Car Rental Procedure If Plane Delayed ?

[wee-haggis]

What is the procedure (with Dollar,for example),if your plane is delayed in arriving at MCO?
Do they hold it for an hour or more?
If the delay goes beyond that time,will they still attempt to get you a vehicle (or similar)?
Is there ever a sitauation where the vehicles are all gone and they refer you to another rental company (like airlines sometimes do)?
Our arrival date is 29th Dec by the way.
Thanks

 

[safetymom]

Do you have your flight information in your reservation? Then they will be aware of the delay in the flight.

At peak times they may be out of cars. They may make you wait or come back at another time. It does happen but not that often.

 

[wee-haggis]

Do you have your flight information in your reservation? Then they will be aware of the delay in the flight.

At peak times they may be out of cars. They may make you wait or come back at another time. It does happen but not that often.

The flight info is not on the booking (if ading the flight info involves "modifying" ,I think that may change the price?(and I have a really good rate).
Would you consider the afternoon of the 29th as peak ?

 

[safetymom]

That shouldn't modify the reservation. I would think the time between Christmas and New Years is a peak time. You can also call the rental people and tell them that your flight is delayed so they know you still plan to rent from them.

 

[seashoreCM]

You can telephone and ask but technically you are not protected against loss of your car reservation due to a late flight. But if you were permitted to and supplied your flight information, the rental agency will probably get you a car and you probably could hold them to the original reservation terms.

The only good way of reducing this problem is to reserve for a later pickup time and hope they give you the car early if the plane is not delayed. (I do this a lot.)

During a busy period such as Daytona Week, with lots of walk up inquiries, car rental companies are not anxious to honor all of their low rate booked reservations.

"It is our policy to hold your car for one (or however many) hours(s)" does not mean they will send you to another agency if they are sold out and pay the difference in rate..

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[safetymom]

Reserving it for a later time doesn't do much to protect you either. If you get there and there aren't any cars because of demand you still might have to wait or come back the next day.

 

[CarolA]

Reserving it for a later time doesn't do much to protect you either. If you get there and there aren't any cars because of demand you still might have to wait or come back the next day.

OK. Here is what I did the one of the two times this happened to me!

I refused to LEAVE the counter and asked to speak to a manager. Basically I was a pain... a polite pain, but a pain. I would NOT allow the agent to wait on someone else (they were just lining us up and I was not going to stand for that!) I got the manager and explained that I expected the reservation to be honored.... He wound up 'getting me' a car from another company and he paid the difference. As I was successful seveal others demanded the same treatment! One guy was being upgraded to a speciality car as I left.

My advice is NEVER leave the counter and just keep stating that "you took the reservation, I expect you to HONOR it" I would expect the same level of treatment I get from either an overbooked hotel or airline!

The other time was at Alamo in Atlanta... Don't even ask, but I have never given them another dime of my money or my companies money! (And then they had the GALL to charge me for failing to pick up my car... THat was REALLY REALLY ugly.. As an apology they sent me a free day coupon.. I threw it away!)

 

[BonnieA]

My experience:
5 Years ago, I was heading to Orlando in January. There was a blizzard in the northeast. I didn't get out until the next day. I didn't think about calling the rental car until past the original reservation time (and on the phone they said it couldn't be changed at that point). The car was picked up over 15 hours late by my brother-in-law (I gave him the reservation number because he got to the airport before the rest of us). They honored the reservation. I think I was using Dollar at the time.

 

[wee-haggis]

I received an email from Dollar Customer Serrvice and their policy is to hold it for 6 hours. If it goes beyond that time they would hope that a phone call would be placed informing them.
Sounds reasonable to me.

 

[beccasmom]

Also, call to find out if the counter is manned 24 hours a day. If you're arriving late (after 10:00 p.m., perhaps) at some destinations (MCO probably not being one of them, but who knows?) there may be no one there. A call to check that out would seem appropriate just in case. And yes, I agree that calling them in case of unscheduled delay would be a good idea.