May 2016 Car Rentals

[rlduvall]

I'm getting the error code "Invalid Coupon for the Location" for reservations at SFB with the $50 coupon AD4004JDK. I've never seen that before!

Me, too!

 

[ScrapYap]

That's strange, it's been working fine for me at Sanford. I just tried it again and it let me.

I tried again and it worked. I think what happened was I typed in SFB but then didn't select Sanford when it popped up. I just left the SFB as typed. When I tried again, I selected Sanford when it popped up as the suggested location for my typed SFB.

 

[ashleyrm]

Well, I just changed my May trip to July and the $50 coupon "took" on my reservation, but after reading about JoeJoe's experience, I'm kind of reluctant to use it. I put in the one class upgrade coupon and can get a mid-size with that along with the Brazil code for $133.79 for 4 days. The AS1 code did not change the rate.

 

[PatMcDuck]

It sounds like some of those people used the $50 coupon on rentals that were less than one week. I wonder if that is why they are having issues, I think it was intended for weekly rentals (but it did "work" on shorter reservations for some reason).

I am curious about the poster who used the coupon several times in one week?

I have a car booked with the coupon in 2 weeks, I will check my receipt when I return the car carefully.

 

[twinklebug]

I just went through American Express travel and got a full size car at Budget for 103 total from April 29th - May 6th. When I have time I'm going to see if I can even use my points. Has anyone done that through AMX?

On JetBlue Website, I sought out a weekly car rental for us and was surprised they beat even Alamo's lowest rates using all those codes:

May 23 - 30 One way rental MCO - Disney area hotel (Hilton)
Full Size Car (Ford Fusion or similar)
Base Rate: $55.23
Taxes and Surcharges: $49.34
Mileage: Unlimited Free miles
Estimated Total: $104.57

Scratch the following, I'll keep my Alamo reservation: Far too many bad reviews out there for Dollar to deal with them.
Unless I can come up with a negative, I'll be changing over to Budget if just so I'm not playing around with codes which may or may not work. I'd rather save that $50-150 difference for paying off the dining bill at the end of the trip

 

[staceyj2]

On JetBlue Website, I sought out a weekly car rental for us and was surprised they beat even Alamo's lowest rates using all those codes:

May 23 - 30 One way rental MCO - Disney area hotel (Hilton)
Full Size Car (Ford Fusion or similar)
Base Rate: $55.23
Taxes and Surcharges: $49.34
Mileage: Unlimited Free miles
Estimated Total: $104.57

Scratch the following, I'll keep my Alamo reservation: Far too many bad reviews out there for Dollar to deal with them.
Unless I can come up with a negative, I'll be changing over to Budget if just so I'm not playing around with codes which may or may not work. I'd rather save that $50-150 difference for paying off the dining bill at the end of the trip

I haven't seen the bad reviews for dollar, though I don't doubt it. What have you heard?

 

[twinklebug]

I haven't seen the bad reviews for dollar, though I don't doubt it. What have you heard?

Looks like a lot of billing issues, up-selling at the exit gate, threats that if you don't buy their products you'll be sued as your home insurance and credit cards won't be acceptable. By a lot, I mean thousands of reports. I think I saw them on consumerreports.com - might be mistaken as I've also been searching for a new car for myself at home.

 

[staceyj2]

Looks like a lot of billing issues, up-selling at the exit gate, threats that if you don't buy their products you'll be sued as your home insurance and credit cards won't be acceptable. By a lot, I mean thousands of reports. I think I saw them on consumerreports.com - might be mistaken as I've also been searching for a new car for myself at home.

Oh wow. Thanks for be info. Will definitely avoid renting from them.

 

[twinklebug]

Oh wow. Thanks for be info. Will definitely avoid renting from them.

My mistake - it was on https://www.consumeraffairs.com/travel/dollar.htm
I'd expect their site to be filled with complaints, but Dollar has more than double the reports than what Alamo has, and I have a good history with Alamo. I just wish they'd honor that history and give send us some decent discounts.

