Am I going to have a hassle with Dollar?

[Leigh123]

We always use a towncar service on vaca because we never leave disney property. For our upcoming trip DH wants to go to kennedy space center for the day so I have rented a convertable from Dollar for 24 hours. I have a rate of $45.99 and with all of the taxes and surcharges it comes out to be $57.05. My question is should I expect to pay more than that? I do not want any add ons and our car insurance covers rental cars. Will they make me pay for anything else? Also does anyone know what the policy is on returning the car in terms of how much gas you have to replace it with? Thanks

 

[ducklite]

You shouldn't have to pay more. If you are concerned you might want to bring a copy of your car insurance to show them. It can't hurt

Depending on the type of credit card you are using they generally wo'nt hassle you either.

That's a good price for a one day rental of a convertible, I'm sure you'll enjoy it--Pixie Dust your way for nice weather!

Return the tank full or they'll charge you.

Have fun at KSC, it's a really nice change of pace.

Anne

 

[XStAnt]

Don't get conned into taking the prepaid fuel option. If you don't bring the car back with the ank completely empty you are paying for fuel you did not use. It's almost impossible to bring the car back running on fumes.

Stop at a gas station near the car rental return and fill the tank with regular fuel. It's okay if the gas station is a few miles from the rental location; the guage will still read full.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by Leigh123
We always use a towncar service on vaca because we never leave disney property. For our upcoming trip DH wants to go to kennedy space center for the day so I have rented a convertable from Dollar for 24 hours. I have a rate of $45.99 and with all of the taxes and surcharges it comes out to be $57.05. My question is should I expect to pay more than that? I do not want any add ons and our car insurance covers rental cars. Will they make me pay for anything else? Also does anyone know what the policy is on returning the car in terms of how much gas you have to replace it with? Thanks

Except for the 200.00 dollar hold on your credit card plus the rental, there should be NO problem. Just say NO to what you don't want.

 

[disnurse]

Join their membership for fast service, free online and you can sign up for all the things or refuse and its no questions asked at the counter.

 

[LvsTnk]

ducklite, what exactly did you mean by what type of credit card you use, do they prefer a certain name, maybe that was our problem.

My DH had a terrible time refusing them last trip. I posted about it upon our return. I thought signing up for fastlane would help, but it sure didn't DH won't use them again. We will use ERserve or EA.

 

[ducklite]

Platinum cards and most Gold cards have automatic CDW insurance on them, so they don't push that if you use one of them. We have a regular visa that has the protection as well, but we found that when we went to use that to rent a car they really tried to push the insurance, as soon as we pulled out another card and said "Fine, we'll use this one then" the hard sell stopped.

It happened twice, once with Alamo and once with National, now we just use the Platinum card to avoid the hassle.

Anne

 

[Leigh123]

Thank you all so much for your responses. Do I also need to take my insurance policy and or card with me?

 

[NotUrsula]

Here's the best way I know to kill the hard-sell at a rental car counter:

Print out the final rate quote that you receive (the one with all the taxes and fees included) and bring it with you. Hand it over to the clerk with your license and CC. When they start to ask, "Do you want..." cut them off immediately with, "I want the rate & options shown on the document I gave you; I do not want upgrades, additional coverage, or prepaid fuel. I do not want anything that is not already accounted for on that document." Be cordial, but be firm, and repeat it if necessary.

Dollar's counter staff are required to bring up the subject of vehicle upgrades and add'l coverage, but if you just turn it all down sort of globally, as I put it above, they should desist.

I find that Dollar's upgrade pitch tends to be worse later in the day, when they have begun to run out of smaller cars. If they are out of the car size you reserved, they are obligated to give you the next larger available vehicle at no charge. However, if they can convince you to voluntarily buy an upgrade before they reveal that they are out of that car class, then you don't get it for free. Therefore, if it is after about 5 pm, and they seem to be pushing the upgrades really hard, ask straight out if they have run out of your reserved car class--that usually short-circuits the whole pitch.

 

[LvsTnk]

Well, used the gold card, had Fastlane, used all of the tactics from above, finally DH said you have other costumers waiting and I am NOT going to take your upgrade the agent replied "we all have to wait our turn" Dollar at that point lost a customer. I tried to give them a second chance after our first fiasco.

My vacation time is to valuable to me to be screwing around with their agents.

I do hope you have better luck, their rates are excellent!