Cancelling a Rental Car ?!

[Boston5602]

I have a question about booking a car rental ( with Alamo ) and then canceling for a better rate . I have booked and rebooked about 6 times . I have finally settled for and payed for a car. Do you think I would need all the paper work for the car's I didn't keep ?

I guess I'm asking does anyone get to the counter and the car company says we see you booked 6 cars and only canceled 4 of them , is there ever a problem?



Thanks for your help, and I know it must be simple but I have only rented a car one other time and it was sooooo long ago <G> !!!!

 

[grimley1968]

Every time I've reserved a car online, I've never been asked for a CC# until I actually get to the booth to actually pick up my car. The reservations usually just consist of a reservation #, your name, type of car and pick up and drop off locations. As such, the reservations really have no value if you choose not to show up and make use of them, so they shouldn't be able to charge you anything for them.

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

What Grimley says is true and it's a huge problem for the car rental industry. Unlike the airline business, the car rental industry has not been able to "make stick" any kind of locked-in reservations. There are a few deals out there where you get a supposedly low rate if you lock-in and prepay for your rental and then it's non-refundable. But those are genarally bad deals because as the time grows closer, there are usually even cheaper deals as the car companies try to clear anticipated inventory. There is still way too much competition in the rental car industry in many cities. So back to the OP's question: It's a good idea to keep tabs of your reservation numbers and respective cancellation numbers in case you ever run into a problem. If you just show up at a rental counter and give them your name they're going to pull up every reservation you ever had for that day, even if cancelled. Far better to walk up and give them your current reservation confirmation number and that is all they will pull up. Even better is to have a "frequent renter" account so you can go to the machine and bypass all humans.

BobK/Orlando

 

[jennib5426]

I always cancel as I rebook for cheeper rates. You can do it on there website with the confirmation #.
I have had National try to charge me a higher rate when I got to MCO. I just showed them my confirmation with the rate and confirmation # and they adjusted it. If I not had a copy of my confirmation with the price on it I would if been charged the higher rate they had in there system.

 

[Boston5602]

To answer my own question, I won't need all the paperwork .


We leave for Florida tomorrow and today I received emails for my Alamo reservations. Any of the reservations I may have forgot about or failed to cancel were emailed to me, so I went and canceled all but the one I needed.