Our ALAMO car rental report! Sorta long!

[kaileyscott]

After reading much of the talk on here about the hotel and car rental-- not sure why but I went with my own gut feeling!! And I am sooo happy I did. We decided to use Alamo b/c we had such a great rate. They were offering a Florida deal for rentals over 5 days. We picked up the car on 3/5 and returned it 3/12.
First of all, NONE of the LONG LINES I keep reading about! They were excellent. I got a $180.00 rate for the whole week including tax. We get in line and we had one family ahead of us. They had like three workers at the desk so the line was flowing well. We gave them our printed email confirmation and the lady explained everything and we were off to the garage to "pick" our van. When we got to the garage we had a choice of about six vans. For our four year old we picked the one with the t.v. I have never even think I have seen a Chevrolet Uplander but that is what we drove. It was really nice and we then saw many and many of them around Disney World.
We had no problems with the rental. When we were driving out of the garage we showed the man a couple of very small scratches and he wrote it on our info. just in case someone faulted us for them. He said they were not as strict as some of the other companies.
Returning the van was a breeze. We pulled in the garage and a man pointed us to a spot to pull in. He cranked the van to check the gas level and we were off to our plane. Ended up with a zero balance b/c we filled the tank up on the way to the airport. We opted not to buy the Alamo gas b/c we knew we wouldn't use a full tank. We ended up using almost 3/4 of the tank though!!
Well, just wanted to give a report b/c this was my first time renting a car for my family (my wonderful mother always handles everything). It was great and we will use them again for our next trip. By the way-- the wonderful coupon we had for the Florida rate was on the Hot Deal part and listed on the main web page. If you go to Alamo and enter you email they will send you all deals! Hope this helps!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Great report, and welcome to the DIS. Good to hear all went well.

 

[AllyBri]

Thanks for posting.
We also had a very good experience with Alamo in early March. Ihope more people post with positive views.

 

[alecam]

Thanks for your post!! I am booked with Alamo right now for December (SUV for $190.00 total). So unless I can beat that, I will be using them then!!

 

[lpbm4]

Thanks for posting this! I am kinda leary about Alamo b/c of some negative reports I'm reading, but I'm reading more and more positive reports. Thanks!!

 

[SomePixiedust]

I also had a positive experience with Alamo last month, same as the OP. The only negative was that there was some spilled coffee on the steering wheel and back seat, but nothing a baby wipe couldn't handle...worth it for a $200+ savings. I don't know how they didn't notice it when they took it back from the previous renter, but we were bleary eyed and it was late when we chose the car. Otherwise, all was fine and went VERY smoothly for pick up and drop off.

 

[HappyLawyer]

we always use alamo, no problems, pressure or long wait, thye have my loyality

 

[ohiomom28]

We rented through Alamo those same days too, but we were there around 10:30am and the line took us 30 minutes to get through. That and there wasn't anymore mid-sized SUV's available. We got a GMC Envoy instead.

 

[Tinkim]

I have to post my experience with Alamo too! I too was very nervous about long lines and pressure to purchase insurance and prepaid gas, bigger vehicle, etc. from reading the boards. We had reservations for 2 Chevy Equinox SUVs from 2/25 to 3/4. Got a great rate of $155 ea including tax for the week. We got to MCO around 12:30 p.m. and there was one family in front of us at the counter and 2 people were working so we waited about 2 minutes. My DH and I each rented a vehicle. They asked if we wanted to purchase extra insurance and we said "no thanks" and they asked if we wanted prepaid gas (DH just looked at me) and I said "no thanks." That was it. No pressure and no crazy long line. We went out to the garage and there was not a Chevy Equinox in sight. The worker just told us to "pick another car and take that one." We found two Chevy Trailblazers and off we went. Mine was brand-new with 5 miles on it and DH's was fairly new also. We got a bigger car for the same price, didn't wait in line, and didn't experience any sales pressure at the counter. Return was very simple. Drove up, returned the car, showed the paperwork and away we went. I know it probably doesn't always go this smoothly at Alamo or anywhere else but I just wanted to let anybody who was a bit nervous about renting from Alamo that we had no trouble whatsoever and wouldn't hesitate to use them again next year.

 

[DVC@BWV]

kaileyscott,
Did all the Chevy Uplanders have tvs in them?

 

[Disneyjosh229]

kaileyscott,
Did all the Chevy Uplanders have tvs in them?

I know im not kailey, but yes, the Chevy Uplander, Pontiac Montana SV6, Saturn Relay and Buick Terazza (All the minivans that Alamo usually has) come standard with TV's...Great Van, had one in Georgia and loved it so much, were thinking of buying one!!

 

[Kycha]

kaileyscott and Tinkim,

Thanks for the positive reports about Alamo. I was a tad nervous after reading a number of negative reports on the Dis. I have a midsize SUV reserved for the last week of March. Thanks to you I can rest easy.

Quick question? Did you use their Quick silver service?

Thanks

 

[kaileyscott]

Thanks for all the extra positive reports with mine! To answer a couple of questions- we did not use *********** b/c my understanding is that they had a paper at the front desk to sign to initialize it since we have never joined the *********** so either way we were going to wait in line so we didn't. Check into though b/c it sounds good. Another question about the tvs-- in the van section they had like caravans and one other model that I am pretty sure had no tv--- that is why we went with the uplander. I may not be 100% right but I remember the tv was our deal sealer!! Have a wonderful day everyone!!!!!!

 

[kaileyscott]

I was trying to type the service name with the quick silver but some how it has put all stars on it????

 

[Disneyjosh229]

Another question about the tvs-- in the van section they had like caravans and one other model that I am pretty sure had no tv--- that is why we went with the uplander. I may not be 100% right but I remember the tv was our deal sealer!! Have a wonderful day everyone!!!!!!

The Caravan does not come with a standard TV. The only other van you might have seen was a Toyota Sienna, and that also doesnt have a TV.