Dollar Rental Experience

[stitchlovestink]

Anyone have experience with Dollar Rental?
specifically with Dollar at MCO and Cape Canaveral? I got a pretty decent deal for a rental post cruise....
I had one precruise but something happened to it between my filling out the info and the confirmation and I haven't been able to get as good of a price since then...
I normally have used either Budget or Enterprise but Enterprise was completely out of vehicles for my dates. I need a vehicle for 5 days prior to the cruise and 4 days post cruise. and I'm not interested in paying for a rental and the cost to park it while I cruise...that's just wasteful to me...

 

[jessa07]

We rented from Dollar pre-cruise. It was fine, except my husband waited a very long time for the shuttle to the Port. We had boarding number 4 and didn't board until 19 or 20 because DH was so late coming back from Dollar.

 

[marissa1320]

rented a mini van in may while driving back to por one night the check engine light came on. I parked van and called dollar right away this was at 8:00 pm explained the check engine light was on and I was not going to drive the van with the light on . The rep advised that she could send a tow truck out to check out the van and if nothing found I would have to pay for the tow truck coming out. I said no that is not acceptable. The rep then advised for me to drive the van back to the air port to get another one. No the light is on and im not taking a chance driving. The rep advised she would have to call me back after she talked to a manager to see what to do. 25 minutes later she called back and said a tow truck was going to bring a new van and pick up that one. we needed to go wait at the gate for the van exchange . van arrived at 12:30 am! tow truck driver informed us he had sat at dollar for over 2 hrs before they gave him a van he was very nice as his shift was already over. our first van we got into had the worst smoke smell as soon as you opened the doors!

 

[keishashadow]

Anyone have experience with Dollar Rental?
specifically with Dollar at MCO and Cape Canaveral? I got a pretty decent deal for a rental post cruise....
I had one precruise but something happened to it between my filling out the info and the confirmation and I haven't been able to get as good of a price since then...
I normally have used either Budget or Enterprise but Enterprise was completely out of vehicles for my dates. I need a vehicle for 5 days prior to the cruise and 4 days post cruise. and I'm not interested in paying for a rental and the cost to park it while I cruise...that's just wasteful to me...

I struggle with this too. I admit to being a type "A" person, which is why we rent a car @ WDW. Even I balked at paying to park a vehicle to just sit. However, after reading so many accounts of long lines for the shuttle, I bite the bullet and try to make up the difference somewhere else in the trip.

have you considered eliminating the rental either pre/post or both in the park & instead rely upon ME and hire a towncar to take u back & forth to the pier?

the cruise board here would be a good place to get reviews. On occasion several cruisers will share the expense of one.

 

[stitchlovestink]

I struggle with this too. I admit to being a type "A" person, which is why we rent a car @ WDW. Even I balked at paying to park a vehicle to just sit. However, after reading so many accounts of long lines for the shuttle, I bite the bullet and try to make up the difference somewhere else in the trip.

have you considered eliminating the rental either pre/post or both in the park & instead rely upon ME and hire a towncar to take u back & forth to the pier?

the cruise board here would be a good place to get reviews. On occasion several cruisers will share the expense of one.

No can do.... we are arriving on Wednesday and don't cruise until Monday. We are staying at our house in Melbourne. So we have to have wheels. And doing one way rentals is a bit pricier but I just cannot justify paying for a rental and then also paying the cost to store said rental while we cruise. That is just throwing money away! And post cruise we are staying almost 4 full days again in Melbourne before flying back home. :/

 

[wdwrich]

The one time I reserved from Dollar it was the worst (and rudest) customer service I've ever experienced at a rental counter. And this is from someone who has rented countless times from many companies across the country. I ended up telling them to keep their vehicle and walked over to National and rented on the spot without a reservation. Maybe I just hit them on a bad day, but Dollar- never again!

 

[richmo]

...I'm not interested in paying for a rental and the cost to park it while I cruise...that's just wasteful to me...

Agreed, but sometimes with the longer rental period, the rental cost plus parking is less than two separate rentals. And if it's close, also consider this: if you have a vehicle at the port, besides saving the time of shuttle rides and obtaining the second rental, you can leave whatever stuff you don't need from the pre-cruise part of your trip (that is, dirty laundry) in the vehicle. Potentially less bags, so more room in your stateroom.

 

[stitchlovestink]

Agreed, but sometimes with the longer rental period, the rental cost plus parking is less than two separate rentals. And if it's close, also consider this: if you have a vehicle at the port, besides saving the time of shuttle rides and obtaining the second rental, you can leave whatever stuff you don't need from the pre-cruise part of your trip (that is, dirty laundry) in the vehicle. Potentially less bags, so more room in your stateroom.

Have tried pricing it out that way way and have yet to to find it to be cheaper. And I can leave what I don't need at our house where it is safer. Not in the car.

 

[richmo]

Have tried pricing it out that way way and have yet to to find it to be cheaper. And I can leave what I don't need at our house where it is safer. Not in the car.

At least you looked. Its one of those things that is definitely a "sometimes"...most likely when you get pushed into weekly rates instead of daily. If I remember correctly, in our case we stayed three days prior to the cruise near Disney and the cruise was four nights with one night after, so we were able to get a weekly rate on the car instead of a 3 or 4 day one time and a 1 or 2 on the return. I forget the exact details, but it was about the same for us to just keep the car at the port and pay parking (which is likely more expensive now).

 

[stitchlovestink]

At least you looked. Its one of those things that is definitely a "sometimes"...most likely when you get pushed into weekly rates instead of daily. If I remember correctly, in our case we stayed three days prior to the cruise near Disney and the cruise was four nights with one night after, so we were able to get a weekly rate on the car instead of a 3 or 4 day one time and a 1 or 2 on the return. I forget the exact details, but it was about the same for us to just keep the car at the port and pay parking (which is likely more expensive now).

Yeah I am in town for 12 nights and when I try booking beyond the week it charges an additional daily fee not for a second week. And that fee isn't really a bargain.
What I have found that works great is.... on my way to port l stop at Budget and show them my rental contract for when I return and ask them if they can beat it. THEY ALWAYS DO!!! LOL My return rental is pretty good $145 for a one way for 4 days (PC p/u & return it at MCO). So even if they don't, I won't be upset.
But I really would like to find something better for arrival. I have not booked that yet...