No cars on EA?

[chris7]

I've read a bunch of posts about people having cars rented through National's Emerald Aisle and then when they show up there are no cars in the aisle. We are arriving on a Sat. afternoon (Dec. 17) and am wondering what the procedure is if there are no cars in EA. Do you have to go inside and get it sorted out or do you talk to the person in the checkout booth? We are traveling for the first time with our little kids and I want everything to go as smoothly as possible. Also, I read another post about not receiving a receipt. Do you pay up front? If so how could they not give you a credit card receipt? Or was the person talking about an itemized receipt? It seems strange that with all the planning that has gone into this trip that it's just getting into a rental car and away from the airport that is causing me the most anxiety.

 

[n2mm]

It has only happened to me once. No cars in the EA. Hubby went to the outside kiosk and asked the attendant what to do and was told to go to the Intermediate Aisle and choose a car. Since being a member of Emerald Aisle guarantees you an Intermediate Aisle that is exactly what we had. Some folks have posted that they were able to choose from Executive Aisle, but that is rare. Lucky for us now that we are members of Executive Aisle, so are at least guaranteed a full size now.

 

[bavaria]

I was one of those a few days ago.... along with some not too happy customers. Walked around, found a National staff member, she told me to go to the Alamo aisle and take a car, but the staff member there was shooing everyone back to the National aisle.

There were at least 3 renters and 1 car left - a Malibu classic. Nobody else wanted it, so they told me to take it. The other renters went off angrily to the booth. I believe that they were told to wait 20-30 minutes for new cars to arrive. Not allowed to take other types of cars.

This has happened to me a few times with Hertz Gold, and they are good at compensating. Haven't followed up with National on this one....

 

[beattyfamily]

I've never gotten a recipt until I returned the car.

I rented a car on the EA Sept 29 at 1:30am and the aisle was full of small SUVs (mid-size) I guess.

I got one whose side mirrors didn't work. I had to turn around and come back and the girl working that night went and got me a replacement. She came back with a full size SUV. I was pretty happy. When I returned, I was indeed charged my original price of an Intermediate on the EA.

If the aisle is empty, just ask one of the attendants. They'll tell you what to do. Usually they say to go to the Intermediate aisle since that is what you are guaranteed but sometimes they let you pick from the Executive aisle. And yet other times, if you get a grouch, you'll have to wait for one to come.

 

[GrumpyLuver]

This happened to us in February. I don't know if time/day has anything to do with it or not, but it was a Tuesday at around 8:00 p.m. I just went to the booth in the garage and they told me to take anything from the Executive Aisle. Snagged a Chevy Trailblazer, needless to say, we were happy with the outcome.

 

[cepmom]

this happened to us in August, except we had Emerald Reserve (full size) not EA. No cars left on the full size aisle, so we asked the gate attendant what to do and she told us to take anything off the Executive Aisle. We ended up with a Chevy Uplander (minivan) and were very happy! When we exited with the same gate attendant, we gave her our coupon, confirmation # etc and she confirmed what our price was. We didn't get a receipt until the car was returned. It was all very easy and convenient.