car upgrade

[debbyLL]

we are flying with virgin and have booked an I4 car(i think) the biggest family saloon anyway, can anyone advise a cheap way to upgrade to a four wheel drive. all help appreciated.

 

[UKDEB]

Debby,

I don't know of any way of getting a cheap upgrade to a 4 wheel drive. That is the most expensive category of vehicle (along with convertibles). An I4 is mid-range (the I stands for 'intermediate') as far as price goes.

I'm assuming you have the car as part of a package with Virgin, in which case the car will be from Dollar. An I-4 in that case is likely to be a Dodge Intrepid (a very nice car). An upgrade to Sports Utility from Intermediate will cost around $140-$180 a week, although it is negotiable. Are you good at driving a bargain?

 

[matty624]

In our experience it has always been far cheaper to upgrade before going than once you are there. Just for future reference, we've also found it to be cheaper to book car hire indepenent of the holiday (or flights). e.g. Airline Network are charging us £181/week for a minivan this August, all taxes insurances etc inc...(although that is a special offer)
Ian

 

[Tony Bush]

Hi all, it's great to be back on these boards after a 6 month absence......

Debby and Debbie... According to Virgin's brochure they don't do a four wheel drive, even if they did I think the upgrade cost would be expensive. It would be about 4 or 5 classes up from the I4. We had an I4 in December - it was a Dodge Stratus (the Intrepid is a full size) It was easy to drive and comfortable but a bit of a squeeze fitting all our luggage in coming home!

Your best bet would be to upgrade on arrival by being stubborn about not wanting to upgrade!!! and then see what sweeteners they offer you !!!

Tony

 

[matty624]

I'd have to disagree Tony. If you want a bigger car, then don't wait to get to Orlando before upgrading.
When we've had I4s in the past, they will offer this and that at $xx/day to upgrade, but when we've declined, they've always backed off, and we've been left with the I4 we'd paid for.
Perhaps we've been lucky (or unlucky) with the rental agents we've had! We did get a free upgrade once (compact to I4), but they seem to have plenty of I4s available! Curiously they don't appear to have large numbers of premiums cars, we've been upgraded to minivan each time we've booked that size!
Ian

 

[MalcolmC]

The main problem is boot size. The inside of the car is fine for 4/5 but getting the luggage in is problematical!

We rented a 4x4 last year and it took them an hour for them to get one to the airport. We were offered a "free" upgrade to a minivan but that would have been the same price in the UK anyway, so we waited. Even that (a Dodge Durango not a Jeep as we expected) didn't have a lot of luggage space behind the back seats.

Definately upgrade before you set off.

As has been said previously, it can be cheaper to rent independently from the holiday. We did that last month with no problems at all.