As an FBO employee at many locations around the world, I’ve had the pleasure of not only seeing, but working with a large number of rental car operations and witnessing their varied level of support to the general aviation industry.  Wow – did that vary from location to location!  Even the same national rental car company could have extremely different service from one airport to another. It was always very clear to me which vendors understood our market and the high expectation of our mutual customers.  It was imperative that the “preferred rental car vendor” supported the same level of customer service and worked hard to ensure that the FBO was provided the tools to take care of their customers.  I remember being in my first FBO job and calling the rental car company to ask when they were going to deliver a car I needed for a customer, who happened to be a crew member in this case, that was 10 minutes out.  Their response was, “I’ll be dropping it off in the next 30 minutes” which was obviously unacceptable.  I responded with, “If you’re too busy to drop off their prearranged vehicle by the time they are here, don’t worry about it.  I’ll go ahead and give them the SUV spare we have here for the same price as your midsize (with a smile).”  You can imagine their delight with that response and said, “We will bring it right over.” My point here is…to them 20 minutes late wasn’t a big deal. Even with a prearranged reservation and time to plan, this vendor was challenged to meet the expectations our customer deserved. Frankly, they wouldn’t have delivered the product on time if I wasn’t in the position to encourage them to do so.  This particular vendor and many others I’ve worked with are not “bad” rental companies, but they lacked the drive to make each customer happy and the desire to be the leader in their industry.

There is one company that I have had the pleasure of working with that goes to great lengths to ensure 100% satisfaction each and every time, Go Rentals.  They do this by having the highest quality cars, working with their FBO partners to meet the needs of their mutual customers, positioning themselves to be flexible to handle short notice requests, and hiring a strong team that want to make each experience with their company great. Go Rentals understands their customer base and that each customer flying in deserves not only the best cars and the best service, but also to be remembered.  They do a fantastic job of customizing their offering and working with flight departments and FBOs so that each guest’s experience is what they expect and deserve.  They can be found in key markets around the US.  If you haven’t already given them a try as a flight department, I’d suggest it.  If you’re looking for a true rental car partner for your FBO, I guarantee you’ll find Go Rentals is a delight to work with.

You can find more information at Go Rentals.