It is well known that Canada is a nation on wheels. Not to mention that nearly every household here has at least one car, the car rental industry is also highly developed. The rental process is simple; just bring your reservation, driver's license, and credit card to get started. Once the process is complete, with the key in the car, you can drive away without leaving the airport. That said, many newcomers who are just immigrating to Canada often find themselves in a chaotic situation with too many things to handle. Here, we summarize the comparisons of major car rental companies in Canada based on feedback from internet users, hoping to assist everyone.
Hertz is the leader in the global car rental industry. In Canada, there are 1,900 rental outlets nationwide, with 6,600 rental locations worldwide. They offer a wide range of vehicle models and provide short-term rental services—daily, weekly, and monthly rentals.
Advantages: Gold Card users can go directly to the HERTZ parking lot after disembarking, where they will find a sign with their name and assigned parking spot, without needing to deal with anyone (reservations often sell out, leading to automatic upgrades to better vehicles, sometimes even luxury cars like Lincolns); returning the car is as simple as swiping a card (if a credit card is already registered in the account, this step is even skipped).
Disadvantages: Expensive.
Avis is a well-known multinational car rental company with over 60 years of history. If Hertz is the number one in the world, Avis is the second.
Advantages: First, the service is excellent—most major airports in Canada (and conveniently located areas in big cities) have outlets; online reservations are quick and even do not require filling in driver's license and credit card information; it is also very convenient to modify or cancel bookings online; picking up the car at the counter is efficient, and there is almost never a need to wait in line, with parking lot and garage locations being very accessible; secondly, the cars are very new, with each provided vehicle having only a few thousand or even a few hundred miles on it.
Disadvantages: Only slightly cheaper than Hertz.
Enterprise
Advantages: Cheaper than the two above. Moreover, prices at Enterprise are negotiable; it seems that every sales representative has performance assessments, so you can ask for the best discount, for instance, my friend negotiated $100 off for a 10-day rental...
Disadvantages: The location and service at Enterprise are somewhat inferior compared to AVIS and HERTZ. At the rental counters of the latter two, the check-in process may take 1-2 minutes, while Enterprise takes about 5 minutes, not including any waiting time in the queue. The cars also seem to be older.
Other
Lastly, there are many local small car rental companies that can be found through Google. While they may be cheaper, the efficiency of service and the condition of the vehicles should not be overestimated.