National Car rental question

[SleepyatDVC]

I reserved an intermediate car through National for our upcoming trip in October back in FEBRUARY 2005. I was just playing around since we didn't know the exact dates of our trip yet.

We got an AWESOME deal of $134.78 for 8 nights with the priceless code and American Casino coupon! Well, checking around there is no way to duplicate that deal even closely now.


Rental Time: 2-OCTOBER-2005 2:00 PM

Return Time: 10-OCTOBER-2005 2:00 PM

Company
Association: PRICELESS VACATIONS

Length of Rental: 8 days

Rate Information

Item: Prices
(USD)
Car Class:
Intermediate 2/4 Door Car Auto A/C
Rates:
TIME & DISTANCE 1 WEEK @ 114.99 114.99
EXTRA - TIME & DISTANCE 1 DAY @ 19.17 19.17
EXTRA - TIME & DISTANCE 0 HOUR @ 9.58 0.00
UNLIMITED DISTANCE-TIME & DISTANCE 0 DISTANCE @ 0.00 0.00

Sub total 134.16

Promotional Discount:
AMERICAN CASINO GUIDE -15.00

DISCOUNT -13.42

Surcharges:
FL SCHRG/TIRE BAT FEE 2.05 USD/DY 16.40
LICENSE RECOUPMENT FEE .49 USD/DY 3.92

Taxes:
STATE TAX (6.50%) 8.19
FFTXRSU (0.0%) 0.52

Total Estimate 134.78

Here's my question:

We just finalized our plans. We will be flying in on 10/2/05 but not until after 7PM. We would like to keep the car rental because we don't want to wait for our luggage that night (DME), we want to be able to go to the grocery store, to eat at different resorts and just because the rental is so cheap. Everything now is over $227.00 for 7 days. It's the much higher weekly rates now.

Will there be a problem picking up the car at 7:30pm instead of 2PM? I'm guessing no.

Also, DH will be leaving early on the evening of 10/9/05. We were thinking of having him take the car back to the airport to return it when he leaves. The kids and I would take DME to the airport on 10/14/05 when we leave.

Will there be a problem for DH to drop off the car one day early on the 9th instead of the 10th? I'm thinking that they would not charge the extra day for $19.17. We don't even mind if they charge the whole amount for 8 days because it is so cheap compared to rates now.

But I am worried that they will give DH a hard time about the rate when he returns just because it is so low. The reservation is under my name (Emerald Club) but DH should be covered as my spouse.

I don't want the rate to go up to a crazy amount when DH returns it a day early especially since I won't be there to "fight" about it. DH will just take whatever they tell him and be mad (at me) that it happened.

What do you all think? Any advice or experiences?

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Anyone with a similar experience?

 

[LoveToDisney]

With National, you can go into your reservation and make changes (rather than cancel and rebook). When you make changes, they will show you the "before" and "after" and then you decide if you want to finalize the changes. I would go in and bring up your online reservation and change the actual dates, times, etc. and see if the rate goes down (which I suspect it will since you are returning the car early). I have never had the "base rate" change on me if I was just changing the times, etc. Once you see what it would do with the changes, you can decide if you want to alter your original reservation or not. Hope this helps!

 

[elgerber]

If you don't want to try through their website, try e-mailing them. My flight times changed and I needed to add a day last time. My rate was much lower than the current rates were, and I e-mailed them and they were able to add another day at my current rate. They were very helpful!

 

[snowmouse]

Would you mind telling me about the 'priceless code'?

 

[disneyagain]

I aloo booked my car rental for this November back in March, prior to having exact times, dates etc...

I originally had it for arrival early on 11/3 (thurs) and departure early on 11/8 (tues).

When I got flights we ended up flying in late on 11/2 (wed) and departing early on 11/7 (mon).

Same rate as the previous booking.....$93.50

 

[sorcerermick]

I am surprised they modified your reservation for you. I had booked a long time ago (January for my August trip) and had gotten a great rate through the Entertainment guide and Mousesavers. When I decided to add two days onto my trip, two different reservation agents told me I had to cancel my existing reservation and re-book, which almost doubled the price. Needless to say I cancelled completely and received a great rate through priceline for a Budget rental car. I have always used NAtional before this and never had a aproblem. Seemed crazy to me that they would rather I cancel my reservation completely and risk having a car going unused instead of adding two days on.

Guess my rate was just too good, and they figured they would lose money if I kept it.

 

[ncbyrne]

The exact same thing happened to me...reserved online in Feb for our Oct trip. I had a really great rate using Priceless code and Entertainment coupon. We were flying in on Song, but then Song pulled all flights from Newark Int'l, so we had to rebook our flights on another airline. Long story short, we had to extend our stay by two days to get a nonstop flight into MCO. I called Nat'l to get two days added. Without my knowledge, the agent on the phone cancelled my previous ressie and then booked again with my new dates. Lo and behold, the price almost doubled! I said, "oh, that's not correct, the base price is "X". Then he said, "oh, I cancelled it and redid the reservation for your new dates". I asked (begged) him to undo what he had done, but to no avail, I was screwed! I was LIVID! I have been searching codes and prices for all car agencies at MCO ever since and have not found anything even remotely close to those old great rates. I guess ME has changed car rental rates for good.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

With National, you can go into your reservation and make changes (rather than cancel and rebook). When you make changes, they will show you the "before" and "after" and then you decide if you want to finalize the changes. I would go in and bring up your online reservation and change the actual dates, times, etc. and see if the rate goes down (which I suspect it will since you are returning the car early). I have never had the "base rate" change on me if I was just changing the times, etc. Once you see what it would do with the changes, you can decide if you want to alter your original reservation or not. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the advice. I knew that we could modify on-line but didn't know if the base rate would change. Was scared to mess with the reservation.

Since you confirmed that I wouldn't be locked into the changes until after I saw what it was, I tried modifying the reservation and the base rate increased by $1 for the week but I still saved $20 for the one less day! Thanks!

Here's what it looks like now:

Rental Location: ORLANDO INTL ARPT


Rental Time: 02-OCT-2005 07:00 PM

Return Location: ORLANDO INTL ARPT



Return Time: 09-OCT-2005 07:00 PM

Company
Association: PRICELESS VACATIONS

Length of Rental: 7 days

Car Class: Intermediate 2/4 Door Car Auto A/C

Rate Information

Item: Prices
(USD)
Rates:
TIME & DISTANCE 1 WEEK @ 115.99 115.99
EXTRA - TIME & DISTANCE 0 DAY @ 25.78 0.00
EXTRA - TIME & DISTANCE 0 HOUR @ 12.89 0.00
UNLIMITED DISTANCE-TIME & DISTANCE 0 DISTANCE @ 0.00 0.00

Sub total 115.99

Promotional Discount:
AMERICAN CASINO GUIDE -15.00

DISCOUNT -11.60

Surcharges:
TIRE/BATTERY FEE .05/DAY 0.35
FLORIDA SURCHARGE 2.00/DAY 14.00
LICENSE RECOUPMENT FEE .43 USD/DY 3.01

Taxes:
STATE TAX (6.50%) 6.94
FFTXRSU (0.0%) 0.47

Total Estimate 114.16

(Country of Residence: US) (USD)
Approximate Estimated Conversion: 114.16

 

[LoveToDisney]

COOL!
Have a great vacation! I love the Dis and all the experienced help I have received from everybody. It really helps to have someone to ask.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Would you mind telling me about the 'priceless code'?

6600330

http://www.mousesavers.com/national.html#codes