L&M car rental

[Jenny0725]

Is L&M really a bad rental car company to use? I have been trying to get a decent mini van rental rate for Christmas and L&M has the best rate. I'm concerned about renting through them since I have not read any good comments.

Does anyone have any advise?

Thanks!
Jenny

 

[~Sparkly~Zoe]

I have yet to read anything good about them. I'd be a bit leary.

 

[ducklite]

There have been a lot of reports on L&M, most were pretty negative. I'd also be very leery.

Anne

 

[megaelch]

in march, it was cheap( 129 USD a week plus tax for a minivan), new minivan with low mileage, no lines and conveniently located in the terminal. Don`t forget your insurance coverage papers or they will charge you there rate !
Many people here on the board giving negative remarks have never rented from them, makes me wonder why they are doing it maybe they work for the "big" companies ... ??? The members i know who did rent had all pleasant experiences ! Just because they are a local company without the large overhead costs they must not be bad...

Stephan

 

[ducklite]

Megaelch--I don't work for any car rental company.

Go back and read the reports, many from people who have been posting here for a long time. I'm glad that you had a good experience with them, but if you read past threads you'll see that there were MANY people who had very bad experiences with them... overcharging, being told that the car they reserved wasn't available and they'd have to take an upgrade, and be charged for it, unreasonable amounts of money being "held" on a credit card, not being told that they needed to bring their personal insurance policy when the reserved and then finding out that if they didn't have it they'd be charged exhorbitant rates for L&M's insurance, the list goes on.

Yes, there were some people who had good experiences, but it seems that the bad outweighed the good. These were not isolated incidents, nor were they posters who had only a few posts prior. When you hear repeated complaints about being charged considerably more than what you were quoted, this is not isolated. When I hear one complaint, I tend to think it was someone having a bad day. But when multiple psoters have similar complaints, I take heed.

I have nothing against small businesses. I fully support many of them--Shirley from the Perfect Gift is a prime example. I can certainly understand the concept of "growing pains", I think many of the car service companies have experienced this. But L&M seems to have had more than it's share of problems, they have been reported for a long time, and it seems that some of the recurring problems haven't been corrected.

Personally I wouldn't take a chance, my vacation time is too valuable to me.

Anne

 

[Lewisc]

I haven't rented from them, won't rent for them and no I don't work for any car rental agency (or even in the industry). Look at the facts:

1) What other agency makes you bring a copy of your insurance policy?

2) What other agency will cancel your reservation if your flight is late? http://www.lmcarrental.net/lmpolicies.html#1.6.1 National (and other agencies) hold your reservation until midnight with no problems.

3) What other agency has a history of downgrading car classes and telling people that is what is considered a full size car this week?

4) What other agency cancelled internet made reservations (Yahoo travel and/or travelocity) because too many reservations were booked at too low a rate?

Sorry the fact that some people have had a good experience is irrelevant, the agency has a history of treated memebers of this community poorly.

They are an on site agency. I'm not really sure what makes you think their overhead is low.

Originally posted by megaelch
in march, it was cheap( 129 USD a week plus tax for a minivan), new minivan with low mileage, no lines and conveniently located in the terminal. Don`t forget your insurance coverage papers or they will charge you there rate !
Many people here on the board giving negative remarks have never rented from them, makes me wonder why they are doing it maybe they work for the "big" companies ... ??? The members i know who did rent had all pleasant experiences ! Just because they are a local company without the large overhead costs they must not be bad...

Stephan [/QUOTE

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by Lewisc
I haven't rented from them, won't rent for them and no I don't work for any car rental agency (or even in the industry). Look at the facts:

1) What other agency makes you bring a copy of your insurance policy?

2) What other agency will cancel your reservation if your flight is late? http://www.lmcarrental.net/lmpolicies.html#1.6.1 National (and other agencies) hold your reservation until midnight with no problems.

3) What other agency has a history of downgrading car classes and telling people that is what is considered a full size car this week?

4) What other agency cancelled internet made reservations (Yahoo travel and/or travelocity) because too many reservations were booked at too low a rate?

Sorry the fact that some people have had a good experience is irrelevant, the agency has a history of treated memebers of this community poorly.

They are an on site agency. I'm not really sure what makes you think their overhead is low.

Originally posted by megaelch
in march, it was cheap( 129 USD a week plus tax for a minivan), new minivan with low mileage, no lines and conveniently located in the terminal. Don`t forget your insurance coverage papers or they will charge you there rate !
Many people here on the board giving negative remarks have never rented from them, makes me wonder why they are doing it maybe they work for the "big" companies ... ??? The members i know who did rent had all pleasant experiences ! Just because they are a local company without the large overhead costs they must not be bad...

Stephan [/QUOTE

Well put Lewis. My only experience with them was an email with a virus attached to it. Luckily, I have Norton scan my emails before I even see them. Their staff is, for the most part, very rude on the phone , who needs that?

 

[DaveO]

I have used them all .... Many try bait and switch, tell you you have to buy insurance, try to have you pay for upgrades when they have nothing available, or 'downgrade you'. I have had the following:

Forced to pay extra fees at Alamo (with 1 hour waits).

