Recent National Rental

[erikthewise]

We rented a fullsize from National 12/04-13.
When we reached the fullsize aisle, there were only 5 cars available, 4 Centuries (which I do NOT like) and one Camry. Naturally I took the Camry, which turned out to have less than 500 miles on it! It was a joy to drive! I had been hoping for an Impala or Intrepid because of their larger trunks, but the Camry's trunk was about the same size as our Accord at home so it worked out OK.

The fullsize "aisle" was only half an aisle long. Was I missing something? In previous years it had been a full aisle. The selection was very disappointing, but the overall rental experience was excellent. Our return process was very efficient. By the time we got the luggage out of the trunk we were given a receipt for the correct rate.

 

[DebbieB]

From my experience on 12/4 on A side around 2:30pm, it seems they are loading up the Executive Aisle with the full sizes. There must have been 25 cars parked there, mostly Impalas and Grand Prixs. The Emerald Aisle had mostly Classics. I lucked out by walking all the way to the end and got an Impala. After I loaded up the luggage and got the paperwork together to leave, I noticed the hangtag had "executive aisle" marked on it. My guess is they ran out of spaces on the Executive Aisle so they parked it on the Emerald Aisle row. The car was parked within eyesight of the booth, so I just drove to the booth and handed the guy the paperwork. If he said something, I was going to say it was parked on the Emerald Aisle side. He didn't say anything. I noticed there were few cars parked on the full size row, which was behind the Emerald Aisle. So if anyone has a full size booked and you don't like the selection, I would take a look at the Executive Aisle and plead your case to an employee.

I can't imagine that many people are eligible for Executive Aisle for them to load it up. Here are the requirements for Executive Aisle:
To reach this level, a member needs 12-24 rentals or 40-84 rental days per calendar year.

 

[erikthewise]

Thanks for your comments, DebbieB. I knew you were down there the same time and wondered what your experience was. We were also on the A side, picked up about 10:45AM. If I hadn't found the Camry I would have been tempted to look elsewhere.

 

[Figment&Piglet]

At least you had SOMETHING to pick from. We arrived on 11/27 at 2:00 p.m. on the "A" side, and went to the Minivan aisle where there were NO minivans! (None at Alamo, either.) We were about to move to an SUV, when ONE minivan was driven in and we beat another family to it. And you wouldn't believe the number of families wandering around, looking for minivans! Given this, and your issue, do you think they're just plain overbooking?

 

[SplshMtn99]

We also arrived Sat 12/4 on a A side -- around 10:45am. Had a full sized reserved. Maybe about 5 cars to pick from. REALLLLY wanted an Impala again since we had 4 adults with 4 suitcases & 4 carry-ons & a couple misc small bags.

We ended up crammy eveything & everybody into a Buick Century (trunk & back seat) for our 11 day vacation of WDW & then onto New Smyrna Beach.

Wow......wish I had seen those Impalas. I certainly would have asked.