Car rental

[VMilward]

Has anyone experienced Dollar Car rental at MCO saying that they are no longer giving you the option for the express rental???

 

[SkyGuy]

Has anyone experienced Dollar Car rental at MCO saying that they are no longer giving you the option for the express rental???

Meaning bypass the desk and walk straight to your vehicle? I generally rent Hertz, but my husband always does Dollar for his business trips - he does at least 8 trips through MCO per year. He said the last trip, which was about a week ago, he was told they no longer have the skip the line option, and you now have to stop inside before heading out to your car. He was lucky in that someone happened to be outside, grabbing some supplies, when he had already walked out there, so she was nice and checked him in there, but said from now on, he has to stop inside. End of Dollar for him.

 

[jackglick]

End of. Dollar for us too.

 

[scout68]

We rented from dollar in April and spent 2.5 hours in line.
2
.
5!

 

[Pinnochio]

I always rent from Dollar and i'm hoping this is not true....

 

[scout68]

I always rent from Dollar and i'm hoping this is not true....

We were primarily Dollar for a few years, that being said, we signed up for Hertz Gold yesterday and will be bypassing the line tomorrow at MCO.

 

[katallo]

OP, thanks for posting. If this is true we won't use Dollar especially at MCO.

 

[_19disnA]

Seems odd Dollar would make that sort of change. Renting a car is a commodity and they are competing with every other company for the same renters. If they do away with that 'skip the counter' feature not sure what they think they are saving and would expect they lose a LOT of business.

 

[Pinnochio]

Has anyone experienced Dollar Car rental at MCO saying that they are no longer giving you the option for the express rental???

Has anyone here confirmed this??

 

[DLgal]

Can someone explain to me what actually happens at these rental car counters? I've been loyal to Hertz since I became an adult capable of renting a car almost 20 years ago. I enrolled in Hertz Gold right off the bat and have never once needed to stop at the counter during a trip.

If you complete a booking online and reserve a specific car class for a set number of days, provide a valid credit card and show ID upon exiting with the car anyway, WHAT shenanigans are taking place at the counter?

Are they trying to upsell you on a different car class? Unnecessary and expensive add ons? What?

I do recall ONE time my husband had to go inside to the counter with Hertz because they gave him a pickup truck that was HUGE instead of the car type he reserved and he absolutely did not want to be driving a vehicle that large in a city where he would have to do street parking. Other than that, we have always gone straight to the car upon arrival.

 

[_19disnA]

It used to be that you had to go to the rental counter for most companies to sign the papework, show them you had a valid driver's license, pay with a credit card.........things like that. Over the years as the use of websites became more common, you could store the necessary information & pay online and they didn't need to gather any other information at the time of rental. I think most rental companies have figured out how to integrate their stored information into the rental process that makes stopping at the counter unnecessary if you join their membership club. If Dollar is stepping back and now requires every renter to stop at the counter (assuming what others have posted is true) would be a huge step backward in my view.

I use Avis and as I recall, the very first time using their membership club, you still had to go to the counter to prove you were the person renting the car and the agent may have input something to the computer but I don't recall exactly what they did. In subsequent rentals, I have always been able to go directly to my car and never had to stand in any line. When exiting the parking lot, I show the rental agreement (they leave it on the front seat) and my driver's license to the gate attendent and then drive away.

 

[EACarlson]

Can someone explain to me what actually happens at these rental car counters? I've been loyal to Hertz since I became an adult capable of renting a car almost 20 years ago. I enrolled in Hertz Gold right off the bat and have never once needed to stop at the counter during a trip.

Very few people have accounts with the rental companies, so all of the things you do online when you book have to be done in person when they get there. Verifying DL, CC, getting authorization for the charges, options like car seats, GPS, satellite radio, refueling options and insurance. Depending on the company, many agents get commissions on the things they upsell, especially refueling and insurance. At a leisure heavy destination like MCO, with many foreign visitors there are also other things have to be done. Doesn't help that none of the companies are ever staffed appropriately, that's probably the biggest change that is most affecting the experience.

 

[Capt_BJ]

My experience with dollar at MCO last week - over 90 minutes in line - caused me to cancel future reservations. Long line and 15 service positions with two in use with staff disappearing behind doors. Average time to serve a customer once at counter 20 min plus. National Alamo Enterprise no line no wait

 

[kittylady1972]

My experience with dollar at MCO last week - over 90 minutes in line - caused me to cancel future reservations. Long line and 15 service positions with two in use with staff disappearing behind doors. Average time to serve a customer once at counter 20 min plus. National Alamo Enterprise no line no wait

We have loyalty accounts at Thrifty and Dollar, but back in May they had nobody manning the Thrifty/Dollar booth in the garage and sent us inside to pick up our rental. What. A. Nightmare. ONE guy working the counter for both, no ability or special like for the Thrifty/Dollar frequent rental programs. It was horrible.

I was hoping that was just a one time fluke, maybe because our flight got in later or something, but it sounds like this is the "norm". Next month I'm going back to Alamo, because they have the Skip the Counter option that I've used before. Even if Thrifty/Dollar is cheaper, I'll pay extra to not deal with that inside the terminal madness.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Whelp, this solves who I will not be going with this fall.