Alamo Car Rental via Brit Guide

[kazdav]

Looking at Alamo for car rental. Can anyone explain this please.


Fuel Policy
Unless included in the product, a full tank of gas will be purchased at the time of rental. The service is convenient because the renter does not have to worry about taking time to stop and refuel before returning.


This would suggest that the car should be full when I collect it as the previous renter has been charged for a full tank of petrol. Yet going through the rental process without the brit code you can get Alamo Gold which includes a full tank of petrol and additional drivers. Using the Brit code you get the extra drivers free.

I am a bit confused, will it come with a tank of petrol or not.

 

[macca77]

If you book the gold package you will get a free tank of fuel free.
If you dont book the gold package you will be charged for the tank of fuel and you just return the car as empty as you can.
Hope this helps.

 

[wayneg]

Every car rental comes with a full tank of gas. Its then how you pay for it.
Prepay in UK by buying gold/platinum cover and take it back empty.
Prepay at the desk (Alamo is usually a few cents cheaper than the local garages) and take back empty
Or don't pay Alamo anything but return the tank full(must be filled up on your way back to airport but don't use the ones very close as they charge upto double price)

With some rentals the last one is not an option depends on the terms of your rental(Expedia rentals thru Alamo for example don't allow the last option)

If you don't stick to the rules, for example take the 3rd option but take back empty you will be charged approx double price $7-8/gallon.

 

[kazdav]

It appears that if you use the Brit code you get 10% off this brings our rental down to £657 but it is payable locally. So this could change drastically by the time we rent the card dependent on the dollar at the time.

Still the other option is £750 + with dollar and I doubt the exchange rate will change that much so as to cost more than £100 which is essentially the difference between the two.

 

[wayneg]

There are far cheaper companies than Dollar, as I quoted in this thread £520 at the time I posted. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=40589170#post40589170
Looking like they are the cheapest company for me in August unless I see any better I will be booking soon.
Have you checked more recently to see if there are any better deals around, prices change sometimes, look at Travelsupermarket.com or Kayak.co.uk(there are other search engines) they search multiple companies, easier than searching them all seperately.

 

[dtm316]

You will get a free tank of fuel if you buy direct from the UK using the gold package (well when I say free it will be included). If you use the brits guide discount fuel will not be included in the price so you either have to pre-pay upfront or return full.

I made the fatal mistake a few years ago of using the brits guide discount and not realising about the fuel (as it specified that it was the gold package but the difference between the gold package in the UK compared to the US was the pre-paid fuel and I didn't realise) and returned the car almost empty, they charged $160 to fill it up (when it cost around the $30-40 mark at the time as their charge was something crazy like $7 per gallon).
I would like to point out though that this was purely a case of crossed-wires between the two gold packages available and neither the brits guide nor alamo were fully at fault for this, although they did refund me the money as I wasn't offered the pre-paid fuel at the desk at time of collection

 

[kazdav]

Do all the insurances now include all the relevant insurances. This is what I am most concerned about.

Looking at renting through Autoeurope which is coming out cheapest, however, wondering whether to go for gold package or just regular and add my husband when he arrives a week later.

 

[wayneg]

Do all the insurances now include all the relevant insurances. This is what I am most concerned about.

Looking at renting through Autoeurope which is coming out cheapest, however, wondering whether to go for gold package or just regular and add my husband when he arrives a week later.

If you go with a UK agent who state all inclusive then yes you are fully covered, only thing that differs is the excess, most have no excess but some have £50~£100.
If you go direct to the rental company insurances are not usually included unless they are offering a rate for the UK market, then they are usually included.

Insurance is exactly the same cover on all inclusive or gold cover, only difference with gold is extra drivers & tank of gas are included.
To add a driver locally it will cost approx $12/day, a tank of gas for a 7 seater about $80, do the sums but it I have just booked a 7 seater minivan for our 1st 14 days in August with Auto Europe, difference between all inclusive and gold was about £60, far cheaper than paying approx $250 locally for an extra driver and a tank of gas.

 

[kazdav]

Thanks Wayne, it was Autoeurope that I was looking at, didin't realise that the Carhire3000 took me to autoeurope. Have gone direct to them through husbands work and we get 8.5% (same a quidco) back as well. I was dithering because was not sure whether to add hubby out there as he is only there for two weeks.

Does the gold package indicate that the car is going to come from Alamo, my understanding is that Autoeurope are an actual agent rather the actual car rental agency.

I know that they tend to use the high end rental agencies, Alamo, Dollar, etc but do those agencies give you older cars because you have come through a discount agency rather than direct to them.

 

[disneyholic family]

I know that they tend to use the high end rental agencies, Alamo, Dollar, etc but do those agencies give you older cars because you have come through a discount agency rather than direct to them.

do you mean does alamo give you an older car?

at alamo they don't "give" you a car - you get to go into the parking lot and pick whichever car you want from the size car you ordered...

for example, if you pick ecomony, they'll tell you to go to aisle 3 (or whatever the number is) and in that aisle are all the economy cars and you just pick whichever one you want...the keys are in the car..

i actually get into each car and turn them on to see how much mileage they have....

 

[wayneg]

Thanks Wayne, it was Autoeurope that I was looking at, didin't realise that the Carhire3000 took me to autoeurope. Have gone direct to them through husbands work and we get 8.5% (same a quidco) back as well. I was dithering because was not sure whether to add hubby out there as he is only there for two weeks.

Does the gold package indicate that the car is going to come from Alamo, my understanding is that Autoeurope are an actual agent rather the actual car rental agency.

I know that they tend to use the high end rental agencies, Alamo, Dollar, etc but do those agencies give you older cars because you have come through a discount agency rather than direct to them.

Not sure how Carhire3000 took you to Auto Europe, not sure they are related
The cheapest rates with both companies have been with Dollar recently, Our August rental is with Dollar via AutoEurope. They are both the same as in you choose a car from a row/catagory, all down to the cars they have in stock on the day/time you collect, As Beth says it doesn't matter which agent you use everyone collects from the same cars. Persoanally I have found Budget to have the oldest fleet but others have said they prefer Budget I don't think there is any pattern, just if you luck is in on the day of collection.
As I have been a Dollar Express member for a few years now and done most my rentals thru them I believe(rightly or wrongly) I get a far better service and more free upgrades than someone without membership so its my preferred rental company.