The next morning I called their corporate office. The very friendly woman there stated that they had a car for me now, and I could go pick it up. I went. When I got there I was told that the corporate person was wrong and that they had no cars available, and that my only recourse was to rent from someone else, then submit to the Fox corporate office my new rental contract, and MAYBE they would pick up the difference.

They explained to me that reserving a car with them does not actually reserve a car. He said it only holds a price that I could rent for, if they happen to have a car available. (Seriously, they said this.)

I looked in the lot (where there were 3 or 4 cars) and asked if those belonged to them. He said “yes”. I suggested that he give me one of those, as the statement about not having any cars appeared to be false. He said he couldn’t because those were “reserved” for others. He only stammered when trying to explain why those renters had actual cars reserved for them, while my reservation was only to guarantee a price. My guess at the truth is that my rental was for a mid-size, and the cars in the lot were full-size and sports cars (which rent for a bit more than my “reserved price”).

I ended up renting with Thrifty. And although the rental agent there tried excruciatingly hard to get me to buy every add-on they offered (all of which I declined), they did give me a car, and the rest of my Thrifty rental went smoothly.