We're sorry, sir, but we don't have any cars left.
That was my unpleasant welcome to Michigan by Hertz.
I had a reservation. They saw the reservation. The problem: Hertz hadn't actually saved me a car.
So here I was, just off a plane in Kalamazoo, suitcase in tow and no car. I wasn't the only one stranded and — I later learned from my cab driver — it happens somewhat regularly.
After the initial shock, all that kept flashing through my head was a 1991 Seinfeld episode where a car rental firm doesn't have Jerry's reserved car.
"But the reservation keeps the car here. That's why you have the reservation," Seinfeld says. "You know how to take the reservation, you just don't know how to hold the reservation. And that's really the most important part of the reservation: the holding."
Reserving a car is different than almost any other travel product.
Airfare is typically non-refundable once you purchase a ticket. Hotel rooms can be canceled up to a certain point — usually 4 p.m. the night of arrival. But there's typically no penalty for reserving a car and never picking it up.