Alamo car rental or not? Help please

[lovepuzzles]

Just wondering if anyone out there has rented from Alamo recently. I've read on Mousesavers to be cautious of renting from them because of extremely slow service. This is where I've found the best car rate (by far) than any of the others....but don't really want to be standing in line with a 4 yr old for an hour. I'm hoping they have sped things up a bit. Could anyone let me know?

Thanks for any information!

[MouseLover]

We have rented from Alamo 2x, because of the great rates and money is always a factor on our vacations.
The first time was October 1996, arriving at MCO around noon on a Saturday, and it took a minimum of 2 hours to pick up our car.
The second time was June 1999, arriving at MCO at 10 pm. I thought since we were arriving so late on a weeknight it had to be better -- it wasn't. Still 2 hours. Dropoff was fairly quick -- 40 minutes.

I would use them again ONLY if that was my only choice. There are 4 in-terminal rental car companies at MCO that I would try in a heartbeat.

[GAIL HAYDEN]

I would not hestitate using them if the price was right. Have used them in the past with great success. Join the Quick Silver program, you totally avoid the lines and go to the kiosk, slide your card (credit or QS), the assigned car and space spits out and you are out of there.
You can join it at no charge on their website.

[BobH]

I also would not use Alamo in Orlando again. Even if you are in their *********** program you still have to wait for a shuttle bus (10-15 minutes) and ride about 5 miles to their off airport site. National, Avis and Budget and a few other are right at the airport. If their rates re good I would use them first.

[GAIL HAYDEN]

I have yet to wait for a shuttle bus to Alamo. Guess I have been lucky, but, they are always right there at the exit.

[Viking]

We didn't like Alamo. Our car's air condition broke down, and we had to get back to the pick-up point and get another one. They were nice and gave us an upgrade as compensation, but the next time we took Dollar. Dollar was a big disappointment and so then we took Hertz and since then we always took Hertz and never had a reason to regret it.

[lovepuzzles]

Thank you all for your posts. I went ahead and reserved through Alamo with the *********** program. I'm going on Sunday-Thursday and don't qualify for any of the weekend rates.I haven't been able to find any good rates because of that...even with all the codes out there. I'm going to keep checking every day and see if anything else comes close to the rate I currently have.

Thanks again all.

[GAIL HAYDEN]

not sure what codes you used, but, try : "og" or "yq". You don't need any documentation for these.

[ducklite]

We rented from them a couple times. The first time was OK, we had to wait about 10-15 minutes for the shuttle, then another 10-15 minutes to rent the car.

The second and last time we waited almost an hour for a jam packed shuttle bus, than almost two hours at the rental desk. And guess what? They didn't have the car we had reserved, and "Offered" to ether upgrade us tremendously (full sized luxury sedan) for an additional fee (what?!?!) or downgrade us to a sub compact at the prevailling subcompact rate, no discount, which was the same cost as the compact with discount I had reserved. We took the downgrade, and I'll never rent from them again.

In fact I'll never rent from anyone "off airport" again, unless it's like LV where none of the rentals are at the airport. It's just not worth the incredible hassle.

Anne

[Beverly Lynn]

I have always been one of the lucky ones like Gail. and even tho I used priceline the last time they let me use the *********** desk to pick up my vehicle! it was quick this was last dec 1st around 10 30 am! I would use them again if the price was right again!

[briane]

I have used them three different years and never had a problem. For a compact car, I have found them to be much cheaper. For a full size, National was cheaper.

[sgtdisney]

Due to horrible personal experiences I have had with them, I will never use them again regardless of the price. Alamo could be the cheapest by far, and it still wouldn't make it worth it to me.

[The4OfUs]

We're booked for a luxury car with Alamo when we go down this Friday....I swear I need to stay away from this board, because between this thread and the threads about what makes people angry when travelling, like kids and reclining seats and hating Delta and such, I'm now SOOO stressed about the travel part of this trip! :(

*crosses fingers that things work out ok*

[sgtdisney]

Originally posted by The4OfUs
We're booked for a luxury car with Alamo when we go down this Friday....I swear I need to stay away from this board, because between this thread and the threads about what makes people angry when travelling, like kids and reclining seats and hating Delta and such, I'm now SOOO stressed about the travel part of this trip! :(

*crosses fingers that things work out ok*

Don't be stressed out! Everyone has different experiences. Just because I or others had a bad experience with Alamo doesn't mean you will. For as many people who have had bad experiences, I am sure others have had great experiences, same with Delta or any other airline.

As for the reclining seats on airplanes.. well, I was one of the posters on that thread as well. It depends on the situation, use your best judgement.... And above all, HAVE A GOOD TIME!

[The4OfUs]

Originally posted by sgtdisney

And above all, HAVE A GOOD TIME!

Thanks, we'll be fine once we get to OKW I bet...it's the getting there that I'm worried about. DH is *not* a fan of flying, Delta Express is a tiny plane for him, our travel agent (*ahem* his mom) got us a package with the tickets and car included with some other perks, but did not get us seats on the flight down (we have to take our chances at check in)...I just hoped the one part we wouldn't have problems with is the car rental. *grin*

Guess next time we're doing all the booking ourselves, so we can pick our seat flying down, and pick the rental agency we get a car from. Usually he drives down and we fly, so we have our own car there, this is the first time we have rented, so needless finding this thread concerned me. :)

4 days to Disney! :bounce:

[lovepuzzles]

Thanks again for all your replies. I see more of you won't rent with them again then will.:)
So far I'm still reserved with Alamo. Thank you Gail for those extra codes. The one I have is for a free day so it turned out to be better. Also, 'The4ofUS', could you post how your experience went when you return from your trip? I would really appreciate it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed as well!! If I see another agency with comparable quotes I'll jump on it.

