Car rental - arriving 5 hours earlier. Costs?

[funhouse8]

We will be hopefully flying into the airport 5 hours earlier then we have down on the rental form. I have such a great rate. $209 from alamo for a standand. What should I do? Call them now? (Not even sure if we will make it there early because of weather.) Wait till we get to the airport and tell them when I check in to get the car. What are the fees on an extra 5 hours? I already paid for an extra day because we will be renting the car 8 days but had to pay for 9 (arriving before leaving). Thanks

 

[sympatico]

You could try modifying your resev online with the new time to see if it changes the price. Before they change your original resv you'll get a screen with the original and the modified reservations side by side and you can choose to keep the original or keep the modified. If it doesn't change the price then keep the modified. Or you can call and explain and see what they can do.

 

[disneyholic family]

or just show up early....they have so many cars in orlando, it really doesn't matter....they'll have the car there 5 hours earlier as well...

however, keep in mind that if you pick it up 5 hours earlier, you need to drop it off at about the same time, or pay for an extra day..

for example, if you're renting for a week....say picking it up at 3 PM and dropping it back off a week later at 3 pm...
if you pick it up 5 hours earlier, you'll need to drop it back off 5 hours earlier, or pay for an additional day....

 

[seashoreCM]

Unless I could get the reservation changed at no extra charge, I would chance it by just showing up early.

By "chance it" I mean the clerk could jerk you around, or rather try to parlay the situation into an extra commission for himself by denying you the car early unless you upgraded and paid a higher rate. (The latter happened to me once but I have also succceeded in picking up early at the same agency.)

Disney hints: http://www.cockam/com/disney.htm

 

[NotUrsula]

WHEN that 5 hours happen can sometimes matter; it depends on the rules for the rate code that you have.

For example: if you have a weekend rate and were originally scheduled to pick up at 2 pm on Thursday, picking up at 9 am may be an issue. Most rental companies do not allow pickups on weekend rates before noon on Thursdays.

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

I have the same problem with National (Alamo's sister company). We are now getting in about 8 hours sooner. I tried to modify the ressie, my $300 minivan for 9 days was about to go to $900!

We are going to show up early and try to get it. By picking up early I won't go into an extra day (car will be dropped off by 9am, we are picking up after 10:30am). If they give me any grief, I have a full size car rented in my name (van is in Dad's name) for one night at $32 with taxes and the reservation is not tied to a credit card, just an email address. If I get the van I will cancel the full-size on the spot, if they give me a hard time I will take the full size and just go back to the airport that night with my Dad after dinner and swap out the cars. I figure a $32 rental is a lot cheaper than a taxi for 5 people to Comfort Inn Lake Buena Vista, being stranded at the hotel all afternoon, then a taxi for two of us back to MCO later that night!

 

[mareed]

I have the same problem with National (Alamo's sister company). We are now getting in about 8 hours sooner. I tried to modify the ressie, my $300 minivan for 9 days was about to go to $900!

It used to be with both Alamo & National that you could modify a reservation, and even though the screen that displayed all the different types of vehicles would show the much higher price, if you went ahead and selected the same type of vehicle, the next screen that showed the original and modified reservation side-by-side would go back to your original rate. Did you try modifying yours to that point? You can still keep the original reservation at the point where it's showing original and modified side-by-side. If you didn't see this screen then you may still be able to modify it! I know the tendency would be to see the intermediate screen showing all the higher prices for the different vehicles and stop there!

Of course, they may have changed their website now also!

 

[kaytieeldr]

OP - let me see if I understand this correctly before I give you an answer.

First, rental car "days" are actually 24 hour periods, not calendar days. If I'm reading your post right, you made your reservation for (days are example only, I have no idea what the OP's actual travel plans are) Sunday at 3 PM to a week from Monday at 6 PM (the point after which, quite likely, the rental company will stop charging for extra hours and just charge for a full additional day). Eight calendar days, nine 24 hour periods (well, technically ).

So, now you want to pick up the car at 10 AM instead of 3 PM - adding five hours to your reservation, but still keeping the rental under the nine calendar days?

You'll be fine. You can call Alamo anonymously and - using my example if it's NOT what your plans are - see if they'd try to add an extra fee for the extra five hours. But it doesn't seem they reasonably could.

 

[funhouse8]

Well didn't get out, flight was rebooked for Sat night. Now I am coming in 3 nights later and they want to charge me an extra 76 dollars. I'm thinking I just might cancel this whole vacation. AAAGGGHHHH