Budget Car Rental Experiences?

[strasfamily]

I went ahead and reserved a car with Budget after I read Dave's recommendation on his website. Then I read yesterday that even though Avis is having problems with their move, they are the only car rental that has 4 vans that go to the port. Any of you used Budget? What was your experience? Did you wait a long time for a shuttle? Should I switch my reservation to Avis?

Thanks!

Tracey

 

[kajohn]

We used budget in February with no problems. The best advice I can give for anyone using a rental car and shuttles is this:

Only one person returns the car and picks it up. Have one of you drop the rest of the family and luggage at the terminal and then go return the car and take the shuttle back.

At the end of the cruise, have everyone wait at the terminal and one person take the shuttle over and pick up the car and then come back to get the rest of the family and the luggage.

If everyone did this, the shuttles would go sooooo much faster. I saw entire families getting on the shuttle when they debarked with all their luggage. They took up almost an entire shuttle with just their family and luggage. It makes the wait for all shuttles to the rental agencies much longer this way.

 

[Gina]

I used Budget in February also, and it went very smoothly. People were already lining up at the Radisson to try and get on that shuttle, but I went and dropped the car off at Budget and got right on their shuttle and was at the terminal in a few minutes. Very quick and painless. Got my Budget ressies ready for next February!

-gina-

 

[Padre Disney]

We did the same thing. Had reservation with Avis and switched to Budget. We are using Budget one way in October. Have never rented a car at the port. Will be sure and have only one person go get the car while the others wait.
Budget had a much better rate than avis.

 

[fyreworks]

I have noticed the same thing as well. Budget beat Avis prices by about $50 on the same type of car! I used every code I knew on Avis and still could not beat the Budget price. We will be renting a car from MCO - Canaveral and an SUV from Canaveral back to MCO.

Thanks for the tips on drop off and pickup. I was planning on doing that anyway but didn't know how hard it would be to drive the car back to the port to pick up the others.