP I qualify for gets it down to $70 (plus tax) per day.

Enterprise, Dollar, Thrifty, Budget, and Alamo are all charging more like $30 per day--and that's without any of their discount codes! And knowing this market as I do, if I wait until the competition gets fiercer closer to that time, I'm sure I'll be able to find that car closer to $10-15 per day with any of those agencies, while Hertz still wants their $70!

I find Hertz a rip-off, but YMMV...

 

[Upstate]

1) I have been using hertz a lot. Is it better to use the Amtrak CDP number and give them my guest rewards number, or is it better to sign up for Hertz #1 club and choose Guest Rewards Points as my method of earning?

You can have both! By doing the second one--signing up for #1 Club Gold and saving your Amtrak CDP and AGR numbers in your #1CG profile, you're basically doing the same thing as the first one but with the added benefit of #1CG status!

One small note, though--even with every CDP discount code checked that I could possibly qualify for, I still have found Hertz to be ridiculously expensive. For example, if I were to rent a car next November (WELL into the slow season here in ANC), with no discount, Hertz wants over $100 per day (plus 30% tax!) for the cheapest car. The best CDP I qualify for gets it down to $70 (plus tax) per day.

Enterprise, Dollar, Thrifty, Budget, and Alamo are all charging more like $30 per day--and that's without any of their discount codes! And knowing this market as I do, if I wait until the competition gets fiercer closer to that time, I'm sure I'll be able to find that car closer to $10-15 per day with any of those agencies, while Hertz still wants their $70!

I find Hertz a rip-off, but YMMV...

Well you can try CDP 77694. Its the USAA CDP and gives a very good discount. I have only rented with Hertz once but they didn't even check to make sure I was a member. I have read other places on the internet that nonmembers are not getting checked. I am a USAA member so I don't have to worry about it but it might be good to have a reservation at Budget in your back pocket in case they do check.

 

[sky12065]

Enterprise, Dollar, Thrifty, Budget, and Alamo are all charging more like $30 per day--and that's without any of their discount codes! And knowing this market as I do, if I wait until the competition gets fiercer closer to that time, I'm sure I'll be able to find that car closer to $10-15 per day with any of those agencies, while Hertz still wants their $70!
I find Hertz a rip-off, but YMMV...

In about two weeks I have a full sized car car rented for a week at Hertz in Portland OR. It averages out at $36 per day before taxes etc. And, although I no longer have the figures I remember last year where we rented from Hertz in Flagstaff AZ, that the fees were pretty much comprable to this years fees. Although what you say may be true in some situations, I'd have to say not always so from my experience!

 

[jackal]

Enterprise, Dollar, Thrifty, Budget, and Alamo are all charging more like $30 per day--and that's without any of their discount codes! And knowing this market as I do, if I wait until the competition gets fiercer closer to that time, I'm sure I'll be able to find that car closer to $10-15 per day with any of those agencies, while Hertz still wants their $70!
I find Hertz a rip-off, but YMMV...

In about two weeks I have a full sized car car rented for a week at Hertz in Portland OR. It averages out at $36 per day before taxes etc. And, although I no longer have the figures I remember last year where we rented from Hertz in Flagstaff AZ, that the fees were pretty much comprable to this years fees. Although what you say may be true in some situations, I'd have to say not always so from my experience!

Maybe so, but here's what I see for some sample dates in PDX:

Checking with the best of my Hertz CDPs, I get the following results:

Two of the three test periods, it's a bit cheaper to use Hertz with this CDP, but on the week-long rental, it's still cheaper to use Enterprise, Dollar, and Thrifty. In any case, the point is it's never good to blindly use one company, even if you think your discount usually gives you a better rate, without at least checking the others (unless you really, truly don't mind paying for quality service).

 

[sky12065]

Enterprise, Dollar, Thrifty, Budget, and Alamo are all charging more like $30 per day--and that's without any of their discount codes! And knowing this market as I do, if I wait until the competition gets fiercer closer to that time, I'm sure I'll be able to find that car closer to $10-15 per day with any of those agencies, while Hertz still wants their $70!
I find Hertz a rip-off, but YMMV...

In about two weeks I have a full sized car car rented for a week at Hertz in Portland OR. It averages out at $36 per day before taxes etc. And, although I no longer have the figures I remember last year where we rented from Hertz in Flagstaff AZ, that the fees were pretty much comprable to this years fees. Although what you say may be true in some situations, I'd have to say not always so from my experience!

Maybe so, but here's what I see for some sample dates in PDX:

Checking with the best of my Hertz CDPs, I get the following results:

(Charts Omitted)

Two of the three test periods, it's a bit cheaper to use Hertz with this CDP, but on the week-long rental, it's still cheaper to use Enterprise, Dollar, and Thrifty. In any case, the point is it's never good to blindly use one company, even if you think your discount usually gives you a better rate, without at least checking the others (unless you really, truly don't mind paying for quality service).

As an update to my post, I called Hertz earlier today and tried using another code (from another rewards program I belong to) to add to my reservation and it upped my price from the my upper $200 price to a price over $500.

It turns out that you can only use two codes and the one that was deleted was an Elks discount. Apparantly the Elks discount was a very good one. The other code I was using was the HHertz1 members code.

What's strange is that with the two codes (HHertz1 & the rewards associated with Holiday Inn reservations) I got a higher price than you did on a comp sample. Another note is that my reservation was actually for 6 days, but some how I got a free day added.

One thing is for sure. These rewards programs are made complex enough that it leaves enough of us confused and fustrated enough to forego some time consuming research or checking. Even when you do you sometimes are left scratching you head