Car rental question re: earlier pick-up

[Canadamom]

I love these boards...the info to plan our December Disneyland trip has been wonderful, so thank you to all! Here's my question: I did my homework, booked our rental car from the airport back in May and got a great rate. I found out today that our airline has now bumped our flight time up by 5 hours and we will arrive in LA early (same arrival day, though). When I called the rental agency about this I was told we could pick the car up earlier, however my entire reservation (11 days) would be changed to reflect the current rates...that's $100 more! I left it as is for now. Do we hang out at the airport until our original pick-up time or pay the extra money? Any suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[got2travel]

I've picked up cars early, but not that much early. The only risk I could see is that they may not have a car ready for you. Oh, and the clock starts when you actually pick it up as opposed to what your reservation states. So say you reserved for a 5pm pick up, then your car would be due at 5pm on your return day to avoid being charged for extra days. So by arriving at 12 instead of 5, you also lose out on those 5 hours at the end of your rental time too.

 

[Canadamom]

Thanks for your reply got2travel. We were going to be returning our vehicle well before those 5 hours on the last day anyways...I had wondered about that (new pick up time: 2:00 pm, return time was to be 11:30 am...didn't change). The rental place wouldn't even take that into consideration...maybe we'll just show up when our flight gets in and see if we can take it early at that time. Crossing my fingers...

 

[albianne]

Canadamom, Their answer does sound fishy, I agree, your rental gets billed from when picked up til when you drop off. If I were you I would phone a couple of rental places near where you live just to get an idea of how they would charge in the situation then call or email the head office of the rental agency in LAX to confirm that the extra charge you are being quoted is legit. Seems like a lot of car rental agencies and hotels get the customers to reserve by offering cheap deals but then hike up the prices huge amounts if you need to make any changes later. Just FYI we got a great deal thru the mousesavers site on an intermediate car for a week for 149.00 (just reserved last week) they also offered minivans for $189.00 a week, so the charge for an extra $100.00 for 5 hours extra seems crazy.

 

[safetymom]

Rental companies usually have special rates for certain times during the week. If you pick up before that time you would get those rates. There are people that try to "cheat" the system to get better rates. Just keep watching your reservation and try making a new reservation and see what happens with the rates.