Alamo - opinion's? Problem?

[PrincessAbby'sMom]

Wondering what has been your experience w/Alamo?

They are by far the cheapest out there, from what I have seen & my parents had a bad experience & don't want us to use them.

They were to fly in & pick up their car.....well the airlines changed the flight times, so Alamo changed their price on them.......they increased it by almost $500 or more. They thought they were doing them a favor by calling & telling them of the change in times (and they weren't needing the car any earlier, it was later) and they increased the price, but didn't tell them until they were there & picked up the rental. At that point it was too late to cancel, they would have had $ into it anyway because of the late notice.

So, wanted to see if anyone else has had problems w/them, or was theirs a fluke???

Thanks!

 

[stampinshauna]

We used them last year and they were just the typical car rental place. We booked online through Costco and didn't have any problems.

 

[PrincessAbby'sMom]

Bumping for more opinions............

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

We have a van booked through them for October. But were picking it up here where we live and driving down (needed something bigger for the extra family members going with us!). We also booked through costco, got like $25 off even more. I haven't heard anything bad of them.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

We've used them in the past without problem. And we'll be using them again in 2 weeks when we go to Vegas. It won't be the LA area one, but I can give an opinion when I get back if you want.

 

[CanadianPaco]

bumping...

 

[NannyPooh]

We have used Alamo several times, but not out of LAX.
We have never had a problem, except for massively long line waits (in San Diego). We have booked with Alamo online, through Expedia, and by phone. We have never had to pre-pay, or put down a deposit, but have had price changes if we change our schedule - sometimes better, sometimes worse.
Not sure where you will be renting, but we are going into Orange County at the end of August, and found Enterprise to be REALLY inexpensive this time - we saved almost $200.00 for a mini-van over Alamo or Hertz!
Good Luck!

 

[moko]

We used Alamo LAX on our trip in May and didn't have any problems. We had rented through WDTC and only rented a full size car. Once there, we decided we needed a van so they let us have one since they had some available (with of course the added fee). My son had thrown up (orange soda ugh!) so I fully expected they would be charging me some type of cleaning fee when we turned it in as we couldn't get the stain out but turns out they didn't. I was happy about that but of course, we were in a hurry to make the Alamo shuttle and forgot to mention it.

I would guess your parents had a fluke. I can't imagine why they'd charge more for a change to later pick up ... someone new must've been working.

 

[PrincessAbby'sMom]

We would be picking it up in San Diego & wanted to drop it off at DownTown Disney & just shuttle to LAX when we fly out. It would save us a little $.

And if we went w/Alamo, alot of money. We would have it for 5 full days & everyone seems to be over $300 & Alamo would save us around $50 bucks I guess was all, but still, thats $50 more I can spend on my daughter at Disney!!!!!!

 

[GailT]

I have reservations for both Alamo and Nationel. Alamo is $136.75 National is $172.49 We are picking it up in Long Beach and returning it there. In the past I have gotten Alamo in Florida but I think I will go with them and try them out, after all the little money saved can buy me dinner or something. I am going September 22

 

[NannyPooh]

We would be picking it up in San Diego & wanted to drop it off at DownTown Disney & just shuttle to LAX when we fly out. It would save us a little $.

And if we went w/Alamo, alot of money. We would have it for 5 full days & everyone seems to be over $300 & Alamo would save us around $50 bucks I guess was all, but still, thats $50 more I can spend on my daughter at Disney!!!!!!

We had a nice mini-van rented through Alamo, at the San Diego airport. We flew in on a Friday mid-afternoon, and had to stand in line for over an hour! That was our only problem there! Then drove up to Anaheim for several days before returning to San Diego for a few days. No other problems!
Have you checked www.mousesavers.com for other discounts available?

 

[bambigirl88]

We just used Alamo last week at DL, and were pleased with everything. I reserved on the website beforehand, and put in for Entertainment book discounts.

We used supershuttle from LAX to our hotel, then walked over to Downtown Disney where they have an Alamo outlet and picked up our car. We drove all around, and then dropped it off at the LAX outlet so we did not have to get a shuttle back to LAX. They have a shuttle bus ready to go to take you to the airport. Alamo was the cheapest for us, and we used the Entertainment Book and coupons which saved us a fair amount of $. If you are picking up a rental car from the LAX area, there is an extra tax put on there (usually about $25). So, do compare what it would cost you picking up elsewhere, and dropping off at LAX instead of picking up there. It may save some greens