Recent MCO car rental experiences?

[hsmamato2]

I know for a while now people have had problems with booked rentals from MCO..anything change? are there still problems or has it settled a bit?

 

[wintotty]

Following...... planning on going in late January, checked pricing on rental and it is over $500 for 7 days!! I used to find rate around $300 for 10 days.

 

[EACarlson]

I haven't heard any issues lately. I go in a week and will post what I see if I get a chance.

 

[OldDisneyFan]

I rented from Alamo a couple of weeks ago. Price was decent—$340 for 8 days, and renting was a breeze with their skip the line option.

 

[Donna M]

For anyone renting, lock in a price and then check every day starting about 2 weeks before your trip.. Book at the new rate which is usually lower, and then cancel the old reservation, and keep rebooking till the prices stop going down.

 

[ZellyB]

I rented from Alamo a couple of weeks ago. Price was decent—$340 for 8 days, and renting was a breeze with their skip the line option.

Good to hear. I'm currently booked with Alamo and looking forward to the skip the line process. Happy it worked well for you.

 

[hsmamato2]

I have a decent rate, I'm just concerned about having a car available when we get there etc...I'd been hearing bad stories for a while now....

 

[emilymad]

I have a decent rate, I'm just concerned about having a car available when we get there etc...I'd been hearing bad stories for a while now....

This is what I am wondering too. And are lines at the rental counter still really long? I have an Alamo direct to car reservation I can live with but I could book Budget for half the price but I would have to use the counter.

 

[Gary2T]

Had a Dollar mid-size car reservation. Pickup 9/30, 11pm at MCO. Returned 10/4, 10am at SFB. Got to the A side Dollar desk right t 11pm. Sign said Express rewards members can go directly to the garage until 11pm. So I jumped in line and waited about 15 minutes. Got to the desk where they look me up in the system... and tell me I need to go directly to the garage. Get to the garage and my name is not on the board. So I wait in the line at the booth for another 15 minutes. When it's my turn, they just tell me to go take anything in the mid-size SUV section and hand me my slip. Lot's of little Jeep and Mazda crossovers. I ended up picking a Buick Encore that was nicely equipped.

Pros: Got to the airport late at night and they had a vehicle for me. Getting my pick of a better class vehicle.

Cons: Waiting at the desk due to an inaccurate sign. Waiting again at the garage due to the board not being updated.

Edit: The return to SFB was easy. Drive down the Dolllar return lane. Leave keys in vehicle. Done. Didn't even talk tot anyone or handle any paperwork.

 

[WDW Traveler]

We rented from Hertz at the beginning of September over Labor Day weekend. They had a special running that if you signed up for their Gold Plus Rewards Program you were automatically promoted to 5 star status. We got to the car rental at MCO about 11:30am (on a Thursday) and there was a sign that told Gold Plus Members to head straight to the garage. Low and behold our name was on their board and we were allowed to pick any car in our perspective row. We picked a Kia Sorento SUV. I got a great deal on a Standard Sized car 2 days before we left, it was a 50+ deal (thanks to hubby being over 50 now lol) and we got the car for $198 for 6.5 days. We didn't have any issues at all. Good luck!

 

[georgina]

No problem with Alamo and skip the counter last week. They had plenty of cars in the full size aisle to choose from. I could have paid less with Budget but had a really bad experience with their counter once at MCO I will never use them again at that particular location.

regarding the Dollar story above, I would never just return a car and leave without getting a receipt. Alamo checks the gas level and prints me a receipt on the spot.

 

[MainStreetMouse]

Booked thru Costco, Alamo 2 weeks for a little over $650 for a full-sized vehicle.
Sept 19 to Oct 3

 

[hsmamato2]

we are budget fastbreak members, and I hope we can skip a line or counter at mco with that...I booked 3rd party but I can view the res. with our # on it for fastbreak

 

[Lynne G]

Hertz, full size SUV off Gold aisle around 2 pm on September 19, returned at 6 pm on October 2. $388.00. Best I could do with Alamo was $498.00. Had no issues. Though Hertz you pay when pick up car, Alamo I have always paid when dropped off.

 

[EACarlson]

we are budget fastbreak members, and I hope we can skip a line or counter at mco with that...I booked 3rd party but I can view the res. with our # on it for fastbreak

If you've used Fastbreak before and the res has your number on it, you should be good.

 

[MICKIMINI]

Avis is cheap right now. I'm at $691 for an Elite SUV for 10 nights (35% SUV discount online). It is dropping about $10 per day...rebook, cancel old reservation etc. There is a pay in advance option which seems to save $50-100 depending on when you check. I'm 2+ weeks out right now so will keep playing the game!

 

[keishashadow]

I have a decent rate, I'm just concerned about having a car available when we get there etc...I'd been hearing bad stories for a while now....

things went smoothly for us this year when associating reward # for provider in Feb, April (both Avis)& Sept (hertz) trip.

4th of July trip (Avis) a real cluster. So many angry people lined up at the garage counter. Appeared many arriving on 7/2 discovered no cars available. Ugh. We had a nice upgrade waiting for us tho.

This is what I am wondering too. And are lines at the rental counter still really long? I have an Alamo direct to car reservation I can live with but I could book Budget for half the price but I would have to use the counter.

we arrived last trip on 9/25, shocked to see few people in line in terminal around 9:30 am. The hertz rewards lane had lots of SUVs & a few mid & full size cars to select. Had a new Toyota Tacoma, fully loaded, leather captain’s chairs in 2nd row. Tempted to look into buying one

 

[PatMcDuck]

Alamo 9/25 - 10/3. Went straight to correct lane, chose vehicle, drove out. We use Costco but also go into the Alamo website and pre register and get the printout to skip the line. I like to choose my own to avoid smoke smell, and to often get a bigger vehicle. I ended up with a Toyota Highlander, bigger than a Intermediate SUV, (3 rows of seats). Paid about $400, Budget dropped to less(almost $100) but I stuck to Alamo because its fast and I can pick car.

 

[crazycatlady]

Can I ask where you are finding the great deals on cars right now? I need a car for 10 days at the beginning of December and the lowest I have right now is $550 for a compact, so we are planning on not renting. I have been using Autoslash, which I have found to be really good in the past.

 

[leebee]

Dollar, 10/9/21.. I posted this on another thread.

I had a reservation with Dollar for a midsize SUV at MCO from 10/9-10/12. I made it about 2 months ago through AutoSlash.com, which found the rate thru Priceline. $196, which in this market is GREAT. We got to the airport today to discover we'd been re-routed (what is UP with Southwest these days?) and would be arriving at 8:30pm instead of 6:30pm. I contacted Dollar as I didn't want them to think I was a no-show and give my car away. No problem, said the friendly man on the phone. No problem, said the customer service agent on FB messenger. We got to MCO and Dollar had a car for me- with a $125 surcharge, PER DAY- and that's with a 20% discount the supervisor gave me ("That's all I can do," he said). I said I didn't care what size, I was only concerned with them honoring the price, and they ignored me. I asked about downsizing to a smaller vehicle and they said that'd be a whole new, walk-up reservation and cost even more. The agent kept saying, "It's our fleet, we're out of cars." I'll tell ya, the garage wasn't out of cars when we got there. Now the vehicle has cost me more than the entire rest of the trip has cost for airfare and hotels! I have NO IDEA where to go with this complaint, although Dollar has already heard from me, and AutoSlash and Priceline will hear from me tomorrow. GRRRR