Quicker car rental pick up

[katytrott]

I remember reading a while ago, on the American boards, about pre-ordering something (possibly the car insurance) before the trip, to make the process of picking up the car at the rental place much quicker. Now in the past we have always pre-organised the insurance for the car when we booked it, but we still had to wait sometimes over an hour to pick the car up, due to the long queue.

We have, again pre-booked the car and the insurance for our up coming trip, but was wondering if there is any quick way anyone knows of to speed the whole process of car collecting up.

Normally it doesn't bother me having to wait so long, but this year we will have our 23 month old (who has hardly ever gone past his 7.30 bed time) and will be anxious to get him to the villa and in bed as his body clock will be about 10-11pm.

Can anyone suggest any tips to speed the process up, particularly if there isn't anything we can organise before the trip

Thanks for your help

 

[Boo Boo Too]

Can anyone suggest any tips to speed the process up, particularly if there isn't anything we can organise before the trip

Hi, which car rental agency are you using?

We use Hertz a lot and I am a member of their "No 1 Gold" Club. I pre-book directly through Hertz, the Hertz bus drops me off at the "No 1 Gold" hut/board. I look on the board for my name and it tells me what bay my car is parked in. I go to the bay, stick my luggage in the boot, the keys and rental agreement are in the car. I drive to the exit booth and hand over the agreement and my drivers licence. They check it, I drive off...

That tends to work for me, although doubt it is the most "budget conscious choice" (i.e. you could probably book through expedia/holidayautos cheaper... I just book through Hertz).

Other rental companies also have "preferred" customer schemes. If you signed up for whichever one you are renting from, you would probably get similar quick pick-up (but you would have to check the rental company's website for details...)

Boo

 

[katytrott]

Thanks Boo
I am not sure what the rental company is off hand as my mother arranged that. Will have to ring her in the morning to discuss that with her, have a feeling though it might be dollar, so will look at their website for details.

 

[Boo Boo Too]

In which case, signing up for "Dollar Express" might make your rental pick-ups quicker... http://www.dollar.com/expressmember/facts_features.aspx

Boo

 

[UKDEB]

We don't normally experience a wait because we tend to fly Premium Economy with Virgin which means we're amongst the first to get off the plane. Dh goes for the car whilst I go to the second baggage claim. Because we've got the whole procedure off pat, I always arrive at the conveyor before the first of the bags get there and dh has never had more than a couple of people in front of him at the car rental desk.

In April this year, we flew Economy and we were right at the back of the plane, meaning we were virtually the last people off. We were in the airport for over two hours (we're normally in the hire car between 45 minutes and an hour of touching down). The queue at the Dollar desk was responsible for about half that wait. There is a separate queue for the Dollar Express and people were just walking up and getting served. It's totally free to join, so we've since signed up.

In January we used Alamo for the first time and signed up for their 'Direct Road'. Dh said it was definitely quicker. There's a separate queue and the time at the desk is greatly reduced because you input all the information online. Again it's free to join. We also like the fact that you get to choose your vehicle, so we're using Alamo again in October.

 

[jna]

There is a separate queue for the Dollar Express and people were just walking up and getting served. It's totally free to join, so we've since signed up.

We're flying PE next month so we hopefully will avoid a queue, but out of interest is there any benefit in joining Dollar Express if the Dollar car has been hired via Virgin, and not directly with Dollar?

Thanks.

 

[Boo Boo Too]

In April this year, we flew Economy and we were right at the back of the plane, meaning we were virtually the last people off. We were in the airport for over two hours (we're normally in the hire car between 45 minutes and an hour of touching down). The queue at the Dollar desk was responsible for about half that wait. There is a separate queue for the Dollar Express and people were just walking up and getting served. It's totally free to join, so we've since signed up.

Definitely a good move... Have, in the past, been stuck in some AWFUL car rental queues even when flying Upper Class. All you need is a little something to go wrong (i.e. another large UK flight delayed and arrives just before yours) and you can be stuck behind 50 people queueing for cars...

... one year we arrived at LAX with a confirmed and paid for reservation (directly with Alamo), got to the car rental place to find a HUGE queue and Alamo saying that they had "run out of cars" (basically people had to wait for others to return cars, the Alamo people to give them a quick clean, refuel them and hand them out again). That Boxing Day I would guess that we spent two hours in the car rental place waiting for a car.... I was furious: what is the point in "reserving" a car, if they don't hold on to one for you (I thought that was the whole point!) . If we had been a member of their preferred customer scheme, we would definitely have been out of there a LOT quicker...

Boo

 

[paulfoel]

I remember reading a while ago, on the American boards, about pre-ordering something (possibly the car insurance) before the trip, to make the process of picking up the car at the rental place much quicker. Now in the past we have always pre-organised the insurance for the car when we booked it, but we still had to wait sometimes over an hour to pick the car up, due to the long queue.

We have, again pre-booked the car and the insurance for our up coming trip, but was wondering if there is any quick way anyone knows of to speed the whole process of car collecting up.

Normally it doesn't bother me having to wait so long, but this year we will have our 23 month old (who has hardly ever gone past his 7.30 bed time) and will be anxious to get him to the villa and in bed as his body clock will be about 10-11pm.

