Car Upgrades??

[lisagirlyUK]

Hi,

there is 7 of us going in August - all booked up woth TCD. We have booked 2 basic cars so that way we can do our own thing if we want to. H has mentioned that it might be worth getting one car upgraded to fit everyone in so that way we can also travel altogether if we want to.

I dont know if there is anything out there that will seat 7 of us? Also does anyone know roughly how much it will cost? I have heard that when you get your car at the airport, they give you the hard sell on an upgrade. I dont even know who our cars hire is booked through!!

Failing that we might upgrade anyway just for the fun of it!!!!

Any advice would be great!!

Thanks

 

[Celestine]

For 7 of you you would be looking at a minibus type thing. We had one last October & DH moaned no end about the steering (or lack of). We've always gone with Virgin & have never had a hard sell. That said, we did get a free upgrade the first time & the second time because we are now frequent virgins.

 

[Miffy2003]

Hi Lisa

You can get a 7 or 8 seater which (apparently) is the size of a Renault Scenic, but knowing US cars I would say it is a bit bigger than that )

HTH

Karen

 

[Night-train]

The 7-seaters are usually Chrysler Voyagers or Dodge Grand Caravans, essentially the same vehicle with different branding. Good seating but poor luggage space. Had a Voyager 2 years ago for 6 of us and had to strap most of our cases to the roof! Could also be expensive insurance and taxes-wise to upgrade so far up the scale, going up 7 levels going by Virgin's brochure.

 

[Scottish_Maleficent]

We had an 8 seater once - it was very big - the kids could actually walk around inside it, it was not as luxurious than the 7 seaters are - and i felt it was more like a minibus than a car. But I liked it. There were only 6 of us - we got all our luggage, including a wheelchair into it.

Cath

 

[SidB]

Originally posted by Celestine
because we are now frequent virgins.

Hmmm.

 

[themurrayfamily]

Hi,

Has anyone upgraded from a compact saloon to a Cherokee, and if so how much does it cost roughly? we booked via Virgin and got all the insurances via them, and get our car from dollar.

Regards

themurrayfamily

 

[Sue F UK]

Not sure how much an upgrade would be with Virgin but as a comparison we have booked a Jeep 4x4 (Cherokee or similar) with Yescarhire.com at a cost of £373 for 11 days fully inclusive with gold insurance. We are going on 25th July. This was compared to their rate of £235 for a 4 door compact.

The upgrade therefore worked out at £12.50 per day or around $22. This is through Hertz.

That said, there seems to be no rhyme or reason for the prices they charge at the rental counter so you could be paying alot more or alot less!

Although there are only 3 of us going, we are meeting up with friends and wanted to use the car for 7 people so DH enquired direct with Hertz about a further upgrade to a Dodge Durango (7 seats and a DVD player in the back!) and was quoted between $15 and $30 per day depending on how many they have in stock when we arrrive. We decided not to bother and will use 2 cars instead.

 

[slinky101]

went aug03, had a Grand Am (Capri/Probe type thing) for 4 of us 2adults 2kids 5 & 7 included in the cost with the National/ Dollar hire Co. in Sanford airport. For the 2nd week only we upgraded to an 8 seater which was beautiful to drive as the front 2 seats were like armchairs with 2 rows of 3 behind. separate air con. front and back---it was a bit of a squeeze for 4 adults, 2 kids and luggage for 6 (including everything bought at Wal-Mart in 2 weeks) but comfortable none the less. the 7-day upgrade cost me 130, but i'm afraid i cant be sure if that was $ or £. Hope this is of some use to you as a guide....Have a good trip!!!

 

[ALBA]

We are in a similar situation, although we are travelling with BA (2 in party) and our friends (4 in party) with TCD.

Our friends have booked a compact with TCD (who use Dollar) for £440, and we were going to change to an 8 seater to accommodate us all with luggage but TCD were asking for £716, which I thought was really expensive so I started shopping around.

I can get a Dodge Ram or similar (also with Dollar) for £418, which includes Dollar Platinum Insurance.

Our friends called TCD to see if they can cancel their hire car and they were told they would have to pay a flight surcharge of £160 but they would get £280 back. So we are going with the other company as it's less money overall.

As for upgrades, we had booked an intermediate earlier this year and were offered a full size for 67c, but if you say no, then they don't ask again.

There are a few hire car agencies I looked at but found Airline Network to be well priced and have a good, user friendly site.

Good luck having tried to sort this out in the last few days I know it can be daunting, if you need any other info let me know.

Alba

 

[allie5]

We have had some experience of this. In 2002 we booked via TCD and were allocated a Full Size (Dodge Intrepid) which we had had before and were quite happy with. When we arrived at Sanford, DH was gone for nearly an hour at the car rental desk. Dollar had talked him into upgrading to a 7 Seater Dodge Caravan as it came with a child seat fitted and hence we wouldnt have to pay for the seat seperately. They charged a fortune though, cant remember the exact figure but I think it was about £300 for the "upgrade". Plus when we got to the van the child seat was missing! DH didnt like driving it either, and it wasnt nearly as luxury as a Chrysler Voyager.

Last year we tried to upgrade to a 4x4 but the car rental guy didnt want to know. He said all that was available was our allocated car!! We couldnt believe that they didnt want our money!! There were tons of Grand Cherokees in the car lot, so no idea why! Anyway we stuck with the Intrepid, which was fine and fun to drive.

The best deal we ever got was upgrading from a Virgin booked sub-compact to a Grand Cherokee for $9 a day!! It was our wedding trip and they did us a "special". Its always worth mentioning if you have any "anniversaries" that you are celebrating on your visit... .