Help with Alamo Online Check-In

[cliff]

Hi

Please can someone help me with completing the Alamo Online Check-In...

We have booked a fly drive with Virgin and wanted to avoid having to queue at the Alamo desk when we arrive. We wanted to prepay for the car to have a full tank of petrol when we pick it up and to be able to return it empty.

The Alamo Online Check-In has me very confused. The only option it gives me for fuel is 'Return fuel at any level ($3.19/gal)'. If I select this, am I saying I want to pay for a tank of petrol when we pick the car up or is it referring to something else?

Clicking on the help option confuses me even more!

If I don't select the above option, the Online Check-In is not asking me for any payment via Credit Card, so that doesn't seem right either!

Any help greatly appreciated!

 

[chmurf]

Every car in the Alamo garage has a full tank of fuel

you have 2 options :

- pay for the full tank when you pick up the car, and be able to "return at any level"
- decline the full tank, in which case you'll need to return the car with the gauge still on "F" (full) - you'll need to fill up the tank on the way back to the airport.

The charges are payable locally
If you choose the "return at any level", you will be issued a "pre-receipt" showing "additional charges". Those charges are provisionnal, and will only be processed once you return the car at the end of your stay

All payments (upgrades, satnav, tolls, gas, booster seats, you name it, are processed when you return the car, not when you pick it up)

so when you pick up the car (or check in) you agree to pay for a full tank of gas, and you'll only get billed when you return the car (hope it makes things clearer)


I personnally go for the "return at any level", because I don't like having to top up the fuel tank early in the morning only to worry sick that I should have chosen a station closer to the airport.
It's convinience. Even if I know that it's more expensive. Because when they tell you $3.19/gal they don't tell you that a 10% airport surcharge applies to anything purchased at the airport. This includes your gas tank.

 

[cliff]

Thanks for the clear and considered response. I now understand what I am agreeing to.

My only supplementary question is, if I use the online check-in, when do Alamo collect the money for the tank of gas that is in the car when I pick it up? If the online check-in enables me to walk up and take a hire car without having to go to the Alamo desk, I am not sure how they collect it.

I only have the standard Virgin Holiday insurance, so it does not include a tank of petrol, so I assume I need to pay for it as part of the collection process.

Going to Florida next Monday and this is the last task we have to do. Everything else is going to plan, so don't want to mess this up!

 

[chmurf]

4 if I use the online check-in, when do Alamo collect the money for the tank of gas that is in the car when I pick it up?

Those charges /.../ will only be processed once you return the car at the end of your stay

All payments (upgrades, satnav, tolls, gas, booster seats, you name it, are processed when you return the car, not when you pick it up)

when you return the car, the employee at the garage will issue/print a final receipt from a handheld device. Charges are normally processed at that stage


Now please verify that you are eligible for online check in. Your details might already have been transmitted to Alamo by Virgin, but non US/Canada license holders normally can't use online check in.
But some exceptions exist when booking through a package dealer (Thomas Cook, Virgin Holidays, etc)
Don't be surprised if you can't complete the process.

if you're not eligible for the online check in, when you enter your reservation number and name, you'll get this error message :

Please verify that you have entered the correct information.
Online Check-In is not available for this reservation. You can still SAVE TIME at the rental Counter by providing your profile information now. Click here to complete your profile.

You can still do the "save time" option, but this "save time" process does not allow you to bypass the counter at the airport.

 

[cliff]

When I click on the link from the Virgin Holidays website to the Alamo online check-in, it lets me log in with my reservation number and I can go right through the process to where I put my credit card details in.

It is at this point where I am getting the original 'Return fuel at any level' message, so I have not yet completed the process.