 

[Tass]

Anyone have experience renting from Budget at MCO? Costco travel has decent rates for our May trip right now and I'm considering switching from our existing Alamo reservation to Budget.

 

[ashleyrm]

Looks like a lot of billing issues, up-selling at the exit gate, threats that if you don't buy their products you'll be sued as your home insurance and credit cards won't be acceptable. By a lot, I mean thousands of reports. I think I saw them on consumerreports.com - might be mistaken as I've also been searching for a new car for myself at home.

I use Dollar all the time at MCO. I've never encountered any of these things. I have dollar express so I go straight to garage, pick up my car and go right out the gate. I've never had anyone at the gate try to up-sell except to ask about the gas refill. I also have used Budget, Avis, Alamo and National at MCO with no issues.

 

[staceyj2]

Anyone have experience renting from Budget at MCO? Costco travel has decent rates for our May trip right now and I'm considering switching from our existing Alamo reservation to Budget.

Sorry, have never used budget from MCO. I can't remember hearing anything bad though, they just have never been able to beat my alamo rates.

 

[n2mm]

Anyone have experience renting from Budget at MCO? Costco travel has decent rates for our May trip right now and I'm considering switching from our existing Alamo reservation to Budget.

I used budget recently here at home (Wash DC). We rented a car to drive ourselves to DCA (Reagan airport). It was reasonable (about $50 one day). But I had never used them, so was shocked and had a panic attack when I got a message from my Visa that they put a $200 hold on my credit card. I didn't realize they did that, so was freaking out. I generally will only use National or Alamo. Both have always treated me good. I have used Dollar many years ago, but have to agree, their hard sell is pretty bad. They pressure you to upgrade and buy insurance. Plus back then you were told what car was yours, no choosing like other companies. I'm always willing to pay a little more for National because of the perks I get. I just don't visit other websites then I can't compare prices. I know my comfort level.

 

[ashleyrm]

Anyone have experience renting from Budget at MCO? Costco travel has decent rates for our May trip right now and I'm considering switching from our existing Alamo reservation to Budget.

I've used Budget several times. Have the Fastbreak membership so go right to Kiosk in the parking lot. Always been quick and efficient. No problems at all.

 

[Tass]

Thanks for the responses to my Budget questions. I was able to book an 8-day rental through Budget and Costco for $200.09 all in for a full size car. That's about $88 less than what I have now with Alamo. I think we will give Budget a try.

 

[Halle]

We always use Dollar, have never had a bad experience at MCO. Had a horrible experience at Raleigh Durham airport. The original reservation was for $112.00, I kept looking and after multiple cancellations and new reservations got it down to $36.00. DH picked up the car then picked me up at the airport. The charge was $112.00, needless to say we went back to Dollar with the reservation info and the paperwork was redone for the correct rate. The agent did not look me in the eye just kept hitting his keyboard.

 

[wcduke]

I just re-booked by Minivan May 11-23 rental on both Alamo and Dollar as both quotes are within a few dollars of what was being quoted using all of the questionable codes. (AS1, TB1, Vegas Brazil). I now have a reservation with each company, one is $375.97 and the other $383.39. Alamo was done using my Alamo Insiders account and a $25 coupon from Entertainment book. Dollar was booked using a City Special.

Now I no longer need to worry about the validity any of those codes!

 

[keishashadow]

cancelled the existing res I was holding using AS1 for may. Haven't touched ones later in the year.

signed into alamo insider's account

booked new reservation for midsize beginning 5/7, for 7 days

did not use any rate codes (without the AS1 my base rate was lower).

did use:

AP corporate code & $50 weekly code (of which I have no worries as I've had to have SFB adjust rental @ pickup this feb/march using a coupon)

with Southwest rewards total is $90.xx.

now will slowly sail away into the sunset

 

[Halle]

Dollar mini van rates dropped. Minivan is $219.00 with taxes for my 6 days in May.

 

[bbwhos]

I just got pretty good rates using AARP code & $$ off coupons on Avis & Budget for our week in May. Prepaid $136 for full size.