Dollar express

[floridaforever]

I have a car booked with Dollar via Auto Europe. Do I have to link my dollar express to the booking? If so do I just call Auto Europe? Or do i not bother and just go straight to the garage and show my voucher and card? Thank you! Melissa

 

[wayneg]

I sent a message to Dollar Express last weekend, they added my Express number to my booking. You will need to give them the Dollar reservation number off your voucher, not Auto Europe's res number.
Took them about 48 hours but got an email back confirming it had been added.

This is the first time I have linked them though, I usually just turn up at the Express kiosk in the parking garage and hand them my Express card and Auto Europe voucher, never had a problem.

Edited your message, you are not supposed to direct threads to individuals on the forum, PM system is for that.

 

[floridaforever]

Thanks for that Wayne...I am terrible - i never read the rules or instructions!

 

[floridaforever]

Hi I had an email back saying they can't add my booking as it is prepaid. Maybe I will just take the paperwork and card out to the garage and take a chance.

 

[wayneg]

Hi I had an email back saying they can't add my booking as it is prepaid. Maybe I will just take the paperwork and card out to the garage and take a chance.

That annoys me so much when you get one email respose saying no problem then another saying they can't do it. More like they can't be bothered.

This is my response from them:

Thank you for visiting Dollar Rent - A - Car

Please know that the Dollar Express number has been added to your existing reservation. The reason you were not able to access the reservation on www.dollar.com is because this is a prepaid reservation and therefore we have no access to those via the webpage.

We look forward to serving your car rental needs and thank you for choosing Dollar.

PLEASE NOTE: Our emails are answered by a number of different people. If you reply, please leave all previous correspondences attached for reference so that we are able to assist you in the best possible way.

Thanks,
Lisa
Dollar Reservations & Internet Support

 

[floridaforever]

Mmm....maybe I will wait a week and try again! Can't be bothered were my thoughts exactly!

 

[Rainforest]

wayneg - that's interesting that you can now just turn up at the Dollar kiosk in the car park.

When I used Dollar about 4 or 5 years ago, I had to queue up at the normal rental counters at MCO; but I didn't know if there was a Dollar Express kiosk in the car park or not!

I have ended up using Avis the last couple of times, and with the Avis Preferred card (like the Dollar Express card, which I still have from 5 years ago), you do not go to the airport normal rental counter, but instead go straight to the Avis Preferred kiosk in the car park, and pick up your car there.

Is it the case that with a Dollar or Dollar Express reservation, you can now just go the the car park, go to the Dollar Express kiosk (like the Avis one), and get your car from there?

Thanks.

 

[wayneg]

wayneg - that's interesting that you can now just turn up at the Dollar kiosk in the car park.

When I used Dollar about 4 or 5 years ago, I had to queue up at the normal rental counters at MCO; but I didn't know if there was a Dollar Express kiosk in the car park or not!

I have ended up using Avis the last couple of times, and with the Avis Preferred card (like the Dollar Express card, which I still have from 5 years ago), you do not go to the airport normal rental counter, but instead go straight to the Avis Preferred kiosk in the car park, and pick up your car there.

Is it the case that with a Dollar or Dollar Express reservation, you can now just go the the car park, go to the Dollar Express kiosk (like the Avis one), and get your car from there?

Thanks.

Upto about 2years ago the Express line was inside, same agents/desks as the regular line but you went to the end where the Express sign was. The next available agent called you over instead of someone from the long line. Now you go direct to the kiosk in the parking garage.

 

[Rainforest]

Thanks a lot, wayneg - that is really helpful!

Handy if you want to avoid the hard sell from the usual rental counters; I got ripped off by Alamo about 10 years ago (this was at LAX), so I try to avoid using them, and this is one of the reasons why I have used Avis Preferred the last couple of times.

Do you know if it is just Dollar Express and Avis Preferred that have the rental kiosks in the parking garage, or are there any more?

I have read on the DIS Transportation forum that National have an "Emerald Isle" for members (free to join, as are Dollar Express and Avis Preferred) where you can choose your car. Therefore, if you've paid for a midsize, you might get a fullsize or SUV if it's in the same line, at no extra cost. I have never tried this, as it seems a bit complex, and I'm not sure if it even applies to international rentals or not!

 

[wayneg]

Thanks a lot, wayneg - that is really helpful!

Handy if you want to avoid the hard sell from the usual rental counters; I got ripped off by Alamo about 10 years ago (this was at LAX), so I try to avoid using them, and this is one of the reasons why I have used Avis Preferred the last couple of times.

Do you know if it is just Dollar Express and Avis Preferred that have the rental kiosks in the parking garage, or are there any more?

I have read on the DIS Transportation forum that National have an "Emerald Isle" for members (free to join, as are Dollar Express and Avis Preferred) where you can choose your car. Therefore, if you've paid for a midsize, you might get a fullsize or SUV if it's in the same line, at no extra cost. I have never tried this, as it seems a bit complex, and I'm not sure if it even applies to international rentals or not!

We had a bad experience with Alamo Xmas 2000, no car available on arrival at MCO, had to get a taxi to Disney then another back to MCO the next evening, then they had the cheek to start with the hard sell. Took me around 10 years to give them another chance, to be fair I have had some nice cars thru them the last couple of years but I still prefer Dollar (or Hertz if I can find a reasonable price)
Last couple of bookings I have made thru Holiday Autos & Alamo at MCO they have included a link in the confirmation email to use the electronic kiosks and byepass the regular line. First time I couldn't get it to work, 2nd time it worked but couldn't add extra driver, told me to goto the desk, as my Wife has never driven in 30+ trips and the line was over 1 hour long I decided to not bother adding her, so Alamo have a kind of fasttrack system but its not great.
Hertz, I am a gold member which allows fast collection but no idea of the correct T&C's to getting one, had mine a few years now.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Mmm....maybe I will wait a week and try again! Can't be bothered were my thoughts exactly!

I got this message too. Did you try again?

 

[floridaforever]

Hi! Yes I did! I emailed the Dollar international email address (it's on dollar.com under contact us). Wrote a very short note just asking them to add my express number to my booking reference - I didn't say anything about booking through auto Europe etc.

Took about 3 days but they did do it! So definitely try again.

Melissa

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Great news, will try again