A Road Trip on Highway 1 with Two American Countryside Stops

They just charge random fees.

The Filipino lady at Avis was very helpful, and upgrading the license was free. Not bad, thumbs up. Chose AVIS many times afterward.

Since we picked up the car at 9 PM, there were fewer people, and we didn't have to wait in line. They only asked if we needed GPS because we had full insurance, and then it was done.

Large company, no mandatory charges, easy pick-up and drop-off procedures.

I didn't have a good experience with AVIS. The staff seemed to take advantage of customers whose English wasn’t very good. After waiting in line for over an hour, the attendant said he needed to find the car. About 15 to 20 minutes later, he returned and asked how many people and how much luggage I had. I told him the truth and he said he would get me a bigger car. I asked if the upgrade was free, and he nodded. When handling the paperwork, I had some questions about toll fees, so I asked for a Chinese-speaking representative. I also asked her about the upgrade, and she said it wasn’t free; it would cost $17 more per day. I immediately requested no upgrade. The initial male attendant pretended to confirm this and then told me that my reserved car was unavailable and that he had to give me an upgrade, which would cost a total of $14 for 11 days. Since we had already waited a long time and my elderly companions were very tired, I agreed. Later, I found out the Ford Flex they gave me was actually less spacious than the Chrysler Town and Country MPV I originally booked. In summary, it felt like a scam.