Things You'll Need:
- You
- A rental agent
- some nerves
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Step 1
There aren't really 'steps' to this, more things you can try and should do. The first point here to consider is that you booked a certain category of car and the car rental company in taking that reservation (and hopefully keeping it - Jerry Seinfeld) intended to rent you the class of car you booked. There are however certain circumstances that can change that.
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Step 2
Overbooking - car rental companies like airlines over book, they rarely over book against the total of all the cars they have but they do over blook against the classes of cars, this is because they know that they can always upgrade you. Economy and mid-size are the 2 most popular class of car followed by full-size. If the rental company can't meet your class of rental they will typically offer you an upgrade but be aware they have caught onto this and before telling you that they no longer have mid-size they'll pitch an upgrade for just $7/per day more, my experience shows that about 50% of the time that they offer this you should see an upgrade.
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Step 3
Ask - certainly suggest to the agent that you noticed they had the new Fusion outside and you were just thinking of test driving one or plain ask, "any chance of an upgrade?", if the guy knows that fairly soon he's going to be bumping people up then he may just make that person you. Think about this one because although it may be uncomfortable, the worst thing that happens? You leave in the car you booked.
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Step 4
Be Nice or Awkward - the customer service reps usually get berated right in front of you by some idiot who drank his way through the flight. Use that when you approach, "What a pain that guy was, I hope I'm able to make your life easier", "How many losers do you get in here each day - bet you'll never upgrade him". Whatever puts them at ease and quickly builds rapport. You could of course be the pain and awkward, try to catch a glimpse of the key fob that has the car details, "you know I can't drive red cars.......or......or.......", their job is to get you booked in and moved to your car, the longer you take in some cases the better.
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Step 5
Join Programs - you should always sign up to free loyalty programs and then try to stick to that company if you can. You don't always have to book directly either, book with a cheaper company such as Expedia and then just provide your loyalty number to the rental desk. The more you rent with the same company the better rewards you will receive including upgrades and free rentals.
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Step 6
Know which car company the rental company is linked to. Next time you're at your airport check out the cars at Hertz or Avis or Dollar, rental car companies buy cars in bulk and they do so from the same manufacturers, even though some cars are considered the same class you may find that a Ford Focus is a better car than a Chevy Cavalier for your particular needs. So just choosing the right company might help. I've also used the fact that I don't like certain cars and told them so when they were trying to give me a Chevy that had offset pedals, for this though you either need to say you've had one before or you have to actually leave the counter and go to the car.
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Step 7
Timing - some people think that the morning is the best time to arrive - I'm guessing that your flight determines that for you though and so you may not have a choice. Anyway it doesn't usually help much in some locations I found that I always arrived in the morning and I always got upgraded (Newark Airport) but then in Maui I always arrive around lunch time - afternoon and that seems to help too.
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Step 8
A little bit of luck never hurt - think positively and you never know, I booked a full size for Maui in '08 through Hotwire for $14 a day and was upgraded to first class on my flight and to a Lincoln Town car for 2 weeks in Maui.
