What will the car rental company charge...?

[dtchgrl]

Hi Everyone,

I reserved a mid-sized car from Alamo months ago for our trip at the end of August. It seemed like a really good rate, so I grabbed it. The base rate says $118.89/week, then I got another $20coupon off and $3.80 Costco discount (but then of course the taxes and such bring the total to $143).

Just found out that our airline changed our flight back home to several hours later, so now we go over the "one week". I looked into getting a new rental reservation but the rates right now look a lot higher than what I have reserved.
So, if we bring the car back about 3 hours later than they we indicated on the reservation, how big a "ding" might the rental company hit us with?? Do they really slam you, or is it reasonable?
Thanks!

 

[gmeh1]

Hi Everyone,

I reserved a mid-sized car from Alamo months ago for our trip at the end of August. It seemed like a really good rate, so I grabbed it. The base rate says $118.89/week, then I got another $20coupon off and $3.80 Costco discount (but then of course the taxes and such bring the total to $143).

Just found out that our airline changed our flight back home to several hours later, so now we go over the "one week". I looked into getting a new rental reservation but the rates right now look a lot higher than what I have reserved.
So, if we bring the car back about 3 hours later than they we indicated on the reservation, how big a "ding" might the rental company hit us with?? Do they really slam you, or is it reasonable?
Thanks!

They will charge you an hourly rate up to a certain point, after that point it goes to the undiscounted daily rate.
Just for fun, change the drop off time on your reservation, it will give you an updated amount. You don't have to accept that, just hit cancel if you don't like it.

 

[dtchgrl]

Yikes! I called up the ressie, did "modify" and changed the dropp off from 4pm to 6:30. It went to the screen with the pictures of the different types of cars for each class and the base rate. This showed $196 for a mid-sized. Ack! I stopped right there and went to "keep original reservation".
It looks like whatever hourly rate they charge for the extra few hours will be better than getting a new reservation. (Its crazy how the rental companies can charge such vastly different rates for the same car on the same dates!)

Thanks,
Jill

 

[Mr. Pig]

Something like this happened to me once. I made a reservation at a pretty good price and many days later I realized I had put the wrong pick up date. When I went to modify the reservation the rates weren't nearly as good and I ended up paying a lot more. In my case modifying it was my only option. It's probably a good idea that you just pay the extra day at the time.

Airline and car rental rates are really strange. Up and down all the time from day to day.

You might also ask when you pick up the car if you could add a day at the same rate. This might work out cheaper.

 

[BigTigger]

In February, our first thing out flight at 7 am was cancelled the night before due to weather and we were put on a 3:30 pm flight. I went by the Alamo car care center near MK to see what the cost would be to keep the car a few more hours so we could sleep later and check out later. Their answer was nothing as I had rented the car at 9:30 pm and could return it up to 9:29 pm on the return day and still be under the original rate paid for a 6 day rental.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

3 hour is usually the cutoff before a new day is added. Each hour up to the three hours is one third the daily rate.