Budget's Fastbreak or National's Emerald Club

[Patpat15]

Which is better? Now I have reservations at both and the memberships.

Can anybody give their experiences?

 

[Figment&Piglet]

Interested in the same info. -- we've used National's Emerald Reserve the past two times, so I can comment on them. We've gotten great rates (minivans) and were generally satisfield with the condition of the cars, etc. We loved just proceeding to the garage, getting to pick the van, and drive off, bypassing the lines inside. Last December that was tough, given there were NO MORE MINIVANS anywhere on the lot and a flock of families circling looking for them. We lost almost an hour waiting for them to bring in returned vans. Needless to say, we weren't pleased. This time around, Budget is about $11 cheaper, so we're going to give them a try. But, from what I understand, you need to go to the kiosk outside in the garage and they hand you the keys -- you bypass the wait at the counter but don't proceed directly to the car and can't choose your own. We'll give them a try, but would love others' opinions who've used both.

 

[maps]

I've used both and really didn't prefer one over the other.

With National, you do go straight to the gargage and can pick out the car but when we were there, it was slim pickings. Also, once you got in the car, you had to wait in line at the check out booth. So there is still a line, just not as bad.

With Budget, again go straight to the gargage and since this was my first time, I had no idea where the kiosk was. I just went to the little booth to check in, no wait and was offered an upgrade. Handed us the keys and we were off--didn't have to wait in line at a check out booth.

Both had clean and fairly new cars. So if given a choice, I would pick the cheaper of the two.

Hope this helps.