Can I Do Better Than This National Rental Rate

[RweTHEREyet]

Standard 2/4 Car
pick up 6-17-03, return 6-22-03 (5 day rental)

Used the Carlson Wagonlit corporate code from mousesaver's and a $15 off weekly coupon from the Entertainment book.

Total with surcharges and taxes is $120.60.

It also forced the reservation to change to counter service rather than Emerald Aisle, but that does not bother me.

I have to also comment that when this amount came up, I reserved it, and I have not been able to duplicate it again. Not sure why. Any ideas?

 

[DebbieB]

That sounds like a good rate. 5 days usually comes up as the weekly rate.

To get Emerald Aisle, you have to book intermediate. With standard or full size, you should be able to select Emerald Reserve and not have to go to the counter.

 

[Kitster]

Unfortunately when using an Entertainment book coupon you MUST use the National counter. I have the same rate that you have, using almost the same discounts. I have a $15 off weekly rental thru the Emerald Club though, so I still get to use EA.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

I am a member of the Emerald Club, too, thank you Disney Club, did you get the coupon off their website?

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by Kitster
Unfortunately when using an Entertainment book coupon you MUST use the National counter. I have the same rate that you have, using almost the same discounts. I have a $15 off weekly rental thru the Emerald Club though, so I still get to use EA.

When did they change this? I have used the Entertainment book coupon before and I never got "bumped" to counter service.

 

[DebbieB]

I used an Entertainment coupon with Emerald Aisle last month with no problem, did not go to the counter. I was playing around last night with dates in October and put in Emerald Aisle with the $15 off Entertainment Coupon and it did not bump me to counter. Rate was high though - $179 with tax for 5 days for an intermediate. I paid $110 last month for 7 days.

 

[Kitster]

I can only report my experiences with National. Every time I have entered an Entertainment book coupon, without using the Entertainment Contract ID #, I have been bumped to counter service only. I've never tried to use their Contract ID because the rate is always higher than the old DC Contract ID. Update: I just logged into the National website, used the Ent. Contract # and coupon and got the following wait screen message :

ALERT ! Upgrade Coupon attached. Method of delivery changed to counter.

The coupon code I used was in the March 2003 Emerald Club mailer I got....there is a choice of 1 free weekend day on a max 4 day rental or $15 weekly. The coupon codes are listed here..... http://www.mousesavers.com/groundtrans.html#national , but they're only good thru 7/14/03 I think.

I probably won't buy the Ent. Coupon book again because Mary has such awesome information on her website and I can get better discounts there. Next year the DC discount will be history, so only time will tell what rates we'll be seeing then.

 

[Rpsemont]

rwetheryet,

I think that is a pretty good rate. I used DC code Ent coupon for midsize for OCt and got a rate of $133. (this I did in April) I tried repeatedly since then and not been able to match it. It is Enmerald Aisle - even with the coupon. Also, last time i used a coupon for Emeral Aisle with no problem at all.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

I used AARP and a coupon from BJ's and managed a rate of 159. (and change) for a full size for a week, also done in April. Now it is up to 199.00 for the week. I am hoping it will go down a bit, but, if not, I will be content with the 159. rate.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by Kitster
I can only report my experiences with National. Every time I have entered an Entertainment book coupon, without using the Entertainment Contract ID #, I have been bumped to counter service only. I've never tried to use their Contract ID because the rate is always higher than the old DC Contract ID. Update: I just logged into the National website, used the Ent. Contract # and coupon and got the following wait screen message :

The coupon code I used was in the March 2003 Emerald Club mailer I got....there is a choice of 1 free weekend day on a max 4 day rental or $15 weekly. The coupon codes are listed here..... http://www.mousesavers.com/groundtrans.html#national , but they're only good thru 7/14/03 I think.

I probably won't buy the Ent. Coupon book again because Mary has such awesome information on her website and I can get better discounts there. Next year the DC discount will be history, so only time will tell what rates we'll be seeing then.

Ah, the upgrade coupon!!!! That is different from the dollars off coupon. And, you are correct, Mary's site does have some awesome deals and codes.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALERT ! Upgrade Coupon attached. Method of delivery changed to counter.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I get this a lot too. But my coupon is a $15.00 off, not an upgrade and I got the same message.

I tell you, unless you rent often, venturing back into dealing with coupons, discounts, etc. is like learning a new language. I feel lost and this saving money thing is very time consuming.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by RweTHEREyet
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALERT ! Upgrade Coupon attached. Method of delivery changed to counter.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I get this a lot too. But my coupon is a $15.00 off, not an upgrade and I got the same message.

I tell you, unless you rent often, venturing back into dealing with coupons, discounts, etc. is like learning a new language. I feel lost and this saving money thing is very time consuming.

That is a fact, but, I have yet to be bumped to counter for any coupon I have ever used.
You might try clearing your cache and see what happens.

 

[lawgs]

try clearing the cache.....maybe that is "bugging" things up

we have never been bumped to counter using enterntainment dollars$ off coupon with dc discount...

while on this topic......

just got back from orlando....

did a quick check of A and B sides before getting our car off the aisle even though the "reservation center" had changed our before march 15 ressie to "emerald reserve".....we were able to get an Outlander off the B side total for the week ( 117$)

with regards to what was on the emerald aisle and full size.....did not notice much difference

had lots of malibus and centurys on three aisles (full size and emerald and intermediate )...only saw about 3 0r 4 cars on full size that might be considered full size in my estimation (one impala, one camry and not much else )

they had a fair number of outlanders, trackers and the jeep thingy on the emerald aisle

thus, do not know if it was the time we picked up ( friday ) or that they just think century and malibus are both full size and intermediate at orlando now

would be interested in knowing what others find when they pick cars up ( by the way i walked the entire emerald aisle on both sides before going to B side.....which seems to have a better selection than the A side )

when we went back we just returned it to the A side and took only about 5 minutes to get the receipt

 

[RweTHEREyet]

well, cleared my cache and still getting that Alert message. Thanks for the suggestion though, guys.

 

[cindala]

Maybe try using a different browser. I know sometimes AOL acts really strange for me, and I'll get better response from Internet Explorer.

I too have used the Entertainment coupons, and unless I plugged in the upgrade coupon, I wasn't ever bumped to counter.