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Rental a car from Dollar via Carhire3000 and joined Dollars 'Express Dollar' Club at no charge. Arrived MCO Orlando and about 100 people in the queue. Walked past them to the Express lane and No queue and I was out of there in less that 2 minutes with a free upgrade to a Chysler 300. Alamo queue was agout 80 people and my Son who hired with them had to wait 1 hr 20 minutes. Hope this helps someone out. Regards Peter
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Can you remember which terminal building it was in, A or B?
B is the normal one for international arrivals but Virgin changed to operate into A. However we still walk to B (makes no difference which side you use if you're carrying your bags) and haven't had any issues recently.
I'm surprised your son only waited 1hr 20 if there were about 80 people - the companies usually take an age to deal with each person and rarely have more than a few staff working.
Edited by Bill Payer on 17/08/2009 at 13:59
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Good advice! Having been stuck in queues twice after 8 hour flights and being herded about like cattle when you want to be on the road before it gets dark.
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Another tip - if you get a car from carhire3000, make sure it is definitely what you need. I hired an SUV as I had equipment to carry. When I got there it wasn't quite big enough, and they charged me an extra $60 a day for 6 days to go one size bigger. The original hire was only £190 for the 6!!! I was not impressed, but they accurately judged they had me over a barrel.
Was via Alamo btw.
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Another tip - if you get a car from carhire3000 make sure it is definitely what you need.
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To be fair, that's nothing to do with carhire3000 - they're just a broker/agent. The same thing would have happened whoever you booked through.
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It was indeed terminal B. I only had the printed confirmation of being an Express member but the card has now arrived, what a time and hassle saver. Regards Peter
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True enough BP, it's Alamo I should be sore at. Worth remembering though, they will get their pound of flesh if they can.
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Reminds me of the time 7 of us (4 Adults + 3 kids) went to Orlando, landing at Sanford.
We had a prebooked a 7 seater something or other and upon getting to the hire desk, the guy pulled out the card with the different classes of vehicles on it and tried quite hard to get us to upgrade to a bigger and better vehicle.
We thought about it but turned it down. Paperwork completed, he said nothing as he handed us the keys and yes you may have guessed, on walking outside they did not have the vehicle we specified so they had to give us the one that they were trying to get us to upgrade to, for free.
Nice big plush van shaped thingy with big V6 or V8, dual aircon and all the toys.
It was a nice bonus for a nice holiday.
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i normally book a limo from the airport to a hotel (limos are cheaper than taxis in most places in the US if prebooked)
chill out relaxing at the hotel for a night, and pick up a hire car from a place near the hotel (in fact i often pick a hotel for the first night with a car rental outlet next or inside it for this purpose) the next morning
car rented from such locations away from the airport will always be a lot cheaper than picked up from airport
its also often cheaper to get a local rate than an international, loyalty card or corporate discount one, if you can get a local friend to find out local rates and pre book that way its often cheaper
feel free to queue at the airport desk, me ill be chillin in the back of my limo
and you would be surprised to see how much money im saving over the herd approach
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and you would be surprised to see how much money im saving over the herd approach
Considering that you can hire, on an all-inclusive basis, cars from around £250 for 2 wks and that we recently got an 8 seater SUV for £400, all from MCO, I'm dubious you could save nuch after paying for the limo hire.
I do know others who do this regularly, but their reasoning is that they like to get stuck into the booze on the plane.
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Yep fell for the upgrade scam on our first trip. Last time stuck with what we ordered and ended up with a nearly new Dodge Avenger which was more than adequate.
Last time sold the drive through toll package. Don't think we saved anything other than having to stop at the booths, infact probably out of pocket.
Edited by Fullchat on 17/08/2009 at 21:57
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We had this problem recently in Miami. Had pre-booked a car via Holiday Autos with Alamo supposedly wioth everything included (a bit like the Virgin Platinum package). They still nobbled me for $100 worth of "breakdown etc. etc. cover which I am now in dispute with them about. However, after an 8 hour flightm an hour waiting for cases and getting through immigration, a bus trip to the Alamo compound and then another hour waiting in the queue to get the car I was too brain dead to care.
