Rental Car Selection MCO

[Southernswthrt]

Part of the "fun" of flying into MCO for me is selecting a rental car at the airport. Many moons ago, I was able to get a mini-van on the full size Aisle at Alamo. Score! I wasn't able to find a lot of threads with recent experiences on car selections at MCO post-pandemic, so I'll start one here. What did you reserve? If with Alamo or similar, what types are cars were available on that aisle? What did you end up with for your rental?



March 2022 - Budget - Reserved Full Size Car @ Budget thru Costco - Received Honda CRV (in horrible condition BTW after being given a brand new Kia K5 but it reeked of smoke ). Long story but vowed never to rent from Budget again after this experience so beware.

December 2022 - Alamo - Reserved Full Size Car @ Alamo thru Costco - Received low mileage Toyota Camry - Saturday mid-day arrival - mainly Camry's available - no SUV's

 

[eticketplease]

I will preface this by stating we are overpackers and take advantage of "Bags Fly Free"
Hertz at MCO constantly disappoints me with their selection and unfortunately bags don't drive free so for the most part we just reserve a MiniVan so that we know it can fit everything and not have to deal with trying to find something larger.

March 2022 - Hertz Reserved "Small SUV" Not many good cars to choose from even in Presidents Circle, Ended up swapping for a Toyota 4Runner.

August 2023 - Hertz Reserved "intermediate" since we were just flying down for MNSSHP and only had 5 suitcases this time, picked the cheapest that I could upgrade from. President's Circle had a Tahoe, Blazer, equinox and we ended up getting a Pacifica as we knew from experience it had CarPlay built in and the Chevy's did not seem to have it.

 

[EACarlson]

I only book intermediate so I can take advantage of the selections with National, Enterprise and Hertz now. I was at MCO in October and got a Buick Encore from National, in January a Chysler Pacifica from National, October of '22 a Camry from National, January of '22 a Nissan Rogue from Thrifty, October of '21 a Prius from National. Somewhere in there is a Budget rental as well that I can't remember.
The key at MCO is to book whatever you're comfortable with as a minimum and hope it gets better. I've seen too many people book the Aisle at either National or Hertz and then be besides themselves when there isn't a minivan or large SUV there for them. I leave in 5 weeks to go back and have an intermediate booked with National, I can make a Camry or Malibu work and will be pleasantly surprised if I can get something bigger.
If you really want to dive deep into it, there are threads for the major companies on FlyerTalk that people report what they've seen.

 

[_19disnA]

Always have rented from Avis since I get a discount through my company. If you belong to their 'club' (whatever they call it) you can go directly to your car without having to stand in any line upon arrival. Most rental companies have some sort of similar arrangement. You get assigned a specific vehicle/location when arriving as I recall. I always pre-pay when doing my online reservation and never had any of the issues some others talk about. Rental cars are a commodity to me, so I prefer to stick with a well-run company with the least cumbersome rental process. When returning at the end of the trip there is always an Avis employe with one of those hand-held computer devices to check-in my car and provide a receipt. I always fill-up the gas tank prior to retuning it to avoid their excessive 'refueling' charges. Have never had any issues some other on here talk about where their car doesn't show properly returned or various complications after the fact. The only vehicle I have never rented is an EV since there are way too many complications using one on vacation where you don't know how convenient it will be to recharge or how long it might take. Gas stations are on virutally every corner, so refilling has never been an issue.

Sometimes based on availability I will get a larger car then requested for no extra charge. It seems to mostly relate to what they have in inventory. I would always suggest you rent the appropriate sized car for your party based on the number of people and amount of luggage. Rental companies tend to consider cars larger then I would, so always a good idea to look at their online website for the specific type of vehicle in each of their various categories.

 

[Southernswthrt]

I've stayed away from Avis b/c it is affiliated with Budget, but I keep seeing more and more positive reviews for Avis. Will have to consider them going forward.

 

[LuvLDM]

I fly Into MCO 2/3 a year and always rent from Alamo. Typically reserve full size, there have always been several minivans and small SUV’s to choose from in full size aisle.

 

[ain0004]

I have lucked out on this in the past. Currently I don't know if it worth the risk. I'm willing to pay the extra 100.00 for the minivan for peace of mind

 

[snowwite]

I only book intermediate so I can take advantage of the selections with National, Enterprise and Hertz now. I was at MCO in October and got a Buick Encore from National, in January a Chysler Pacifica from National, October of '22 a Camry from National, January of '22 a Nissan Rogue from Thrifty, October of '21 a Prius from National. Somewhere in there is a Budget rental as well that I can't remember.
The key at MCO is to book whatever you're comfortable with as a minimum and hope it gets better. I've seen too many people book the Aisle at either National or Hertz and then be besides themselves when there isn't a minivan or large SUV there for them. I leave in 5 weeks to go back and have an intermediate booked with National, I can make a Camry or Malibu work and will be pleasantly surprised if I can get something bigger.
If you really want to dive deep into it, there are threads for the major companies on FlyerTalk that people report what they've seen.

Same. We luck out sometimes but had a Camry last time.

 

[sam_gordon]

I've rented from Hertz and National on business trips (never to Orlando though) and have never had problems. My one rental with Avis (last minute and Hertz and National were sold out), the car they gave me was *NOT* cleaned. There were fake eyelashes and some kind of makeup brush in the cup holder, the outside of the car was visibly dirty (and this was in a garage), the "service now" light was on, and there was an odor.

I should have not accepted the car, but it was already midnight, I still had a 30 minute drive in front of me, there was a 30 minute+ wait at the counter, and it was only a three day rental.

This was in Memphis, but I'll be staying away from Avis.

 

[kittylady1972]

We have rented exclusively from Alamo our last few trips.

I think our November 2023 trip we ended up with a Toyota Camry.

Our December 2023 trip we had a nice Toyota Rav4.

Before that (October maybe) I think we did the You Click we Pick (or whatever they were calling it) and we ended up with a Toyota Corolla.

I can't recall the other options but they have all been nice cars.