Hertz vs. Americar vs. L&M ??

[eartha]

I am trying to book our car rental for the trip. For some reason Priceline just refuses to give me a reservation, so I've been trying to find the best price with each company using various discounts. Alamo by far had the best price ($96), but there are too many negative stories on these boards about them. So the next best is either Hertz ($103) or Americar ($100). However, people seem to strongly urge going with an on-site car rental place, which in this case is L&M (around $120). What would you suggest? Thanks.

I just took another look at National to see what I could get through my EA member (free through CapitalOne, of course). I could get an Emerald Aisle car for $132. That seems like a good price to avoid counter lines, but at this point the reservation is now well over 30% above what the cheapest reservation is. But is the difference in price worth it for the speed?

I've never rented a car before so I want to get this right. Thanks!

 

[CarolA]

I don't know much about Americar. However, L&M was VERY inefficient and really gave me a lot of grief about rental car insurance. Also, the L&M rep told me the car sizes change based on demand. (In other words, I got a VERY small full size which would normally be a mid size since it was a busy time of the year! They did not have standard car sizes!)
I think Hertz would be faster than L&M even given the shuttle (their shuttle is fairly efficient).

 

[ncbyrne]

There are 5 onsite car rental agencies at MCO: Avis, Budget, Dollar and National and L&M. I have found that Dollar consistently has the best deals. Try using the KISS discount code (stands for Kissimmee and needs no coupon) when researching a price at dollar.com
You can also join Dollar's Fastlane (it's free) and bypass the long lines at the counter. In the past I've used Avis and Nat'l when I found last minute bargains and have also used Alamo (booked by a travel agent...never again!). The amount of time and hassle it takes to get to Alamo on their shuttle bus is just not worth it to me. Lugging all the bags and getting the kids on and off is too much to ask when they have cars to rent right at the airport.
You can also check some of the discount codes at mousesavers.com - look under ground transportation.