National - 2 Classes of Mini-Van?

[KarenP99]

Is this new? I used National in February, and reserved a mini-van...non specific. I got a Buick Terazza.

I just made another reservation and they had "7pass mini-vans" and "8pass mini-vans". I booked the 7 pass, but I wonder what I had last time, I don't remember being 2 classes of mini-vans.

 

[KarenP99]

Bumping to pg 1 to see if anyone knows

 

[MsSpinShady]

I've noticed this with several other rental companies lately, also. Some of them even list two different vehicles as a "Minivan" on different pages (for example, it will say "Dodge Caravan or similar" on the first page, and then when you get through it will say "Uplander or similar." Two very different vehicles.) They also sometimes offer you an "upgrade" right before you click confirm to a bigger minivan that they are now calling a "standard van" if you want to pay a lot more money.

I think they are doing this as a way to charge more for the regular minivans because the price difference is HUGE!

Frankly, I think it's getting out of control. Every class of vehicles now has so many subclasses it doesn't even make any sense. Who knows what you'll actually get!

I'm very nervous about renting a "Minivan" thinking I'm actually renting a minivan and then receiving a small 4-door SUV that won't hold all 7 of us and our luggage. I'm taking the print-out that says Dodge Caravan with me.

MsSpinShady

P.S. They are also using the 7 and 8 passenger designation to divide the vehicles into further subclasses, although they are not always honest about it. I have seen some rental car agencies take an 8 passenger minivan or Expedition and call it a 7 passenger, and then charge more for another minivan calling it an 8 passenger when they both hold 8 people.

 

[HappyCamperToo]

I saw this at Alamo. And the 8 passenger van was less expensive than the 7 passenger van! Go figure....

 

[KerriMc]

We were just there last week and booked a "7 pssgr mini-van". It said Uplander or similar. In the Emerald Aisle minivan area there were Grand Caravans, Buick Terrazas, Toyota Siennas (missed it though ), Uplanders, Montana SV6's, and a Chrysler Town&Country. There was another aisle with big vans, although I didn't read what the actual title was. I just happened to seem them all behind us. So I wouldn't worry about a mini-van. There are OODLES of them there ... Alamo and National are together ... (well actually separate in E.A., but you can pick from either). We had a Buick Terraza ... forest green, with tan leather seats and a DVD player. It was VERY nice!!! We were VERY happy with it! Just be sure to carry your reservation with you, as the price I printed out and the price that the guy gave me when I returned it had a difference of just over $200!!!!! So I wasted fifteen minutes in the little kiosk trying to get it straightened out, which the nice fellow did. Thankfully I had that all with me. He couldn't understand why it happened. All he could think was that my pick up time was different than I had booked it as (by about three quarters of an hour), and it may have bumped my special rate or something like that. We were late getting to the airport, but it took us a half hour fiddling around with the darn carseats, finding one that had a proper tether belt in the back with a good enough length to latch it. Once that was over we checked the car through over an hour later than planned ... I dont' know if I buy that or not though ... I'm still a bit annoyed with the whole thing and may just send a letter ....

Good luck ....
Kerri