Not all car rental companies are the same

You’ve probably heard stories about bad experiences with renting a car. For example, at a party where you’re discussing your vacation plans with your neighbor and mention where you’re going to rent a car. To which he replies, “That car rental company? Never go with them—they’re so bad. The things I’ve been through with those guys…!” And then comes a story about the horrors he went through when he rented a car from that “bad” company.

The brand says little about the quality of a car rental company

The point is that not all car rental companies are the same, and that’s true even within a single brand. Brands include Avis, Budget, Hertz, Goldcar, and Sixt. Let us explain how this works. Car rental companies are almost always franchises, which means that a business owner has the right to rent out cars under a brand name. That right is limited to a specific region. As a result, different business owners offer cars for rent under the same brand name. And while one business owner goes out of their way to satisfy customers, another car rental provider may care less about that. It’s also important for a business owner to closely monitor how front-desk staff interact with customers at all locations. If that oversight is lacking, customer service can suffer, leading to poor reviews for the location.

Brands are keen to retain good franchisees, because customer experiences with “bad apples” reflect poorly on the entire brand. However, franchise agreements with business owners are often long-term and cannot be terminated without cause. If a business owner’s performance declines during the term of the contract, the partnership cannot simply be terminated—if only because the brand must first find another business owner to partner with.

A “Good” Brand Can Have Poor Locations—and Vice Versa

The fact is that some brands monitor the quality of franchisees renting cars under their name more strictly than others. And that’s the catch. Take Goldcar, for example. That brand generally has a poor reputation. But that doesn’t apply to all its locations. Some Goldcar locations even score above average or a solid “satisfactory,” so you can safely rent a car there. Conversely, a car rental company that generally scores well may actually have poor ratings at certain locations. With us, you can easily see where customers have rented a car to their full satisfaction and where they haven’t.

EasyTerra highlights the quality of individual car rental companies

For all rental companies, we list their customer satisfaction scores. We determine these scores by asking everyone who has rented a car through us how the on-site service was and whether the rental car met their expectations. Over the years, we’ve built up a huge number of reviews this way. These are genuine reviews from our customers about the service provided by that specific rental company at that specific location. On other car rental comparison sites, you’ll also see ratings, but these are often general reviews of a brand. That doesn’t tell you much, because different locations of the same brand can vary wildly in terms of service and quality. Some other car rental comparison sites don’t even mention which company is offering a rental car, let alone allow you to see reviews of the local rental company.

EasyTerra strives to be as transparent as possible, which is why we clearly show how satisfied our customers are. For every rental car we offer, you’ll see a rating next to the rental company’s logo that indicates the average of the reviews. If you click on that score, a pop-up will appear showing the average rating, broken down by the friendliness of the on-site staff, wait time, the condition of the car, and the value for money. Below that, you’ll find the most recent reviews from our customers about the local car rental company.

Filter by car rental company rating

In our filter system, under the “Customer Satisfaction” heading, you can select car rental providers that score at least a 6 (“Fair”), 7 (“Good”), or 8 (“Very Good”). This way, you can select the best providers and don’t have to check each car rental company’s score yourself every time. But no matter how good a provider is, you naturally don’t want to pay too much to rent a car. That’s why our search system includes an option to easily filter by the value for money of the cars on offer.

Search by Price/Quality of Rental Cars

When you search for a rental car with us, the results are sorted by default by price: from lowest to highest. We also understand that price is an important factor when renting a car. As we mentioned above, we recommend that you consider not only the price but also the car rental company’s reputation. We make it very easy for you—with just one click, you can sort your search results by price-to-quality ratio. We base this on real customer experiences. After the rental period ends, we specifically ask our customers to rate the value for money offered by that particular local car rental provider. We use those scores to rank the results of your search.

Worry-Free Rental Car: Always a Reliable Provider

A rental car with the Worry-Free label always comes from a reputable provider that scores at least a 7 on customer satisfaction. So, if you select “Worry-Free” in our filter system, you no longer need to check a car rental company’s rating. There are also other benefits associated with this label: you’ll always get a rental car with unlimited mileage and a favorable fuel policy. And, just as importantly, the insurance deductible is covered. In short: when you rent a car with the Worry-Free label, you’ll travel completely worry-free and well-insured.