I had a rush trip to Los Angeles and I made sure that I booked Hertz at LAX for the quick in-and-out that the Hertz #1 Gold service offers. Upon landing, I was out at the bus pick-up in a flash (I don’t use the term “shuttle” as none of these buses remind me of a shuttle). The bus driver did not take my name as is customary with the Gold service, saying “I’m not taking any names today, your name will be listed on the Gold board when we arrive at the rental location.” Okay, I thought, they have never let me down before.

So I played by the new rules and when we arrived at the lot, of course my name was not on the board. Fortunately an agent radioed in and got my location number—217–in a few minutes.

Here’s the problem with the Gold service, as I see it. When it was launched some 18 years ago, it was exclusive and you had to pay – which I did. USAToday would be on the seat of your car, with a box of Tic-Tacs and the engine running. Now the Tic-Tacs are gone, as is the newspaper, and they decided that having the engine running was a cool idea, but not really frugal and not really green. So now you just get to go straight to the car in its spot, ready to go, but it is still a great service. So what is my complaint about today? It’s not exclusive. I noticed over the years that I was no longer required to pay, and although I was pleased with this, now I see that Hertz has been giving away more and more Gold-status memberships, and overcrowding the facilities. I can only assume that any large corporation that signs up to use Hertz for all their employees receives the Gold Service gratis. The program is so expanded that nearly everyone is Gold, and the parking spaces allotted for their cars are numerous. At LAX, number 217 was against the fence, hard to find, and not covered. (Other programs, like Avis Priority and The Emerald Isle at National, work just as well, though others, like Thrifty, have difficulty making the whole process come together.)  When I brought the car back, I of course filled the tank (and kept my receipt — see my Sept. 4 blog) and rushed to the car-return area. Of course I was behind a guy going five miles per hour and I muttered to myself; his flight was probably in three hours (mine was in one). He stopped completely at each stop sign as I rolled my eyes. After our circuitous route to the final drop-off staging area, the line of cars stopped, and as I watched, the guy in front of the person I was following backed into him. That was it; I would take no more of this tomfoolery! I pulled out of the line and passed the five cars in front of me, cutting them off on my way into the staging area. I called over the agent who was checking in cars and explained what I had just witnessed. I said to him, you are in more danger from the slow drivers who slowly run you over than from the faster drivers. We both laughed about it and he said there are a lot of really bad drivers he witnesses daily.  —Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO