I got a really nice price to rent an mid size car from Alamo (which the HHR fits) so I planned on renting one for a week and put it through it's paces etc...see how I like it taking it to work, on my commute, taking the family out etc..in other words everything you can't do on a 15 minute test ride.

I went up to the Manchester Airport to pick one up tonight.....not a one on the lot to be had... I asked one of the lot guys if they had one available and he scanned for a bit and said "Nope but we had 4 of them yesterday...we got a nice Vibe over there instead if you want that" Damn dude I already have a Matrix

In Manchester all the rental places are in the garage so I walked to all the different places...no HHR's at all.

Bummer.....guess I'll have to keep trying...what I do is rent online, get my confirmation and before I go to the counter I'll take a look in the lot to see if there are any HHRs...if not I just go home and cancel the rez.....

Sort of a pain but I really would like to rent one before I take the plunge.

I can't believe I'm having such a tough time finding one to rent


Goose

 

I've been watching the Rental Lots near Lambert International Airport here in St. Louis and I still haven't seen an HHR on any of their lots.

I was really surprised that there were not a bunch of them set aside for rentals. Tons of Chrysler and Dodge rentals but no HHR...

What's that about?

 

Well for the most part unless you are in Orlando or Vegas certain companies will stay with certain domestics FOR the most part..Alamo/National and Avis are gonna be your best bets for HHR's I think as they gear towards GM products...Dollar and Thrifty moreso Chrysler and Dodges and Hetrz/Budget seem to cover the Fords.

Enterprise seems to lean more towards Chrysler but the have a mixed bag a lot


Goose

PS I think I'm just gonna make a rez every day and take a drive to the airport and take a look see and maybe get lucky

 

Try Avis if you have one nearby. They also have offices away from Airports whose rates are $20-$30 cheaper per day. They do not officially list them online but they have 'em if you ask. My local shop even called me when they got it in and held it a whole day so I could drive it over the weekend. I'm also told by my car dealer that Enterprise rents them though I can't personally verify that. In any case you should try the old school-non online way and go POTS baby. Humans actually work sometimes <G>

Wilson

 

Whatsup RIVER CITY!?...my good old Mom and Bro live there. I was born in dear old SantLoo. Kind of a Chrysler town though isn't it? Matter of fact I was there in Feb, was planning on renting a Dodge Caliber which there were scads of. A dear Cousin insisted that I borrow her Hyundai Sonata, which was just as good since when I test drove a Caliber I found it was scheisse...if you'll pardon my German.

Wilson

 

Most local places away from the airport are quite a bit more expensive, at least around here they are.

Alamo seems like the best bet...with discounts and coupons I can get an HHR for 117 bucks total for 7 days..that is pretty darn good


if I can just find a dang HHR to rent it would be even better



Goose

 

Hope that works out Goose!

Wilson

 

Too bad you didn't have a car dealer like I have.

With our previous car, my salesman said to come in on Friday and pick up the car we wanted and to take it for a test drive over the weekend. So we had the car from Friday evening until Monday morning.

For the HHR, he tossed us the keys and let us take it out for a spin. We came back about 2 hours later. While we were out on the test drive, our salesman found an HHR in their inventory that had everything on it we wanted except for running boards. We did the deal that day. I ended up buying the boards separately anyway, so in the end we got what we wanted.

 

Did you end up buying your HHR without even driving it? The reason I ask is the 4 that I have test driven have all felt a bit different...vibrations present in one where not on another...funky engine noise from one that the other 3 didn't have etc....ride jittery in a couple compared to the others...vibes in the gas pedal....I know I'm picky but it is a decent investment and I want to make sure I get the right one if I do purchase


Goose

 

We did the test drive of a 2007 2LT and bought a 2006 1LT.

EDIT: We did sit in it, run the engine, gave it a good going over, etc. before we agreed to taking it.

Only difference I noticed between the two was that the suspension was a big different since the 2LT had the sport suspension. With the sway bar installed, our 1LT feels like the 2LT did.