Alamo car hire upgrades

washy1971

Earning My Ears
Joined
Mar 1, 2012
Messages
17
I have booked a package with Thomson (UK) which includes a basic car hire with Alamo but I would like to upgrade to a SUV. I have tried contact Alamo but there are unable to give me a price. So my only option is to pay for the upgrade on arrival.

I'm the sort of person that likes to have all of this planned before departing does anyone know if upgrades are readily available and do they just charge you the difference between what you have got and the new vehicle ? Or do they treat this like a new booking?

Thanks
 
What will happen, likely, is that you will get to Alamo and -- depending on the counter agent -- you will get a sales pitch to upgrade at "only the fantastically low additional cost of XXX per day." It is not a new booking.

And, considering you will be getting a "tour price" on the basic car, I have found that counter agents usually do not attempt to upsell you when you have a "tour reservation." So, you may not get the pitch. Whenever I reserve through Priceline name your own price, it comes across as "tour," and I never seem to get the pitches.

And, normally, that ptich is not a good deal, anyway. But, some counter agents do not attempt to sell you upgrades. So, you never know.

So, if the counter agent does not attempt to upsell you, you would have to ask them yourself if there is any possibility of getting whatever sort of vehicle you want. And, of course there is, but odds are the price will be even more fantastically better than if they had suggested it -- NOT!

In other words, if you ask for it, they know they have you hooked and may try to shoot for the moon and ask for a higher per day increase -- or not. Just know that when you upgrade, the counter agent gets a percentage of that extra cost, so they will usually push hard for the extra cost.

Any chance of contacting your tour company in advance and discussing it with them beforehand, rather than leaving to chance at the rental counter....

And, whatever you do, always be nice to the counter agent. No matter what. They can really screw with you and it can be very disheartening.

Over 40 some years I have rented cars, I have always went out of my way to be nice to the counter people, nice to the lot people and nice to the exit folks.

It has paid off many times in reduced rates, upgrades and "we'll just pretend that little dent was there before."
 
Last edited:
What will happen, likely, is that you will get to Alamo and -- depending on the counter agent -- you will get a sales pitch to upgrade at "only the fantastically low additional cost of XXX per day." It is not a new booking.

And, considering you will be getting a "tour price" on the basic car, I have found that counter agents usually do not attempt to upsell you when you have a "tour reservation." So, you may not get the pitch. Whenever I reserve through Priceline name your own price, it comes across as "tour," and I never seem to get the pitches.

And, normally, that ptich is not a good deal, anyway. But, some counter agents do not attempt to sell you upgrades. So, you never know.

So, if the counter agent does not attempt to upsell you, you would have to ask them yourself if there is any possibility of getting whatever sort of vehicle you want. And, of course there is, but odds are the price will be even more fantastically better than if they had suggested it -- NOT!

In other words, if you ask for it, they know they have you hooked and may try to shoot for the moon and ask for a higher per day increase -- or not. Just know that when you upgrade, the counter agent gets a percentage of that extra cost, so they will usually push hard for the extra cost.

Any chance of contacting your tour company in advance and discussing it with them beforehand, rather than leaving to chance at the rental counter....

And, whatever you do, always be nice to the counter agent. No matter what. They can really screw with you and it can be very disheartening.

Over 40 some years I have rented cars, I have always went out of my way to be nice to the counter people, nice to the lot people and nice to the exit folks.

It has paid off many times in reduced rates, upgrades and "we'll just pretend that little dent was there before."


Many thanks for your reply. I have tried to go through my tour operator but they want over £400 to upgrade, when comparing this to an online price for a new booking this is actually more expensive then a brand new booking. So I will just need to try my luck and upgrade on the day.

In fact on our previous vist we actually managed to get a free upgrade, not at the desk but at the lock up and previous to that have been offered an upgrade so I don't think availability will be an issue.

I will just need to bargain with the price if this is over the price in my head (budget).
 





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