Alamo - Hidden Charges on Diff drop off/pick up locations? Help!

[seobaina]

Hi

I normally book my car rental through Alamo Brits because it includes all my tax, LDW, CDW, unlimited milage, no state limits, extra driver etc. I looked up the price on the site for a collection in New Orleans and drop off in Orlando and it came up as $440 for a economy and $700 for 7 seater. I wanted a 15 seater option but it wasn't available. However, when I contacted Alamo to ask what 'extra' charges I would get for dropping off at another state (which I know they charge for as an extra later) I was quoted totals for any option at over $600 more????? Seriously??? I queried it and got back a very unhelpful 'that is the price it says for booking now'. Can anyone help advise on this? Surely they can't charge that much?? I was expecting more like $2-300.

Thanks

 

[nacho113]

Hi

I normally book my car rental through Alamo Brits because it includes all my tax, LDW, CDW, unlimited milage, no state limits, extra driver etc. I looked up the price on the site for a collection in New Orleans and drop off in Orlando and it came up as $440 for a economy and $700 for 7 seater. I wanted a 15 seater option but it wasn't available. However, when I contacted Alamo to ask what 'extra' charges I would get for dropping off at another state (which I know they charge for as an extra later) I was quoted totals for any option at over $600 more????? Seriously??? I queried it and got back a very unhelpful 'that is the price it says for booking now'. Can anyone help advise on this? Surely they can't charge that much?? I was expecting more like $2-300.

Thanks

If you are booking on one of the Alamo sites, the total price will be the amount that you will pay, there shouldn't be any additional charges.

 

[seobaina]

If you are booking on one of the Alamo sites, the total price will be the amount that you will pay, there shouldn't be any additional charges.

That's what I expected but I know I had to pay extra when we did it in the past and I'm sure there is something in the small print.

 

[Starwind]

I can't speak to the OP's specific scenario, but I can speak to a similar situation which may shine some light on what you are seeing:

Two situations involving renting a car in Canada (previously I have seen similar with renting in the USA); in my case from National, but I priced other companies too (there are differences between them - especially the city to city which I note below):

(1) renting in one city and returning to the same city:
- renting from the airport vs renting from a local office has a significant price difference (airport is higher, and not solely due to the airport concession fees -- the daily rate was different, too; as was the drop-off fee for the one way rental I priced but ultimately choose not to do)

- in the end I rented from a local office and returned to the airport in the adjoining city (er, the two cities merge into each other and effectively are one); the drop fee was about $10 (FWIW, switching the origin and destination had an $80 drop fee!! PLUS the difference in rate!!)

- the rental had unlimited km **as long as I stayed inside that province and three others**; driving outside those bounds and I got X km and then a per km charge above that fee (which would be determined and due when the car was returned, for obvious reasons). you had to declare at the time of rental that either you were staying in those 4 provinces or you were not -- and what you declared is what you were authorized to do.

(2) renting in one province and returning in another:
- this one I priced but in the end we decided to cancel the trip
- I priced multiple rental companies, using their website directly and also using COSTCO, and using both airport and local office locations within each company (where both existed)

- there were cost differences in the daily rate renting from an airport (more $ in most cases) vs a local office
- there were differences in the terms of the rental - e.g. included km - in renting from an airport vs local officearies d
- the drop fee varies depending on airport vs local (destination AND origin)

- some companies included unlimited km -- they cost hundreds (in one case a thousand!) of dollars more than X amount per day included + extra per km rates
- some companies only had X km/day + extra km for a per km fee
- most rates were NOT unlimited km >> so the extra km charge would be calculated and paid at vehicle return
- you had to carefully read the "fine print" full terms and conditions -- e.g. the rate summary may say unlimited with an asterix but in the fine print that only applies for e.g. the 4 province situation described above and not for the actual one way rental you are getting !!

- the drop fee was always stated as part of the quote, and varied from company to company


SW

 

[nacho113]

That's what I expected but I know I had to pay extra when we did it in the past and I'm sure there is something in the small print.

From what I have seen in our past rentals, Alamo does not list a one way drop fee separately, they just increase the weekly rate to include it. There is no "fine print" the total price listed on your reservation is what you will pay.
We have used other car rental companies in the past that have a better weekly rate than the Alamo for the same dates but they add a "one way drop fee" to the subtotal at the end of the reservation (and quite often makes the total more than Alamo even though they have a lower weekly rate). Thrifty, Dollar, Budget and Avis seem to love adding this "drop fee" to one way reservations.

I will say that we have never rented in one state and returned in another but we quite often fly into Tampa or Orlando and fly out of Miami after a cruise.
On all occasions that we have had a one way rental booked, we have never been charged more than the total price listed on the reservation.

 

[keishashadow]

Hi

I normally book my car rental through Alamo Brits because it includes all my tax, LDW, CDW, unlimited milage, no state limits, extra driver etc. I looked up the price on the site for a collection in New Orleans and drop off in Orlando and it came up as $440 for a economy and $700 for 7 seater. I wanted a 15 seater option but it wasn't available. However, when I contacted Alamo to ask what 'extra' charges I would get for dropping off at another state (which I know they charge for as an extra later) I was quoted totals for any option at over $600 more????? Seriously??? I queried it and got back a very unhelpful 'that is the price it says for booking now'. Can anyone help advise on this? Surely they can't charge that much?? I was expecting more like $2-300.

Thanks

sounds like you got the 'call in' rate which can be much higher than online.

book the reservation online, then email Alamo re the reservation to verify there will be no additional drop charges. print off the reply and take it with you.

As long as car is kept in the USA, shouldn't have an issue. Enterprise is only agency i've dealt with that has restrictions about what states the car can enter, even then it was most of the adjacent states where i rented.

 

[seobaina]

Thank you guys, much appreciated x

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Enterprise is only agency i've dealt with that has restrictions about what states the car can enter, even then it was most of the adjacent states where i rented.

Now I'm trying to figure out what rental car company I used when my husband and I went to Boston one year.

Sounds strange but we were able to get a much cheaper flight going home when flying from New Hamshire to New Jersey then to Kansas City. But the catch was it was a huge huge upcharge to drop our car off in New Hampshire since we rented it from the Boston airport. So we dropped the car off in Boston and took a shuttle that was like $60 total for 2 people to the New Hampshire airport. This was like 4 or so years ago though.