Minor National Gripe

[erikthewise]

We had a nine-day full-size rental earlier this month. I really, really wanted to get an Impala because of it's large trunk. The Impala is National's "poster car" for the full-size category ("Impala or similar car").

When we went to the full-size aisle to pick out a car, I was disappointed to find nothing but Lacrosses and Grand Prix's (and maybe a Malibu or two). I had a Lacrosse earlier this year and wanted to avoid that, so I settled for a Grand Prix. After we put our luggage in the trunk (all that would fit anyway), I noticed an Impala next door on the Emerald (intermediate) Aisle! Looking further, there were several Impalas on that aisle, but none on the full-size aisle, where they are supposed to be the standard! And Impalas have larger trunks than either the Lacrosse or the Grand Prix!

I was tempted to take one of the Impalas from the Emerald Aisle, but didn't want to cause a problem at the booth, and also really didn't want to take all our luggage out and repack it. So we put one suitcase in the back between our two boys.

Next time I'll just reserve an intermediate, and save $40 while getting a full-size.

Note: This was the only problem is an otherwise pleasant car rental experience.

 

[DonnaL]

Sometimes you will find several full size or even SUV's on the EA, but, that's not always the case. We've run into both scenarios. Our last trip in October we got a Pontiac Torrent (SUV) which was very nice for an intermediate price, but, our trip last December all they had was a true intermediate (forget what it was though). I think sometimes it depends what time of day you get there and also when it's a slower travel season I think you stand a better shot at getting either a full size or SUV on EA.

 

[DebbieB]

One time when I was with friends they only had a couple of cars on the full size. There were 4 of us so we needed a larger car. There was an Aztec on the EA, we asked an attendant if we could have it. He asked if we were EC members, we said yes, so he said we could take it.

 

[Disneyjosh229]

Yep, there really shouldn't have been a problem taking a free "downgrade" in sense...

 

[betterlatethannever]

We did this at National at LAX.

We had rented a Full size. There was an Impala in the EA (with a remote start also). We took that car and the cost of the rental was reduced because we took an "intermediate".

Ed