Anyone pick up their car from National several hours past original pick-up time?

[Snoozan]

I'm wondering if anyone has ever picked up their rental car from National several hours past the pick-up time noted on their ressie? Did it change your rate? I got a call from Delta tonite asking if we'd change our airline ressie(& get 2 $150 vouchers in exchange)for a flight that would get us into Orlando at 1:30PM, instead of the 11:00AM flight. I did take the Delta deal because we know we're going back to WDW!

I did call both the National Emerald Club and directly to customer service at National at MCO. One guy(EC)told me he thought they'd hold the car 12 hours, but the lady at MCO said they'd hold the car 24 hours if I didn't change my ressie. I just want to be sure I'm not going to have a change in rate by picking up the car 3 hours later as I got an excellent rate for a mid-size SUV, which is no longer available. I'll still have the car for 5+ days so it would still be a weekly rate.

 

[momrek06]

I DID JUST THE OPPOSITE this past Feb. I booked my car through ALAMO and did it all online. I selected an arrival time to MCO for NOON. (we were on the WONDER). Well, we arrived at MCO at 9:30AM and went right to the counter and Alamo was very accommodating, signed my name away (mind you w/o looking at any receipts) (thought by giving them MY receipt from online I was ALL SET)...well we got to M&D's in Tampa and I was putting all my receipts away when I THEN noted I was OVERCHARGED for the rental car....WHATTT!!! I said to DH...of course he says well did you READ the receipt before signing it...NO...Mom says to call right away and I said NO I will be at the airport in 3 days (flying home) and I will ASK THEN....

Got to Tampa Airport and PROUDLY showed them all my receipts and how I was OVERCHARGED by mistake....NO, I was informed YOU TOOK THE CAR TWO HOURS EARLIER THEN YOU REQUESTED.......wait......I say, NO one at the counter said anything and no one at the counter gave me the option to WAIT until NOON....they (w/o) any objections CREDITED me the extra amount....

Several lessons learned: READ EVERYTHING BEFORE YOU SIGN IT.

Also, be more aware of your arrival and departure times so as not to be over-charged in the future........UGH!!!!

 

[KerriMc]

We were there last week and I had booked online through the EA for a min-van. I booked it for p/u at 1pm. Well our flight was delayed and we arrived around 1:10 or so. By the time we collected our luggage, went out to find a van, loaded everything, picked a carseat (dh wanted to rent one this time) ... picked another carseat, and then picked another carseat (one didn't fit the seat right, the next didn't have a long enough tether to reach the latch, and the third took a lot of fiddling) , and then I went off to collect the rest of the family as my youngest was napping in her stroller and my mom was walking her around the airport where it was cooler, .... so by the time we did all of that we drove through the gate at 2:34.

When I returned the van (about an hour earlier than I had said I would) the guy gave me the print out receipt and it charged me $558.00 and it should have been $319.00 So I took it into the kiosk and the guy was nice about it, but it took me a good fifteen minutes to get it resolved while the rest of my family waited for me. He said it was probably because of the difference in times ... but it wasn't my fault he kept telling me So I guess next time I will give myself a little more time ... plus we won't be dealing with a carseat by this time next year, just a booster ... so that will cut about thirty minutes off our time (If we'd just brought our own ).

So try to be as accurate as possible ... you just never know ... he said it is a computer glitch, but I'm not so sure!!

Kerri

 

[akasleepingbeauty]

If you know in advance that you are changing your time for pickup or return, you should be able to modify the reservation online with National. You make the changes and it shows you the original reservation next to the modified reservation before you finalize the changes. I have always found National's site to be very easy to use in this aspect - the price stays the same as long as I am not changing the type of car etc. or adding days to the reservation.

BTW - Alamo's site is quite the opposite in this aspect - although it says "modify" the reservation it really just makes a new one with current prices; I have only been successful changing times without changing prices by calling.

When dealing with car rentals you should always be aware of the 24-hour period in terms of cost. Your clock starts when you pick up the car and goes in 24 hour cycles until you return it. It is not, however, equally calculated throughout the day - the first few hours are the most expensive and basically once you have the car for 4-6 hours into the cycle you have paid for the day. So, if you pick a car up early or drop it off late you need to be aware of how that time relates to your 24-hour cycle so that you can be prepared for extra charges associated with those extra hours.

So, my recommendation is to try changing the time on the National website and if it shows the same price when doing the original vs. modified comparison then you should be good to go. If not, try calling and see if a CS rep can do it instead.

 

[PURTYPAT1]

I have changed 3 times with National.

All 3 times I called, & wrote the person's name down, that gave me the information.

First time I was bumped & put up in a hotel overnight, It was President's week. National said as long as I got down, within 24 hours of my reservation, I would be ok. The agent, actually deducted one day from the week.

Second time, President week again, I was late, bumped again, this time with in 4 hour difference. I called again, got the agent's name (just in case) was charged the same fare as promised.

Third time, I picked up the car 2 hours earlier. Nobody, said anything to me, & was charged the fare as promised.

Each time I read, before I signed, didn't take insurance, & filled up my own tank. (which in NJ we don't pump our own gas, what a task & needed a self help lesson, talk about embarrassed)

Hope this helps

Patricia

 

[Lewisc]

I don't know if it's changed but a few years ago National would hold your reservation until midnight. L&M doesn't hold a reservation for very long, even if your flight is delayed.

They base the time you have the car on the actual time you pick it up and the time you return it. In some cases picking it up late may cause you to rent the car for one less day and in an extreme case that might cause you to lose a weekly rate and be charged a lot more.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I reserved an Alamo car in Las Vegas with a pickup time of 11:45 PM. By the time I actually got to Alamo (took a while to get to baggage claim; took a while longer for a shuttle to show up) it was the next day. Aside from a comment about the different dates from the Agent, I had no problem. Same rate, same five 24-hour rental periods... oh, except by that time they were OUT of compacts and I ended up with an SUV - and now I want one!

Disclaimer: Since the two companies share facilities AND vehicles, I feel my experience is appropriate to the original question

 

[Jcricket Fan]

We had a National reservation in Jan. and due to a delayed flight we would get in over 7 hrs. after the original time for pick-up.
We called National and were told that we had 24hrs. from the original pick-up time to get to them. Our rate was adjusted down when we returned the car because our drop off time was earlier then the pick-up time.

Colleen