[The4OfUs]

Originally posted by lovepuzzles
Also, 'The4ofUS', could you post how your experience went when you return from your trip? I would really appreciate it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed as well!!

Sure thing, I'll report back. I was looking at old scrap books from other trips, and saw that we did rent from them once before, but it was my first trip down with my husband, 10 years ago - but I do remember things going very well there, so I'm taking those memories down with me this time in order not to worry more about this. *grin*

I'm going go try to live by the words of Bob Marley for this trip - "Don't worry now, every little thing is gonna be all right" :)

2 days till Disney! :bounce:

[The4OfUs]

Alamo was perfect and I'd rent from them again. We got off the plane at MCO, had our luggage in record time (if ONLY Boston could take a few lessons from that airport!!), waited all of 2 minutes to get on a nice COOL Alamo bus. They shuttled us to the offsite location, which wasn't more than a 10 minute ride at noontime, helped us get our luggage down, and pointed us to the rental building. We got into the building, where an employee directed our kids to a special kids area, while my husband and I walked right up to the counter and got our car. Not only did we get the car we requested (Luxury - Buick Park Avenue) - but it was a brand new car, literally, with 9 miles on it. A few papers signed, and they wisked my husband off to get the car, while we pulled the luggage to the pickup area, we loaded it up with room to spare, and less than 15 minutes after arriving on the bus we were en route to Old Key West.

Returning the car was just as painless, even at what looked to be a very VERY busy return time of around 1:30pm. We unloaded right near the bus stop, pulled the car up to the rental return lane, they used a handheld scanner, and in less than 5 mins we were waiting for another bus - a very short wait, and we were in line to check in at the airport before we knew it.

Maybe this was a good day, maybe this is business as usual, but I was thrilled and would rent from them again with no hesitiation. :)

[travelcoupons]

If your renting a compact sized car , you may also want to check hertz. You can get a 30% discount plus an additional $15 off weekly rentals through link on http://www.travelcouponsonline.com/best.html
Sample rates are about the same as you can get with Alamo with discounts.

[Uncle Mikey]

I give every rental company a couple of chances. With Alamo I gave them a chance at LAX and Orlando. Both places, both experiences were bad. Both had minimum waits of an hour. Then both places I had to go back in twice because there was no car in the spot they sent me to. They were both a ways from the airport and caused us to leave Disney early because of the amount of extra time we would need in dropping the car off and then getting the shuttle to the airport. At least knowing what you might be in for would give some mental preparation for the experience and it might not bother you as much as it did me. My Orlando experience I partly fault my travel agent who I asked if Alamo was on the airport property and gave me the wrong information. A fight delay, a two hour Alamo experience and a half hour check in at CBR cost us our first evening at WDW. So that added to the frustration. None of my friends have had good experiences with Alamo at any place so I've pretty much crossed it off my list. I hope you have a better experience with them.

[BobH]

I have the best luck by using http://www.landings.com to get the airport web site. Then you can check which rental companies are right at the airport. The prices are usually competitive and you save time avoiding the shuttle services to off airport rental companies

[Esmerelda]

definitely NO!!

We used Alamo about 4 years ago...got right on that nice air conditioned shuttle (it was about 98 degrees outside)..straight to Alamo. My husband waited for over 2 hours in line and then they argued about our rate that we had printed out on our confirmation. The car we had problems which they later disputed weren't there when we took the car from the lot.

but...me being the nice gal that I am...I gave them the benefit of the doubt. About a year later on a busines trip in Chicago....I had a very important meeting to attend. I left the airport on the "Alamo Shuttle".. to get to the car lot. We were in major traffic and their bus broke down. Needless to say....it was very hot...and I missed my very important meeting that was 2 hours later and got myself into a lot of trouble back home with the boss (even though it was all out out my control). They didn't offer to have another shuttle come and get us either!! :( I'm not sure what the hell Alamo's problem is but they seem to have it at ALL of their rental places.

my final conclusion...if they offered to rent me a convertible for $1.00 a day......I would laugh...NEVER AGAIN...sorry....this old broad is sticking to National...walk right off the plane, in my car and on the road in about 10 minutes..thats my kind of trip! :)

just my 2cents worth :)

[lovepuzzles]

'The4ofUs' thank you so much for your reply. I've been away from the boards a few days and just had a chance to read it. I'm so glad your experience went well. I'll be leaving in 2 weeks and hope I can say the same when I return. I haven't found any better rate so I'm going to give them a try.


:( Oh my!! I see everyone is still giving them thumbs down! Oh well...I'm counting down the days till Disney and I'm not going to let it get me down. Thanks all for the replies.

[GAIL HAYDEN]

I like Alamo, have always had great service and good cars. This time we are going with National as their prices are better this trip.
I am sure you will be fine.