HELP Recent Minivan Renters

[pokeysmom]

How much luggage room did you have? I read in another thread that someone had rented a minivan from Budget in Ohio and it was a shorter minivan than what you would expect. We are renting from Alamo and I noticed they rent 2 different types of minivan and now I'm scared. Need to know what your experience has been!!!

 

[JoEllen]

We rented from National in May and got a Chevy Venture van. Wanted this because of the automative side door feature. We had two teens, two adults, 3 suitcases, 3 carry-on bags and two golf bags. No problem. We even stopped for groceries on the way to OKW.

 

[leslieh]

Looking for a mini van rental the first week of august. So far the prices are high. Some are sold out. Any suggestions. Thanks

 

[macs4us]

$199/week the first week of August. It is listed under their promotions on their website - promo code DOL39.

 

[zulaya]

When we rented in December, we got a Minivan from National. They had several Grand Caravans and probably 4 or 5 other minivans that weren't the shorter length, but just different brands. I drive a Grand at home so that's what we took. We got a good deal which was $254 for a week with all taxes included. It was like $6 less than Dollar that I was originally booked with, but with Dollar, I would have had to pay extra for a Grand, and National I didn't, plus being an EC member, my DH could drive as well for free, and Dollar would have charged me a daily fee for that privilege.

 

[undertheradar]

Are you a member of Sam's Club, Costco, etc? We booked a minivan through the Costco link with Alamo and are getting it for 2 weeks at $244 week(all-inclusive). This returning it during Thanksgiving weekend.

 

[pokeysmom]

Thank you for your help, I have reserved a minivan through Alamo for $190/wk, I lucked out back in April but now I'm nervous that I have reserved a shorter minivan and there will be 6 adults plus luggage. Has anybody rented a minivan from Alamo?

 

[leslieh]

I got the dollar mini van rental last night, had to overlap my time by about 1 hr, I guess we will hang around the airport. It was 199 + taxes = 254.00 Thanks again

 

[sgtdisney]

We just got back from Florida tonight and had rented a minivan for the 16 days we were there... We used National and Emerald Reserve and were able to pick the van that we wanted... We got to Florida on June 7 and the minivan aisle was full of minivans to pick from. They had Grand Caravans, Astro Vans, Ventures and Montanas. We selected an 8 passenger Montana which had a rear seat which folded down flat. We have a Montana at home so it was something we were used to. It really depends on the company that you are using and what they carry. Dollar has been renting Short wheelbase Caravans and some others are renting the Kia Minivans which are a little smaller than the Larger minivans and consequently have less luggage space with the seats up.

 

[pokeysmom]

Thank you sgtdisney! What kind of a rate did you get from National and did you use any special codes? I was looking at mousesavers site re: how to rent from National and I joined emerald club and messed around a little with contract id and coupon id and product code and I was having trouble and quit but I have been wondering if its worth it, let me know. thank you again!

 

[PatMcDuck]

We noticed a new sort of "scam" last year. You book a minivan, and they give you a "small" one. To "upgrade" to a Grand, or a GM or Ford model (same size as a Grand) they charge you more. I would be ok with this, IF they listed booking the larger minivan as an option on their websites. (We have a wheelchair, and 4 kids, so we cannot opt for the small minivan).

With National, we can pick our own van, no extra charges, problem solved. (In years past, if we got the smaller van, we would just ask to be switched to a larger one, and that would not cost us more $$) We ran into this situation with both Budget and Dollar.

National, with Emerald, also allows you to avoid the 2nd driver fee for spouse, another ripoff. (Budget also does not charge this as far as I know)

 

[sgtdisney]

Originally posted by pokeysmom
Thank you sgtdisney! What kind of a rate did you get from National and did you use any special codes? I was looking at mousesavers site re: how to rent from National and I joined emerald club and messed around a little with contract id and coupon id and product code and I was having trouble and quit but I have been wondering if its worth it, let me know. thank you again!

No problem. I got a great rate, I think.. I got a minivan for 199.00 per week.. I had the van for 2 weeks and 3 days. I used my Disney Club Discount and a coupon from the Disney Club (I am going to miss it when it's gone) and got 99.00 as a Disney Club discount and the coupon was for 20.00. Bottom line, the price with all fees was 493.00.. Not bad for 17 days.. The pick up and drop off were effortless and the price at checkout matched what I had in my confirmation. Keep working with those codes. It saved me 120.00 by working with them.

 

[sgtdisney]

Originally posted by PatMcDuck
We noticed a new sort of "scam" last year. You book a minivan, and they give you a "small" one. To "upgrade" to a Grand, or a GM or Ford model (same size as a Grand) they charge you more. I would be ok with this, IF they listed booking the larger minivan as an option on their websites. (We have a wheelchair, and 4 kids, so we cannot opt for the small minivan).

Dollar did this to us a couple of years back... The problem was at the time I booked they still listed Grand Caravan as the van in the reservation. I paid the upgrade and then wrote Dollar about it when I got home and had the cost of my upgrade refunded. They subsequently changed their website to show Caravan now as the standard van as opposed to Grand Caravan.. From what I understand Dollar will rent 8 passenger vans, however you cannot do it online and have to call to reserve one.

 

[pokeysmom]

thank you sgtdisney and patmcduck i think i will work with the national codes. I appreciate the help!