Car Hire-advice

[steve404]

Hello,
Well our group for the July trip has swelled from 3 to 5 people.

We had a basic tiny car booked and paid for anyway and were hoping for a free upgrade when we arrive.

To upgrade from this basic car to an intermediate if I change it now in the UK will cost me another £93 for the fortnight, and we will obviously need the extra room. Is the best advice to book the upgrade now or arrive at Orlando and try and sort out the upgrade with a bit of bartering at the airport to an intermediate (Sebring or similar)?

Thanks,have a good day.

 

[wilma-bride]

Who is your car hire booked with? I know there is one company (can't remember which) where they let you choose from a load of available cars in your category.

If you know 100% that you will want to upgrade, it probably is cheaper and easier to do it here rather than rely on trying to get a good deal over there.

Have you booked caar hire separately or is it part of your package? If it's part of the package, are you having to pay the extra for insurance. If so, it can sometimes work out cheaper not to take the 'free' hire car that comes with the package and book separately, in which case you might be able to get a bigger car for the price you would be paying for the insurance and the upgrade together

 

[wayneg]

Hi Steve

In my opinion last thing you should do is leave it til you get there and barter after a 8 hour flight and tired, especially if the agent sees you are a group of 5, you would pay a fortune. If you do wait til you are there don't all turn up at the desk.

Personally I think you will struggle in an intermediate, we are a family of 3 but last Easter we took a friend so 2 x adults and 2 x 13 years olds. We got a Full size(as we always do) Dodge charger, we struggled to get the luggage in, we only had 3 cases (around 18kg average) and a large holdall, 3 laptops and camera bag. Full size was the mininmum I would get for 4 people.
This Xmas we were upgraded to a 7 seater dodge caravan, I would want that size for 5 people.

All depends on deal you can get but its usually not much more to go for larger than you need.

 

[steve404]

Cheers guys, once again the advice here is spot on, we have booked flights and car hire via Netflights some time ago, not a fly-drive as such, but a flight and a car seperate!!

We were booked through Netflights to have a small compact with Dollar for £203, for the 2 weeks, but I have just called them and we have decided to have a Dodge Charger for £335 instead, which I am happy with, as you say it prevents the hassle stateside, I hope.

There are three adults and two kids, albeit one is 18, and not too much luggage, all the other times we have been we have had a minivan for the usual group of 6 so this should be fine.

Thanks again.

 

[wayneg]

Its a lot better than having it on your mind to sort out when you arrive. One less hassle to deal with.