Won't use Alamo again for this reason and also the car. A Saturn Aura (which in itself was ok) but filthy inside (including sticky cherryade all over), a broken central locking system and I had to put air in one of the tyres myself!!!! To cap it all it had done 26000 miles!! Have you ever come across a hire car with that mileage? No wonder they were trying to flog me breakdown.
Worse still, when I'd done the paperwork I was told to go pick a mid-size car in the car park. Any one I liked as the keys were all in the ignition. Nobody did a baseline check with me as to the condition, yet they did when I returned it. There was no damage but how am I supposed to prove my innocence when there's no initial check. I had to practically drag someone even then to do this check.
Having used Dollar 3 times before in Florida and been very impressed I won't touch Alamo again with a bargepole.
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car I was too brain dead to care.
That's the trouble - we're jet-lagged cabbages when we get that - and they know that !
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on walking outside they did not have the vehicle we specified so they had to give us the one that they were trying to get us to upgrade to, for free. >>
Some years ago when we went to Florida we pre-booked the smallest car in the UK brochure being pretty certain they wouldn't have it.
After resisting all the offers of upgrades, we were given the keys to some kind of station wagon big enough for about five people and luggage.
OK if there are just two of you but not so good if you actually need a bigger car - you'd probably get the "sub-compact", as they say.
I'd agree that you should buy any extra insurance you want before you get there to speed up slightly the process at the car rental desk.
I'd also agree with the overnight thing depending on where you're going next. Once when we took the kids we stayed overnight in Miami before driving up to Daytona. It's a longish drive and anything else just wasn't practical.
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good points made about Alamo - will remember when I go Stateside.. Glad the Mods are relaxing naming and shaming here
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I have had mostly had cars from Dollar, who share desks with Alamo in many places. Some stuff mentioned above is not quite true. I compared 3 weeks car hire in June from Chicago downtown, and the airport was quite a bit cheaper and had a greater choice of car (through Carhire3000 - £407 for a Dodge Charger, which I swapped half way round for a Magnum). You will often get a newer car in Florida, but elsewhere in the States (off the UK beaten trail) they seem to be older - both the Charger and the Magnum which I had in June were over 50k. If you get one of these extraordinarily cheap prices you can be sure that any changes will appear disporportionately expensive.
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To cap it all it had done 26000 miles!! Have you ever come across a hire car with that mileage? No wonder they were trying to flog me breakdown.
I've had a couple in Florida with 20K. In Canada we got a *very* battered Jeep Grand Cherokee that had done 30K kms. It drove very well though.
I have, on several occasions, taken cars back in the US and changed them due to faults. Not once has the car been given a second glance and I usually get an upgrade. In California the person I'd called was abrupt and I complained when I took it back. The customer service person seem genuinely appalled that they'd been "mean" to me and we got a big upgrade - useful as we were on a California tour. I've used the "they were mean to me" sob story a couple of times with good success.
The cars always have breakdown cover included. The extra package is for tyres, windscreen and key loss. Many people are surprised tyres aren't covered as standard.
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I didn't know the tyres weren't covered :-(
Has anyone had a rental car break down in the USA ?
If so, how was it reported / handled ?
I had a rental break down in France - it wouldn't start one morning at my country hotel.
The receptionist at the hotel did a brilliant job of translating while the guy who came to handle the car explained it to me. I had to go with him to garage while they struggled with it for a couple of hours. The car broke the next morning, but I did manage to get back to Orly and dump it.
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I didn't know the tyres weren't covered :-(
Having said that my FIL had a flat in Orlando and he took the car to a local depot of the car hire company thinking they'd give him the spare from another car and they just swapped the car!
The extra cost cover is a pretty new thing though - or at least pushing it is. Maybe it's just something they fall back on if they feel you've abused the tyres, perhaps taken the vehicle off-road etc.
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I'd think if you had a flat tyre they won't mind. It's more to do with where you take the car, e.g. on tracks not suitable for normal cars.
Edited by rtj70 on 18/08/2009 at 17:24
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