National One Way from Tampa

[ConnieB]

Ok, reading some of the threads here I found that if I fly into Tampa, rent a one way with National and drop it off at the end of my 3 week trip at MCO it's about $400 CHEAPER. That's worth a 90 minute drive for us.

When I first read the threads, I thought this was too good to be true, because normally the trouble with renting one-ways is that the charge mileage which racks up quickly. But, it says right on the confirmation Unlimited Mileage Included.

So....my question is...has anyone done this and had any problems? I have a very very early flight out of MCO (as in I'll be dropping the car off at 4am) so I don't want to have to fight them over the bill.


Next question.....I joined their Emerald Club and it says to rent a mid-size car but then take your pick of any car in their Emerald Aisle and other forums talk of getting mid-size SUV and occasionally even mini-vans for the cost of that mid-size. Anyone rented in Tampa that can tell me if there are usually a good selection of cars? We're arriving at 6pm so I know that can affect what's available, but it's the earliest flight we can make work. So what's your experience of car selection at Tampa Emerald Aisle????

Thanks

 

[thumperjr9]

We've rented one-ways several times. Many times the rental price has been cheaper on one-ways than returning to the original airport. I know it seems weird but probably the reason this happens is so many people rent one-way between these two airports that the inventory will drop at one locations and the other will have excess inventory. So they drop the rate as incentive to move the cars where they need them.

I was checking rates with National for the end of May and got a rate of $121 for a midsize for a week picking up in Tampa and returning to MCO. If you put the same dates in for MCO to Tampa it comes to $462 (both rates without codes and coupons)....crazy difference!!

I don't think you need to worry about them trying to charge you more. If that's the confirm rate then it should be correct. We have never paid for mileage or a drop fee on a National rental between MCO and Tampa.

As far a car selection, I don't pay too much attention to mini-vans or SUV since there's usually only 3 of us. They seem to have lots of Impalas and Altimas. However, I have seen mini-vans in Emerald Aisle at Tampa. Really I think it's a hit or miss so I wouldn't count on getting one!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

We have done this and are doing it again in May. Renting from National and got a midsize for $52.00 from TPA to MCO. And also reserved a SUV for $89.00 not sure what we want to drive yet.
Don't worry about availability. National , Alamo and Enterprise are all owned by the same company. We arrived last year in the afternoon and there were NO cars in the National lot. The National employee told us to go over to Alamo and pick anything we wanted!
Went to the exit gave them our paperwork, ID & CC and we were on our way.

The other thing I have found is the flights to TPA are cheaper and if you need to make a last minute change to a flight the price pretty much stay consistent. We wanted to add a day last fall and the price difference was $4 less to change the flights. I have been watching the prices now and noticed that the flights are only increasing by $20 10 days before a flight. Yet if you look at MCO prices, the closer the flight gets they are a few hundred dollars more.

Dollar is the only company that I know of that charges oneway fee's in Florida. Most other companies don't charge a fee.