atigeg
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 24, 1999
Even though I am a diehard towncar person, we've had to come down to the Orlando area for business a couple of times now (meaning that we have to be mobile), so I've learned to use Priceline for a cheapie rental car. The first time we got Avis, and things went smooth as silk. This time, we ended up with Alamo for our trip last weekend, so I experienced their new on-site location firsthand. Here is the scoop:
We got in around midnight...last time, at that same time, all of the rental car counters were virtually deserted. This time, it appears that a large international flight came in, so most of them (including Alamo) were packed.
We were behind four other parties (we got there just in the nick of time...the line really expanded a lot more after we got there). National has one counter, and Alamo had two or three, and they had almost a "full house" of agents. It took maybe 15 or 20 minutes to get to the counter, and check-in was pretty much painless. They tried to get us to upgrade or take the insurance, but they weren't too overly pushy. However, hubby overheard one of the agents getting REALLY pushy with an international party.
Unlike Avis, which told us which car to go out and get, Alamo told us to pick any car in our class (two door subcompact...with Avis, we had booked the same thing but lucked out and got a free upgrade). We couldn't find the subcompacts anywhere...eventually I found someone who worked there, but he was confused too. It turned out that there were only two, and they seemed to be scattered around. One didn't have any keys, so we took the other. Unlike Avis, where you can just drive out, we had to drive into two lines of cars and wait to be checked out at a booth. This took much longer than the inside check-in process. There were four or five ars in front of us, and thankfully we picked the better of the two lines...the other one had barely moved by the time we got out.
The car was okay, although it was pretty dinged up. We made sure to refill it with gas before returning it because if you have Alamo do it, they charge almost $5 a gallon! There was a gas station (Circle K) down a Boggy Creek Road that was pretty convenient. Check in was a lot quicker than check out. They had you pull into one of two lines and a guy with a handheld device walked down the lines and did the paperwork. It only took maybe 10 minutes and they didn't try to sneak on any extra charges.
The bottom line: Do I like Avis better? Yes! Would I use Alamo again if the price was right? Yes. Happy Limo will always be first choice because I hate to drive on vacation, but when there is no other way, I would take a chance with Priceline.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com
We got in around midnight...last time, at that same time, all of the rental car counters were virtually deserted. This time, it appears that a large international flight came in, so most of them (including Alamo) were packed.
We were behind four other parties (we got there just in the nick of time...the line really expanded a lot more after we got there). National has one counter, and Alamo had two or three, and they had almost a "full house" of agents. It took maybe 15 or 20 minutes to get to the counter, and check-in was pretty much painless. They tried to get us to upgrade or take the insurance, but they weren't too overly pushy. However, hubby overheard one of the agents getting REALLY pushy with an international party.
Unlike Avis, which told us which car to go out and get, Alamo told us to pick any car in our class (two door subcompact...with Avis, we had booked the same thing but lucked out and got a free upgrade). We couldn't find the subcompacts anywhere...eventually I found someone who worked there, but he was confused too. It turned out that there were only two, and they seemed to be scattered around. One didn't have any keys, so we took the other. Unlike Avis, where you can just drive out, we had to drive into two lines of cars and wait to be checked out at a booth. This took much longer than the inside check-in process. There were four or five ars in front of us, and thankfully we picked the better of the two lines...the other one had barely moved by the time we got out.
The car was okay, although it was pretty dinged up. We made sure to refill it with gas before returning it because if you have Alamo do it, they charge almost $5 a gallon! There was a gas station (Circle K) down a Boggy Creek Road that was pretty convenient. Check in was a lot quicker than check out. They had you pull into one of two lines and a guy with a handheld device walked down the lines and did the paperwork. It only took maybe 10 minutes and they didn't try to sneak on any extra charges.
The bottom line: Do I like Avis better? Yes! Would I use Alamo again if the price was right? Yes. Happy Limo will always be first choice because I hate to drive on vacation, but when there is no other way, I would take a chance with Priceline.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com