Can anyone suggest any tips to speed the process up, particularly if there isn't anything we can organise before the trip

Thanks for your help

Alamo quite frequently have HUGE queues at MCO !!!

 

[Queenie]

The Dollar Express thing looks great. Does anyone know if we signed up today whether we could use it for our trip next week as the car has already been booked though TCD and we have the paperwork here now.

 

[zara]

If you book your car hire through Virgin you automatically go to the fast pick up queue at Dollar.

 

[Boo Boo Too]

Alamo quite frequently have HUGE queues at MCO !!!

I think it is because quite a lot of package holiday firms use Alamo... So if you arrive by Virgin (and probably BA too) a fairly large proportion of people on your flight will have a car booked with Alamo...

Boo

 

[Boo Boo Too]

The Dollar Express thing looks great. Does anyone know if we signed up today whether we could use it for our trip next week as the car has already been booked though TCD and we have the paperwork here now.

Am not sure, but why not try and go ahead and sign up. What do you have to loose? But you may have a lot to gain

I would do it.

Boo

 

[wayneg]

I am waiting for a response (email) from Dollar Express services dept. I always use Airnet for my bookings with Dollar. I am using them for 4 trips (58 days) in next 12 months so would be nice if I could use an exress line.

Boo, Did you read my post about Alamo, boxing day and running out of cars on another thread? you posted also so you probably read it. I will never use them again

 

[Boo Boo Too]

Boo, Did you read my post about Alamo, boxing day and running out of cars on another thread? you posted also so you probably read it. I will never use them again

Yes, I think that I remember... it was a while ago

I agree with you - after two hours of queueing (and thinking we were NEVER going to get a car), I swore that I wouldn't use them again... and haven't (thinking that was about 5/6 years ago).

To be honest, husband and I are both HUGE fans of satellite navigation systems (we have it on both of our cars here in the UK and it can prove invaluable - saves a lot of time not having to drive in circles AND avoids the usual domestic map reading arguments... ). Hertz is one of the few renters in the US that has a GOOD sat nav system. Which surprises me!

Since Hertz has a good sat nav system and we have the benfits of their preferred customer scheme... plus package tour operators don't seem to use them nor do a lot of other tourists... Although we probably pay a bit more to rent from Hertz, it suits us

Boo

 

[paulfoel]

The Dollar Express thing looks great. Does anyone know if we signed up today whether we could use it for our trip next week as the car has already been booked though TCD and we have the paperwork here now.

Yes. I signed up for Dollar Express and got my membership no emailed to me a day or so later.

TCD?

I think you can add your Dollar Express membership onto existing bookings made directly with Dollar.

 

[paulfoel]

Yes, I think that I remember... it was a while ago

I agree with you - after two hours of queueing (and thinking we were NEVER going to get a car), I swore that I wouldn't use them again... and haven't (thinking that was about 5/6 years ago).

To be honest, husband and I are both HUGE fans of satellite navigation systems (we have it on both of our cars here in the UK and it can prove invaluable - saves a lot of time not having to drive in circles AND avoids the usual domestic map reading arguments... ). Hertz is one of the few renters in the US that has a GOOD sat nav system. Which surprises me!

Since Hertz has a good sat nav system and we have the benfits of their preferred customer scheme... plus package tour operators don't seem to use them nor do a lot of other tourists... Although we probably pay a bit more to rent from Hertz, it suits us

Boo

I always say that and have had some HUGE waits at Alamo and also some pretty crappy service...

Trouble is I always find they do the best deals for cars...

Booked with Dollar at the moment, so hoping they'll turn out the cheapest.

(I always do that - book and then cancel reservations with car hire companies whenever a cheaper one comes along. No credit card reqired so its no problem).

 

[wayneg]

I am taking my sat nav with me to Cali (5 weeks today, Yeah!!!)
Took it to Florida last month to try it out with US maps, it was great, just hope its as good in Cali as it's our 1st time there.
Its only a PDA with GPS housing and TomTom software but surprised how good it was.

 

[Boo Boo Too]

I am taking my sat nav with me to Cali (5 weeks today, Yeah!!!)

We will just miss you, I think - we are in California between 15th and 21st October.

California is great... BUT very different to Florida (especially Disneyland - totally different experience). Hope that you have a great time.

Took it to Florida last month to try it out with US maps, it was great, just hope its as good in Cali as it's our 1st time there.
Its only a PDA with GPS housing and TomTom software but surprised how good it was.

Both of our sat nav systems are built into the cars - so can't take them with us.

Husband used to use sat nav on his IPAQ, but it hasn't been the same since he run over it a few years ago! It was pretty successful in California, although quite a few rental cars seem to have some sort of windscreen coating which seemed to interfer with the satellite signal... Was tend to like the immediacy of incar systems: you turn the car on and it goes, my husband's PDA system used to take a bit of time to find a signal

Boo

 

[Queenie]

We were looking at a TomTom 910 a while back so we can use the US maps but it's just too much money at the moment.

 

[UKDEB]

If you book your car hire through Virgin you automatically go to the fast pick up queue at Dollar.

Is there still a dedicated Virgin Holidays/Dollar desk at MCO? I can't remember seeing it recently. We've booked a fly-drive with VH a couple of times in the past because it was cheaper than a flight only.