Budget 'downgraded me'

USave made me wait 1 hour for a type of car to return because they had none.

Hertz tried not to honor a coupon I had even though it was on the reservation.

By far the most consistant good service has been Hertz but they are most often the most expensive.

I have used L&M with no problems. But as with all companies bring a printed copy of the reservation with the rate quoted with a copy of your insurance.

Go with the cheapest and just pray - they all stink !!

Dave O.

 

[Jenny0725]

Thanks for the advise. I am very leary.... but for $247.50 taxes included for a mini van over Christmas....we booked it. I'm going to hope for the best and keep looking for other deals to come out from other rental companies. I hope that it all works out.

Jenny

 

[caitycaity]

Go with the cheapest and just pray - they all stink !!

i pretty much agree. i have had a hassle with almost every company at one time or another.

most recently with hertz (not in orlando), trying to tell me i did not reserve what i did when i had the paperwork that confirmed i was right. they wanted me to pay for an suv b/c they didn't have what i wanted.

 

[Jenny0725]

Our only bad experience was with Alamo. Long lines, rude customer service at terminal, very dirty van inside and out. Hopefully L&M will work out.

 

[marymrg]

Jenny - If possible, make a back-up reservation at another company. (one that won't charge you a fee if you cancel that day) We tried to rent 2 minivans from L&M during Easter Break 2002 but when we arrived were told they only had compacts. We had a confirmed reservation. (for 10 people - 2 car seats etc. ) While I can understand that renters might not return cars on time, the customer service to try to remedy the situation was non-existent. It was take it or leave it. There were many scenarios that could've helped us out (shuttling us to our hotel, offering to switch the cars sometime over the weekend etc.) I think your chances of encountering a problem increase during a holiday period. However, that is my opinion. I tried to contact L&M several times after the fact via email but the email would never go through.

I really hope it works out for you - everyone loves a bargain and minivan rentals are so expensive.

Mary

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by DaveO
I have used them all .... Many try bait and switch, tell you you have to buy insurance, try to have you pay for upgrades when they have nothing available, or 'downgrade you'. I have had the following:

Forced to pay extra fees at Alamo (with 1 hour waits).

Budget 'downgraded me'

USave made me wait 1 hour for a type of car to return because they had none.

Hertz tried not to honor a coupon I had even though it was on the reservation.

By far the most consistant good service has been Hertz but they are most often the most expensive.

I have used L&M with no problems. But as with all companies bring a printed copy of the reservation with the rate quoted with a copy of your insurance.

Go with the cheapest and just pray - they all stink !!

Dave O.

I love Avis, Alamo and National and have never had a problem with any of them. I do disagree that they all stink.

 

[Jenny0725]

My only other thoughts was if L&M did not have a mini van at the rate we were confirmed would be to forget the car and take Mears or whatever to the hotel. I hope that it would not come to that but it would be a back-up. I still plan on checking for a deals through the other rental car companies. I think that finding a decent rate on a rental is the worst part of planning a trip!

 

[JenninVT]

I've used L&M 4 times since Nov 2001, and I will be using them again this September, I've never had any trouble. The cars have been new and clean, and always what I reserved, at the cheapest price around. I used Emerald Aisle once, and that was neat, but not worth the extra expense for me. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Jenny0725]

Thanks for the postive feedback! That makes me feel better about our reservation. I just don't want to end up at the airport with our two kids and not have a car.

 

[inkkognito]

We usually use a towncar rather than rent a car, but every now and then we come down for a weekend trip and bum around town in a rental. I have always considered L & M, a last resort. I shop around for the lowest rates at all the MCO agencies, and usually they are the lowest since we're just renting for a couple of days. Then I bid below that on Priceline, figuring that if my bid isn't accepted, I will book L & M. Fortunately, that has never happened yet. We've had Avis a couple times, Alamo a couple times, and we'll be using Hertz for the first time later this month.
I was worried about Alamo because I saw a lot of negative posts, but they have been fine for us. Maybe they don't push the insurance as hard with Priceline cheapskates. My husband heard them really pushing it with an international customer, but with me one, or at the most two, "no's" have been accepted. Also, they upgraded us one car class on our last trip (they did try to sell me an upgrade at the counter...I discovered there were no cars in our class left when I went to the garage and they gave me the upgrade).
Avis is my favorite because you don't have to stop and wait on the way out of the garage like Alamo. They have upgraded us once too.
If I ever end up with L & M, I'll be sure to post a report. I think I would be pretty worried, but as a last resort I might try them.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[Jenny0725]

I will post our L&M rental experience if we can not find a comparable rate elsewhere. I hope I have a positive report to post!

Jen

 

[jfulcer]

We've rented from L&M before for a minivan and had no trouble.

BRING YOUR INSURANCE PAPERS SHOWING RENTAL INSURANCE COVERAGE.

If you don't have it, you can ask your insurance agent to print something up - they get asked for it all the time.

 

[kdibattista]

My mom used them back in April (even after I warned her of all the negative stuff I heard) and she had no problems.... she was actually quite pleased and said she would use them again.