Any good/bad experiences with Alamo car rental?

[Minybear]

On the transporation board I have heard alot of bad things about Alamo when they picked up their car at the Orlando Airport due to the long lines. Whats your experience with Alamo at LAX? If you had a bad experience with Alamo what other car rental would you suggest?

 

[Uncle Mikey]

I have nothing but bad experiences with Alamo. Both at LAX and Orlando. Same thing both times and both places. The wait time was excessive (approx. 1 hour) and then I went out twice to pick up my car and found no car in the spot. I fault my travel agent at the time for part of my Orlando problem. I specifically asked her if Alamo was on the airport property and she told me yes. When I get there, I discover it is a few miles down the road. My flight had been delayed by an hour landing. Then the rental car time cost us another two hours. We had wanted to spend a few hours at Epcot our first evening but thanks to all the delays and a half hour check in process at CBR it cost us the first evening at WDW. We ended up eating a late dinner at CBR and then going to bed. That was my second and last experience with Alamo. At LAX no one is on the airport property but Alamo seemed to be further away than other companies. The lengthy time in getting to the place, finally getting a car and then driving to Disneyland got us in a lot later than we wanted with an early morning entry the next day. At both LAX and Orlando it also meant we left earlier knowing that the amount of time of time we needed to drop off the car and get to the airport was greater. In my opinion and in the opinion of many friends who have used Alamo in other cities. Don't use them!

 

[Minybear]

Uncle Mikey

Which car company would you suggest?

 

[Uncle Mikey]

Most of the time we use Super Shuttle to and from LAX because we spend the majority of our time in the Disneyland area and really do not use a rental car. But in the past 13 years I've been going at least once and sometimes twice a year to Disneyland. The majority of the time has been in and out of LAX. On those occasions, when we've needed a rental car I've used (in addition to Alamo) National, Budget and Hertz. All were about the same in price. The cars were fine. The check in and out process was under a half hour for each. There was nothing that made any of them stand out but the service at each was definitely better than Alamo. I believe each of them has a counter at LAX and then they shuttle bus you to your car. Things can change over time but that is my best recollection. You might try looking on Travelocity or one of those other sites and see what pricing and availability is for your particular dates. I hope this helps and perhaps someone who regularly uses the rental cars out of LAX will have a better reccomendation for you.

 

[Minybear]

Uncle Mikey

I will look into Budget but their web site does not give me the whole rate (with full insurance). We are also DC members but I do not want to sign up for Emerald Club for a fee to use National.

Thanks
Cindy

 

[Luv2Roam]

Flying into San Diego, we used Alamo and were very happy with them.
Flying into LAX, we used National and had no problems. They seemed to have the fewest numbers of shuttles. We had to wait quite a while for the National shuttle. We had seen some of the other rental company's shuttles 2 - 3 times before we saw a National shuttle.
Flying into ONT, we used Budget. (Memorial Day weekend) National was bad enough, but Alamo had a long line. But Budget really did not have their act together and it took quite awhile.
The ONT trip -- we used Budget because we booked through hotwire.com. We got a really good rate on an SUV. It was just slightly more than Alamo wanted for a regular car.