Dollar and Thrifty ?'s

[TheMorgans]

This will be my first trip not having a rental car with Alamo or National. My best rates come from Thrifty and Dollar.

So I have lots of questions...

1. Does Thrifsty and/or Dollar allow you to pick out your car or is it preselected for you by the agency?

2. Do either of these agencies have check in kiosk or do I have to go to the counter and be assisted by a rental agent?

3. Alamo/National do not have ecconomy cars. Does Thrifty or Dollar have the ecconomy class or do you automaticly get the compact class with their agency too?

4. Are the Thrifty and Dollar counters near the Alamo/National counters? Are they on both the A & B side? Is there any difference in the sides with these companies?

5. Are Thrifty and Dollar "partner" agencies similar to the relationship between Alamo/National? There web sites are very similar.

I know wayyyy to many questions, but this is the first time traveling with two girls by myself --- myself, DD & DDBFF. The anxiety is running a little high for this trip.

 

[sympatico]

This will be my first trip not having a rental car with Alamo or National. My best rates come from Thrifty and Dollar.

So I have lots of questions...

1. Does Thrifsty and/or Dollar allow you to pick out your car or is it preselected for you by the agency? Preselected

2. Do either of these agencies have check in kiosk or do I have to go to the counter and be assisted by a rental agent? I think you have to go to the counter but Dollar at least has Dollar Express that you can sign up for. You still go to the counter but it's faster.

3. Alamo/National do not have ecconomy cars. Does Thrifty or Dollar have the ecconomy class or do you automaticly get the compact class with their agency too? Don't know

4. Are the Thrifty and Dollar counters near the Alamo/National counters? Are they on both the A & B side? Is there any difference in the sides with these companies? The counters are right along the same area and on both sides.

5. Are Thrifty and Dollar "partner" agencies similar to the relationship between Alamo/National? There web sites are very similar. Yes, they are partners like Alamo/National.

I know wayyyy to many questions, but this is the first time traveling with two girls by myself --- myself, DD & DDBFF. The anxiety is running a little high for this trip.

Hopefully you'll get more info from someone else.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

I am a Blue Chip Member with Thrifty. I get a special counter in which to pick up my car. Everything is pretty quick thru this special membership. Its free to sign up, you just need to leave a credit card on file to be a member. I really like Thrifty, and for October, they have the cheapest rentals so far. I am getting an economy car for $25/day, unlimited miles, free second driver.

 

[WillCAD]

This will be my first trip not having a rental car with Alamo or National. My best rates come from Thrifty and Dollar.

So I have lots of questions...

1. Does Thrifsty and/or Dollar allow you to pick out your car or is it preselected for you by the agency?

2. Do either of these agencies have check in kiosk or do I have to go to the counter and be assisted by a rental agent?

3. Alamo/National do not have ecconomy cars. Does Thrifty or Dollar have the ecconomy class or do you automaticly get the compact class with their agency too?

4. Are the Thrifty and Dollar counters near the Alamo/National counters? Are they on both the A & B side? Is there any difference in the sides with these companies?

5. Are Thrifty and Dollar "partner" agencies similar to the relationship between Alamo/National? There web sites are very similar.

I know wayyyy to many questions, but this is the first time traveling with two girls by myself --- myself, DD & DDBFF. The anxiety is running a little high for this trip.

I can give you some partial answers; I've rented from Thrifty numerous times (though not since they moved into the terminal at MCO). I haven't rented from Dollar in many years, so my answers wouldn't be helpful.

1) Thrifty selects the car for you. But you can always ask the rental agent what type of cars they have available in the class you reserved, and maybe you can get your choice. The Thrifty people I've dealt with have all been very good, accommodating agents.

2) AFAIK, neither has a kiosk. However, as the others mentioned, both companies have a frequent renter's program - Dollar has Fastlane and Thrifty has Blue Chip. Both are free, and allow you to A) fill out your rental agreement in advance so you can skip the paperwork and insurance sales pitch, and B) go to a special counter or special line that is just for members of the club. The special lines are always much shorter than the regular lines.

3) Thrifty has Economy, Compact, Mid-Size, Standard, Full, etc. But YOU CHOOSE the class of car you want, when you make your ressie. It's not automatically assigned to you.

4) I know that the Dollar counter is fairly close to Alamo and National, but I haven't been to MCO since Thrifty moved into the terminal, so I don't know where their counters are. However, I do know that ALL rental companies in MCO have duplicate counters on both the A and B sides of the terminal. You will NOT have to cross over to find the Thrifty or Dollar counters.

5) Sorry, I don't know the answer to that one. They seem to be similar, but I haven't rented from Dollar in many years, so I can't compare it to my Thrifty experiences.

What I can tell you is that if you choose Thrifty, I know you will have a satisfactory experience. I do recommend that you join the Blue Chip club, which will enable you to fill out a master rental agreement in advance. By filling out that agreement, you pre-choose your insurance options and pre-enter your credit card info, so that each time you rent from Thrifty, you don't have to do any of that stuff. It also qualifies you for the Blue Chip counter, which is just for lue Chip members, so it has a shorter line than the regular counter (usually no line at all). Dollar's Fastlane club is similar; in fact, all of the national rental car chains have some sort of frequent renters club.