Renting with Vroom Vroom Vroom feels good, but how do rates compare?
Vroom Vroom Vroom, which began in Australia, announced its U.S. launch this week, promising car-rental customers “a fast, hassle-free and environmentally friendly” service. This uniquely named website (onomatopoeias are fun) allows users to reserve vehicles with the major-player companies (Hertz, Avis, etc.) in over 2,000 locations across the country.
VVV may offer engines revving from fossil fuels, but it seems to be doing so mindfully. Though the company doesn’t focus on hybrid or bio-fuel car rentals, VVV partners with the CarbonNeutral Co., a climate-consulting firm, to offset the total carbon emissions of every rental (whatever its MPG rate), with estimations based on type of car, length of rental and average mileage, according to VVV spokeswoman Maggi Deroian. And this comes at no cost to you, the renter. Also, said Deroian, VVV is offsetting the carbon produced in the company’s operations, accounting for electricity, Internet, travel and more.
Surely all of this eco-conscientiousness means higher rates? Not so, they say. According to Deroian, the offsets come at no cost to the renter. Plus, VVV’s low-price guarantee promises a matched price plus $10 “for your efforts” if you can beat their price elsewhere. But, of course, I had to test it.
Tested: Looking at Oakland Airport (OAK) as my pickup/drop-off spot, I performed a couple of searches, including one for an economy-class car for four days later this month. Through Enterprise Rent-a-Car’s website, I found a Chevy Aveo (or similar) for $167.12 (including tax). I looked up the same dates and times on Vroom Vroom Vroom, and the cheapest option that it turned up was an Enterprise rental, for the same price: $167.12. I looked up CarRentals.com, and for the same model through Enterprise, I found — no surprise — the same price. So, in this instance anyway, it doesn’t matter, money-wise, which I go through. If that’s the case and I like Enterprise’s services, then I’d probably go with VVV, given the feel-good factor: the carbon-offsets and the other displays of the company’s good conscience.
However, if I’m not so concerned about which car-renting agency I use, and I really want bottom-dollar, no matter the car model, I might go elsewhere, and here’s why: For the same dates and times used above, I tried CarRentals.com, which turned up cheaper options through Fox Rent a Car and Payless Car Rental, including a Hyundai Accent (or similar) for a total of $97.90 (including tax). (This would not qualify for VVV’s price guarantee, since the type of car differs.)
For the major car-rental agencies, you’re not going to find a whole lot of difference in rates among third-party bookers, unless you’re taking advantage of sales or other special promotions. It’s always smart to cost-compare among at least a few different sites. That said, I will strongly consider this new, seemingly socially responsible option, Vroom Vroom Vroom, for my future reservations; when its rate is equal to competitors, even if not lower, I’ll go with them.
— Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times
[Photo: VroomVroomVroom.com]
2 Comments on “Renting with Vroom Vroom Vroom feels good, but how do rates compare?”
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October 5th, 2008 at 6:19 am
I’m the webmaster of a car rental tips website and was curious to see if VroomVroomVroom was indeed the cheapest way to rent a car.
I too checked Oakland for 4 days later this month and got the same price as you, $167.12, both at the Enterprise website and the vroomvroomvroom website.
I’m an allstate motor club member,so I went to their website to get a discount code for Enterprise. I went back to the Enterprise website with that code and found the same vehicle for $159.28 Great! I thought I would be able to get the car for $157.12 by utilizing vroomvrooms price promise, so back I went to their site. When I looked up the terms and conditions for their price promise I found the following statements:
All you need to do is provide us with is your reservation number booked via the vroomvroomvroom web site and the web site address and quote details of the company offering the better deal. We will check out the competition and if they are better we will match the price and pay you an additional $10.
The fine print. There isn’t any BUT as price change daily we can only match offers made within 3 days of your reservation and we pay the difference and $10 rebate directly into your credit card account at the completion of your rental. Our promise pertains to prices that can be seen and verified from the internet.
It does not apply to any non-internet offers or offer available to people who hold special discount codes or numbers that are not available to the public.
So, for me it would be cheaper to go through enterprise directly with my allstate motor club membership.
I think the most important thing with checking car prices is to know your options!
October 7th, 2008 at 2:52 am
great article Susan.
I’d like to moreso reply in regards to the carbon offset than the comparison.
With regards to carbon offsets from VVV - actually at Oodles.com we’ve offered free carbon offset in AU, NZ and the USA since April 2008 at this promo page: http://oodles.com/carbonfree/
What the guys have apparently have done differently, if they carry it through, is offset every booking without the need for a code.
So if they do offset each bookings (i think about $2 each) then on the face of it that is at least some effort in the right direction.
We set it up so users could use a link or add the code into the oodles discount code field.
ALTHOUGH we have not pushed the idea through the media because I have actually become a bit sceptical now, for three reasons.
1st reason is because I think so many companies nowadays are more so attracted by press coverage that they can get, from an apparent green initiative, as opposed to actually making a change in the way we/they consume.
2nd I’ve concluded that making small cars or hybrid more prominent in car rental search results and even giving a discount on these small lower emitting cars is a much greener initiative and money much better spent.
Carbon offset doesn’t actually reduce carbon emissions in any way. And tree planting won’t actually offset the carbon for 30 years when tree is harvested.
3rd reason is that the carbon trading schemes are very complex and the average punter would not have a clue if their carbon is actually being offset, unless they are given an offset certificate with each rental.
In addition there is a big potential for doubling up, like in Australia where Europcar offset every car in their fleet. Maybe rental companies will offset if permits come and trading scheme enforce it.
as far as rate shopping goes - yeah when all sites are comparing the same rate, they do need to add a little more build a strong brand. Green angle might work - so we’ll leave that to VVV.
Steve Sherlock
MD & Founder http://oodles.com